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WRESTLING
SOUTHERN 32, BRICK MEMORIAL 22

Maugeri lifts Southern
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 01/5/06

BY BOB BADDERS
STAFF WRITER

STAFFORD * There is little room for error when wrestling Southern. The Rams have a
solid lineup and can send out talented wrestlers in the middle weights, turning their
opponents' game plan inside out.

When an opportunity presents itself to take the upper hand, an opponent must take
it.

Brick Memorial had that opportunity at 119 pounds when it visited Southern on
Wednesday. The Mustangs had a chance to build a lead before the Rams could wheel out
their triple threat of Luke Lanno, Frank Molinaro and Keith Dillard. But Nick Maugeri
threw a monkey wrench into that plan in what turned out to be the match's most
crucial bout.

With the his team nursing a one-point lead, Maugeri scored five points in the third
period to come back and defeat Nick Davis, 7-4. His victory padded the Rams'
advantage and allowed them to roll to a 32-22

Shore Conference Class A South win.

The Mustangs (1-1, 1-1) won the next two bouts to take a 19-16 lead, but Lanno,
Molinaro and Dillard racked up 13 consecutive points to put the match in the bag.

"We knew that we had a couple of toss-up matches in there and we needed to win
at least one of them," Rams coach John Stout said. "That really swayed the
momentum back in our favor."

Davis opened the bout with a quick takedown but Maugeri escaped to cut into the lead.
After Maugeri deferred position to start the second period, Davis chose bottom and
reversed the sophomore to take a 4-1 lead. Maugeri drew closer with two escape points
before taking Davis down and putting him to his back with a cradle late in the third.
According to Stout, it was the first time Maugeri beat Davis.

"I knew my match was important but I didn't know it would be this
important," Maugeri said. "People may have thought (they could pick on the
lower weights) but as the year goes on we're going to get tougher and tougher."

Memorial's John Havens opened the match with a 4-2 decision over Josh Cipolla at 171.
The Rams (1-1, 1-1) took the next two bouts with Tim Pringle holding off Sean
McCrossan, 5-2, and Glenn Carson scoring a 15-5 major decision over Rob Phillips.

With Southern having no 103-pounder because of a disqualification during a loss to
Jackson, Memorial had its window to gain some momentum starting with Scott Lindsey at
heavyweight. Lindsey used his 67-pound advantage over Mike Thomas to score three
takedowns and put Thomas to his back en route to a 9-2 decision. The six forfeit
points that followed at 103 gave the Mustangs a 12-7 lead. However, Southern freshman
Brian Broderick locked in a cradle on Kevin Shevlino and pinned the fellow frosh in
1:29 to wipe out the forfeit before Maugeri's win extended the lead.

"I thought we were going to win (at 119)," Mustangs coach Dean Albanese
said. "Nicky wrestled a great 5 1/2 minutes, he just got cradled in the end.
That might be the best team in the Shore Conference and I don't think one of our guys
rolled over. We fought tooth and nail for every point and just lost to a better
team."

Don Miller and Karon Reid won the next two bouts by a decision and major decision,
respectively, to give the Mustangs a short-lived 19-16 lead. After Lanno won a 5-0
decision over Steve Santos at 135, Molinaro, the defending state champion at 125, and
Dillard both won by technical fall to open up a 10-point lead that put Southern in
control with two bouts left.