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SOUTHERN 49, TR EAST 17
Southern takes care of business

SHORE CONFERENCE WRESTLING TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINALS
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 02/2/06
BY DAVID P. BIGGY
STAFF WRITER

STAFFORD * Taking care of business was the theme at Southern Regional High School Wednesday night.

And coach John Stout's wrestlers certainly did that.

Freshmen Glenn Carson, Jason Walters and Brian Broderick scored three straight pins from heavyweight through 112 pounds, and the Rams finished off strong with wins from 135 through 152 as they cruised to a Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinal victory, 49-17, against Toms River East.

"After we lost over the weekend (to Kittatinny), we wanted to come in and do what we had to do," said junior Mike Thomas, who won a pair of 189-pound bouts that provided Southern with its first lead of the quarterfinal match with a pin of East's Josh Sternlieb. "We wanted to win these two matches, stay healthy and get to Saturday."

The Rams, the tournament's third seed, will square off against second-seeded Howell, a 35-30 winner over Central Regional on Wednesday, in the semifinals on Saturday. The SCT semifinals and championship matches also will be at Southern Regional.

A win against the Rebels would put the Rams into the final, possibly to meet the top seed, Jackson.

"It's going to be a lot of fun here on Saturday," junior Frank Molinaro said. "We're going to have to practice with a lot of intensity the rest of the week and go into the semifinals as pumped as we can. From what we know, Howell matches up pretty good with us, so it's probably going to come down to bonus points.

"If we get to Jackson again, it's going to be crazy in here. That will be the match when everything counts. Every point is going to be big."

The Rams (12-2) had relative ease in beating the sixth-seeded Raiders (8-9).

After Carmine DeRosa won a 10-2 major decision against Ed Broderick at 160 pounds, Southern's Josh Cipolla got Southern on the scoreboard with a 9-3 decision over Dave
Baez at 171.

Thomas then wasted little time in sending Sternlieb to the mat, before turning him over and pinning him in 1:46 to give Southern a 9-4 lead.

"I've been working on the single a lot and I got him with it," Thomas said."Once I got him turned onto his back, it was over."

Tim Pringle then squared off against East's Adam Henig and lost a 3-1 decision in overtime. But Carson, Walters and Brian Broderick more than made up for the three points the Raiders received for that win.

Before Walters pinned Marcus Marella in 1:02 and Broderick pinned Nico Coppola at 5:16, Carson dropped Jorge Espada to the mat, then turned him to his back for a pin at 4:53. After the 112 bout, Southern's lead had grown to 27-7.

Southern reached the quarters with a 58-9 win over Middletown North, while East beat Long Branch, 29-23.