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CJ GROUP II: RARITAN 34, POINT BORO 25

Rockets soar into final
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 02/15/06BY JOE ADELIZZI

STAFF WRITERHAZLET — The flip of the coin gave Raritan the matchups it wanted in the lower weights and standout heavyweight Jeff King gave it the deciding points in the final bout as the Rockets advanced to the Central Jersey Group II final with a 34-25 victory against Point Pleasant Boro.

Raritan will face Delaware Valley for the fourth straight season, with its eye on a trip to the Ritacco Center Sunday for the Group championships.

"I love wrestling them (Delaware Valley)," said King, the Rockets imposing heavyweight who improved to 24-1 after defeating Marty Infante, 11-8, in the final bout.

"I wasn't worried about the bout," said King, whose team had a 31-26 lead going into the bout. "He would have had to pin me, and I wouldn't let him put me on my back."

While King's victory clinched things, it was a triumph by sophomore Bob Hornacek at 119 that gave Raritan the edge it needed.

"We knew we had to win two bouts in the lower weights," said Boro coach Dave Kirk. "But they won the toss and were able to get (TJ) Mitchell against (Anthony) Tarantin."

That meant Hornacek, now 11-2 on the season, would face James Dwyer. He pinned him in 3:37 to give the Rockets a 12-0 lead.

"He's a little under the radar," said Raritan coach Rob Nucci. "He's one of the few people who give us depth. We can spot him to get Mitchell the matchups we want."

Hornacek knew as soon as Raritan won the toss that he'd be going out at 119.

"I usually have to wait until wrestling day to see who I'm going against," said Hornacek.

The Rockets used the pin to help build a huge early lead that got to 31-4 when Dan Seidenberg had a technical fall at 145. It was one of two tech falls and two pins the Rockets put together to build the lead.

But Boro, much like it did in the first match when it rallied from a 22-6 deficit to beat Monmouth, 39-22, used its upper weights to make things interesting.

"Yeah, it got a little close," said Hornacek. "But we knew we had Jeff waiting at the end. That's a pretty good feeling."

Nucci knew getting the bonus points early would be important and so would the ability of his "grunts" to stay off their backs.

"We pushed up seniors Kevin Gilgannon and Anthony Kinzel. They went out and did what they had to do to make sure we wouldn't lose the match. That's why we call them our grunts."

The Rockets will have to do the same thing Thursday at Delaware Valley, who made its way into the semifinals by beating JFK-Iselin, 56-12.