By John Beisser, Special Writer
Thinned by injury and illness, the Manville High wrestling team continues to fight hard each match, most recently, coming up with a 51-26 victory at New Brunswick High School on Monday.
The Mustangs have a host of grapplers who possess winning individual records. But because they have had to forfeit so many matches due to the thin lineup, Manville’s overall record stands at 5-9 on the season. A break here, or some health there, and Manville would still be in contention for a berth in the state tournament. But with just three matches to go before the cutoff date, Manville has been mathematically eliminated.
Of all the difficult losses Manville has endured this season, none stick out more than recent defeats at the hands of Spotswood and Red Bank Catholic. Against Spotswood, the Mustangs were in a big hole early due to forfeits and fought back to tie the score at 31-31. But Spotswood was awarded the victory based on criteria, thus it went down as a 32-31 loss. Manville also came up on the short end of a two-point decision to Red Bank Catholic.
”We forfeited four weight classes against Spotswood, so we started the match down 24-0,” said head coach Pat Gorbatuk. “If we had our whole lineup, we would have won the match easily. Against Bound Brook, we had a 23-0 lead and wound up losing the match.”
”And, if we win just two of those matches, we’re 7-6 with three matches left before the cutoff and we’d still be in contention for a spot in the states. But, that’s how things go. We can only wrestle the guys who are healthy and able to go.”
Perhaps the biggest blow to the team this winter has been the loss of Devin Burke at 119 pounds, who was 10-7 on the season before being sidelined. Burke set the school record for wins last season, going 27-7, but wasn’t himself this season before having to be removed from the lineup.
The most consistent Manville wrestler has been Peter Hando, who boasts a sparkling 19-5 record at 135 this year. Clint Ranor is 10-6 on the season at 103 pounds, while Nick Janner has posted an overall record of 13-7. At 125, Ian DeFalco checks in with a 12-11 mark while David Olmstead has put together a record of 11-8 in the 130-poind slot.
Manville recently turned in a strong performance in the Robert Dougherty Tournament hosted by Rutgers Prep, finishing in second place behind Parsippany Hills. Taking home first place honors in this meet were Hando, Graver, and David Castro at 115.
”We wrestled well that day and Peter (Hando) was named the outstanding wrestler,” said Gorbatuk. “David Castro has been doing a nice job at 215 and he’s 7-3 overall on the season.”
While there have been many individual success stories on the mat this winter, Gorbatuk can’t be blamed for thinking how much better things would be from a team standpoint if he had a full lineup at his disposal.
”Mixed feelings would be the best way to describe how I feel,” said Gorbatuk. “Certainly it’s frustrating to have to forfeit so many matches but I’ve been pleased with how the kids have battled and stayed after it.”
Manville was slated to host North Plainfield on Wednesday before hosting Johnson Regional and Rutgers Prep in a tri-meet on Saturday.
