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WRESTLING OCEAN 36, CENTRAL 30
Falco's move propels Ocean

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 01/25/06
BY JOE ADELIZZI
STAFF WRITER

OCEAN * A chess match broke out during the wrestling match between Ocean and Central, and in the end it was the move of the Spartans' Joey Falco that spelled checkmate against the Golden Eagles.

Falco, a burly 145-pounder, cut weight this week to weigh in at 140 Tuesday night. By making weight he allowed coach Ken Hoff to get the matchup he wanted against Central's Len Forsyth.

When Falco took a major decision (19-6) it virtually clinched the nondivisional match for Ocean, ranked No. 5 in Asbury Park Press Top 10, 36-30, on Tuesday night.

"Coach had me start cutting weight last week," Falco said. "I ate a lot of salad and fruit. I kept my energy level up."

Falco, like his fellow Spartan wrestlers, had spent the first half of the season in a meat grinder. The matches included a visit to the Beast of the East Tournament in Delaware, considered the strongest high school event on the east coast, and dual meets against the No. 1 (Blair) and No. 2 (St. Edwards, Ohio) teams in the nation.

"We've wrestled a lot of real good people," Falco said. "And I wrestle good people in the room. I thought I was ready to wrestle against Forsyth."

He had eight takedowns in six minutes, dominating the bout.

"That's how I like to wrestle," Falco said.

Hoff knew that, but he wasn't sure that Falco would have enough energy after cutting the weight.

"Forsyth is a good kid. If Joey wasn't wrestling well it could have been trouble," said Hoff who decided last week that he needed the move to stay with the Eagles.

Central had made some moves of its own. Mario Lynn weighed in at 125 pounds, instead of 130. That set up a match against Nick Menditto. Lynn won that bout with a late flurry.

Central's Nick Weaver had weighed in at 145, but ended up wrestling at 152. But he had a scare there when Gaetjens Lezin took him to his back in the first period while building up a 7-1 lead. Weaver fought off the pin for the final 20 seconds of the first period.

In the end, the state fourth-place finisher from last season rallied back to take an 11-7 victory.

"I wouldn't have said it then, but now I guess a match like that was good for Nick," Central coach Mike Bischoff said. "No one ever wrestles him, so he needed something like that."

Hoff said that his moves and those of Central were like a chess match.

"We were each looking for something," Hoff said.

In the end, they split the 14 bouts, with Central winning the last three.

"It was one of those matches," Bischoff said. "If we get one win somewhere, things are different."

Hoff thought the pivotal bout actually came at 215 when Joe Pemberton held off Central's Rich Foster, 6-3. It was 6-1 when Foster got a takedown midway through the final period and was close to getting back points. But Pemberton fought it off.

"There were too many times we let them get more bonus points then they shouldn't have," Bischoff said. "A point here, a point there, it matters."

Hoff pointed to the Andrew Van Dyk match when he had a 14-0 lead against John Mackie. In the final 20 seconds he turned Mackie to his back and pinned him.

"If it goes 14-0, we only get four points," Hoff said. The pin was worth six points.

"I told the team before the match, that this was the start of a new season," Hoff said. "We were 6-6 and we only have Shore teams left on the schedule. Our season is in front of us. The Shore Conference Tournament, the state team championships and the individual stuff are all ahead."