News Flash

JACKSON 48, RARITAN 15
Concepcion could be key for Jaguars

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 02/2/06
BY STEVEN FALK
STAFF WRITER

JACKSON * Dave Concepcion is having a far better time than he was at this time last year.

"I'm very proud of being a part of this team," said Concepcion, a junior wrestler at Jackson who sat out last season because of a knee injury.

Concepcion's return might turn out to be the key ingredient if Jackson finishes the season ranked No. 1 in the Gannett New Jersey Top 20 Poll.

The Jaguars all but assured they will be ranked No. 1 in the Gannett New Jersey Top 20 when the poll appears on Saturday by rolling to a 48-15 win over Raritan in a Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinal-round match after they had routed Manchester, 62-6, in a first round match.

Jackson (20-1), the two-time defending SCT champion, will meet No. 4 seed Ocean, a 36-27 winner over Brick Memorial on Wednesday night, Saturday at 3 p.m. at Southern Regional in the SCT semifinals. That match is a rematch of last year's SCT championship match, won by Jackson, 29-27, on a pin by heavyweight Joe Slisky in the final bout.

Concepcion (16-3), who defeated Raritan's previously-unbeaten Dan Seidenberg, 5-4, Wednesday night in the 145-pound bout, remembers what it was like to be part of the Jackson team in 2004 that won the school's first sectional wrestling championship and advanced to the NJSIAA Group IV championship match.

"I came from a winning team at Goetz (Middle School), and I knew how good the Jackson team was, but that year (freshman year) was amazing," said Concepcion, who was a District 21 runner-up at 140 in 2004.

Then, with big things expected for him last year, Concepcion injured the knee in a preseason practice.

"I let it go and ignored it," Concepcion said. "Then, before a tournament (the season-opening Jackson Invitational), I was warming up and my knee just gave out.

"It was upsetting," Concepcion said. "I'd come to see the matches and then I'd go home, no celebrations or anything. But, I'd knew I'd come back and train harder for this year and make up for last year."