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Dedicated coaches, athletes help wrestling programs survive

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 02/11/06
BY JOE ADELIZZI STAFF WRITER

Neil Saunders pondered the question as to why Monsignor Donovan, where he coaches, has a wrestling program after losing to Red Bank Catholic in a match in which the maximum of 84 points had been scored in RBC's 48-36 victory.

The two teams, along with St. Rose, have been the "have-nots" of Jersey Shore wrestling for years. While such schools as Jackson, Southern and Brick Memorial perform before packed gyms and have athletes who have their sights set on the state tournament in Atlantic City, Saunders, RBC's Paul Sobko and St. Rose coach Brian MacGowan struggle to fill the 14 bouts.

They often come up short.

But somehow they keep their programs alive.

"Why do we do it?" asked Saunders, repeating the question. "Look at those kids over there. They want to wrestle and it's our responsibility to offer them a chance.

"We sometimes forget why we do this. It's not about wins and losses. It's about offering students a chance to grow," said Saunders, a former wrestler at Donovan who is in his second season as the coach.

It is not an easy task getting to practice every day when the numbers are small and the competition to fill spots is nonexistent.

And sometimes the wrestlers themselves have to jump in to keep a program alive.

"We were very close to closing things up," Sobko said. "We were so short on wrestlers that the administration was starting to think it wasn't worth it. But a few of our seniors went out and found some kids for us."

Dave Matthew and John Nolan led the search party.

"I went to a few of the football players in school," said Matthew, who played for the RBC football team that advanced to the NJSIAA playoffs in the fall and wrestles at 189. "I told them we needed them, and some of them came out."

Nolan, a 119-pounder, walked the halls at RBC.

"I found a few guys. We needed them. I couldn't imagine not wrestling my senior year," he said.

Sobko said that one of his team's problems is the number of boys in the school. While RBC is in Class A Central, he said that two-thirds of the students are girls, leaving him at a disadvantage.

"It (wrestling) is a hard thing to do. When we wrestle a team like Raritan, we know we can't win. Thankfully, a lot of coaches understand our situation," Sobko said.

MacGowan, in his first year at St. Rose, is down to seven wrestlers this season.

It is a combination of things. The difficulty of the sport, the lack of a direct feeder program, and the fact that he's new to the job.

"Some kids who had been wrestling just didn't like some of the things we were doing, and decided to quit," said MacGowan, a St. Rose graduate.

The Purple Roses practice in the school cafeteria. Halfway through February, they are still looking for their first victory of the season. It's doubtful it will come.

"But we have a couple of tough kids who might do OK in the districts," MacGowan said.

Individual accomplishments are one of the few pluses these schools can offer wrestlers.

"This is the best wrestling in the state," Sobko said. "For us, just getting a kid to the regionals is a tremendous thing."

Matthew might have a chance.

He is one of the few wrestlers who had been on a mat before high school.

"I went to Tinton Falls Middle School and wrestled there," he said. "I dream of getting a chance at the districts."

Part of the problem is he doesn't get a lot of good bouts. Some teams bump away from him or use their backup wrestlers and there is no one in the practice room to push him aside from the coaches. But he showed he had some potential earlier in the year when he won the Matawan Ice Breaker tournament.

Getting wrestlers with experience is the toughest part of turning a program around. All three coaches know that.

MacGowan said that he's trying to get as many kids as he can from the St. Rose grammar schools to go to the Belmar recreation program.

"That's where I learned to wrestle," he said.

RBC doesn't have a feeder system at all.

But things are looking up for Monsignor Donovan, where a new wrestling club has started at St. Joseph Grade School.

"I think it will help us down the line," said Denny Toddings, the school's athletic director. "If they can get four or five kids a year to come out and understand wrestling, we'll be competitive.

"Most of the kids we get have never wrestled before," Toddings said. "By the time they have enough knowledge to compete, they're graduating. And while you are learning you are getting beat up and your friends watch from the stands. It's hard to hang around."

But some kids at Donovan think better days are ahead.

Dan Hanifin is a member of the junior class. There are eight of them wrestling for the Griffins. They believe they will have an impact.

"I'm hoping some day I can look back and say that it was our class that got us back on the road to respectability," Hanifin said.

Saunders sees real leadership quality in the class, and he thinks things are getting better.

Sobko and MacGowan think the Shore Conference should consider some changes for the low-end programs.

"I think they should make a division for the three of us and maybe three of the weaker public schools," Sobko said. "It would give us all a chance to compete on equal footing and a chance to keep kids wrestling."

The idea isn't without merit. He thinks that as many as two teams each year would move up a notch and two teams would move down, almost a novice division.

But that would take an act of congress, or at least an act of the Shore Conference, which has always rejected divisions based on talent-level.

Toddings said that he wouldn't want that for Donovan anyway.

"You compete against the schools you are supposed to compete against," he said.

But all three schools know that the chances of competing against the big schools such as Jackson and Southern will probably never come.

"They're among the top teams in the country," MacGowan said. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try and build this. Anyone can look good driving a Cadillac. But it's having that little Chevy trying to get uphill that is the challenge."

Right now, the hill is a little steep.

But in the Donovan-RBC bout the outcome came down to the final match where Art Czuch pinned to give the Caseys the victory. As the two heavyweights battled, the small crowd was enthusiastic, with fans from both sides yelling for their guy.

"It was pretty exciting, right?" Sobko said. "You don't have to be great to make it fun to watch. No one cared that we're small programs. They just enjoyed themselves. Which is why we are here."