News Flash

There's a lot more to Reid than just wins

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 02/11/06

Looking for the quick one-liner from a wrestling coach? Looking for some deep thoughts about the sport? Forget about it.When you talk to Toms River East coach Warren Reid, what you get is straight talk.

Like last week when he was pow-wowing with Ken Hoff, the Ocean coach, just before the match with Jackson at the Shore Conference Tournament.

"Giving last minute advice," someone asked Reid.

"I don't tell anyone anything," Reid said.

Not that people don't try. When you win matches with the regularity he does, people want to know.

If things go right this week he could win his 300th match. If things go perfect, it could come Tuesday night against Absegami in the NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV semifinals.

The 300 wins will put him there with Tony Caravella of Brick Memorial, who retired after the 2003 season with a record of 325-68-4 as the Shore Conference's all-time winning coach.

But it's not like Reid would notice.

"It's just a number," said Reid, who goes for 298 today against North Bergen.

This is a man who wrestles to his own drummer. Like the time he got his scholarship to Oklahoma.

Seems the USA Olympic team was practicing and they were looking for bodies to throw around. Reid is in the service and he shows up with his gym bag.

He's banging bodies with the big boys and the coach comes over and asks him what college team he is on.

Reid says none. Next thing you know, he has a scholarship offer and he's off and running.

He started at Bridgewater West where he wrestled for the legendary Dr. Sam Crosby. This marks his 27th season as Toms River East's only coach.

He went to Alabama as an assistant, but left when the program was about to be eliminated. He landed in Toms River.

"I always knew that wrestling was going to stay in some part of my life," Reid said.

He served as an assistant at Toms River South under John DeMarco during the 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons, when the Indians were the kings of Shore wrestling, then moved over to East when that school opened in September 1979.

His teams have won eight Shore Conference Class A South championships, eight District 25 and three Shore Conference crowns, including 2002 when the Raiders won in the final bout against Jackson. His dual-match record is 297-136-7 going into today's match.

"Warren is the salt of the earth," said Jack Pontoriero, who should know. Not only did he work with Reid in building the Toms River wrestling club, but the coach watched all three of Pontoriero's sons win district titles.

"I was in that wrestling room every day from 1993 until my youngest son, Anthony, graduated in 2004," said Pontoriero. "His whole life is built on wrestling."

Reid helped the wrestling club get its sea legs.

"He'd hang around and wait for us to start practice," Pontoriero said. "Then he'd watch and eventually, he'd help us wipe the mats down."

The club hosts two to three tournaments a year and Reid is there for all of them, just like he's in his wrestling room for hours at a time.

He'll wrestle any team, any time, any place. And he's a master at finding the right teams to get his Raiders into the playoffs.

He had to win the last three matches last week to qualify. He did and now has a healthy team for the first time this season. He just could surprise the Braves, who beat him earlier this season.

If he does, don't be surprised if he doesn't even realize it's win 300. He never did keep count.

Bradley watch

Lost in the shuffle of Jackson's third straight Shore Conference Tournament title was Matt Bradley getting his 100th career victory. It came in the semifinals against Ocean's Maverick Nunes-Vais.

Jackson coach Scott Goodale is always the first to remind everyone that Bradley is among the elite wrestlers in the state. He looked it even though he lost a tough 7-6 decision to Luke Lanno in the SCT final. The two put on quite a show.

In fact, the whole SCT event at Southern was something special. The two semifinals were nip and tuck all the way and the noise level never lowered from 3 p.m., until about 7:30 when the 2,000-plus fans finally relaxed during the Mike Thomas-Rob Wood bout at 189. They were back on their feet, however, for the next three bouts, which ended when Derrik Russell won against Jason Walters at 103.

While both Walters and Russell say they weren't nervous about the matchup, those who saw the two wrestlers last year in intermediate school might have forecasted a different result. Walters beat him twice a year ago.

Too much?

No one was hurt more by the skin rash that attacked Shore schools than CBA. The Colts came down with impetigo the day after the seedings. Since the brackets were set, they were forced to forfeit their first-round match against Raritan. The score went in the books as 84-0. Some CBA fans are very unhappy with the result.

It does send a bad message. It would have been better for CBA to wrestle with only its healthy guys, who may have had impetigo, but not showing yet. But is that the right thing to do?