News Flash

Taking the show on the road
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 12/16/05

BY JOE ADELIZZI
STAFF WRITER

Call it the Shore Conference Tour. Or maybe it's the Shore Conference
on parade. Whatever moniker you want to stick on it, this is the year
that Shore Conference wrestling is putting its name on the map.

From Minnesota to Delaware, and Virginia to Pennsylvania, conference
wrestling teams, loaded with the deepest talent pool they've ever had,
are trying to flex their muscles.

"I just think we're tired of beating each other up," said Scott
Goodale, the coach at Jackson Memorial High School, explaining why a
number of Shore teams have taken their show on the road this year.
"It's time to go outside the state to show everyone how good the
wrestling is here."

Jackson will make its way to "The Clash" national dual
championships in Minnesota, Dec. 30-31. There are eight nationally
ranked teams in the field of 32, in which the squads battle in four
brackets of eight teams.

The finishers from each bracket will meet the teams with a similar
finish in the final rounds, thus all the winners will meet, as will all
the eighth-place finishers from the four brackets.

"I think as coaches, you have to do whatever you can for a kid
interested in wrestling at the next level," Goodale said. "Every
college coach in the country is going to look at the results of highly
rated tournaments. Our job is to get our kids that exposure."

Ocean wrestlers will be getting plenty of that at the annual "Beast
of the East" event today and Saturday at the University of Delaware.

"Some parents actually pointed us toward the tournament," Ocean
coach Ken Hoff said. "We looked at our kids, and said, "Why not?'
We're not afraid to wrestle any team, any time, anywhere. Wrestling
the best makes your wrestlers better."

Hoff brings a team loaded with talent. Kyle Kiss, Jeff Siciliano, Dan
Lopes and Nick Menditto were all placewinners at the NJSIAA Tournament
last year. So was sophomore Andrew Van Dyk, a transfer from Ramapo.
Battlers such as Maverick Nunes-Vais, Gaetjens Lezin, Joe Falco and Zach
Coulas add power to a lineup that makes Ocean the preseason No. 1 team
in the Asbury Park Press poll.

But when a team takes on the competition the Spartans will face this
weekend, and throughout the regular season, individual records can take
a hit.

"It may hurt when we get to seeding because our kids are going to
lose some bouts," Hoff said. "Some kid might only have one loss, and
our kid might have five or six. But it's worth it because of the
quality of opponents. The better the competition, the better the
wrestler becomes."

Southern has been on a constant search for top opponents. The Rams have
been making an annual trip to the Governor Mifflin Tournament in
Pennsylvania, and finished second there last year. This year, they
return with a state champion (Frank Molinaro) and at least three other
state-level wrestlers in Luke Lanno, Tim Pringle and transfer Keith
Dillard, who finished fourth in Region VI last season as a sophomore at
Toms River South.

The Rams also have their own holiday tournament (Saturday), which
includes some of the best teams in the state.

Their regular-season opponents include Absegami, Phillipsburg and
Kittatinny. And of course, Southern will open its dual-meet season
against Jackson on Dec. 21.

Brick Memorial built its reputation on wrestling the best the state
could offer. Now the Mustangs not only have their winter tournament
(Dec. 28), but will travel to Nazareth, Pa., on Jan. 14 for the National
High School Association Festival, which includes top teams from
Pennsylvania to Massachusetts.

"You can't put in words how good the Shore Conference is in
wrestling this year," Mustangs coach Dean Albanese said. "I really
believe that if you are in the Shore Top 10 you can be in the state Top
20."

Among those teams in the rankings is Howell. The Rebels will be
skipping the Neptune Classic (today and Saturday) to make their way to
the "Battle of the Beach" in Delaware.

That tournament includes teams from Maryland, Virginia, Delaware,
Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

"We were always seeing the same schools and getting the same matchups
at the Shore," Howell coach John Gagliano said. "This gets us a look
at some different people.

"And I think it helps show how good the wrestling is here. A lot of
times you'll see state champions from other states who aren't at the
level some of the Shore kids are at.

"It's unbelievable how talented a group there is in the Shore
Conference this year."

The tournament will help toughen his team up for its first dual meet
against Ocean (Dec. 21).

Raritan coach Rob Nucci sees his team's trip to Virginia for the
Richmond Invitational as a chance to see good competition (there will be
30 schools in attendance, including Great Bridge, Va.) and also as a way
for his team to bond.

"We're spending two full days together. You learn a lot about each
other," Nucci said of the tournament that begins today.

"We've always wrestled in the Matawan Ice Breaker (Saturday).
That's for smaller schools, so we thought this year we'd look to
take on bigger schools," Nucci said. "This is the year for any of
the Shore schools to do it. We have great wrestlers, so we should take
it on the road and show what we have."

Most of the money for these trips has been raised by the teams through
different events during the past year.

"The kids are excited about it," Goodale said about his Jackson
team. "For an individual, there is no substitute for wrestling in
high-pressure matches."

Of course, by the time they hit the mats in Minnesota, the Jaguars
already will have faced Southern (Dec. 21). There isn't much more
pressure than that for any wrestler.

Even those teams that are staying close to home have their hands full.

CBA has added some out-of-area teams to its tournament (Saturday) and
Toms River North will start its season Saturday morning with a home
match against Phillipsburg.

Now that's how you get the season off and running.