Manville head wrestling coach Pat Gorbatuk discusses the Mustangs' start to the 2017-18 season iPhone video by Greg Tufaro
Despite not crowning a single individual champion at the two invitational tournaments in which it competed this season, the Somerville High School wrestling team still managed to finish strong in both events.
The Pioneers, who placed third in the season-opening Garden State Classic, finished second in Wednesday’s Bear Invitational.
Somerville head coach Andrew Flanagan, whose squad features five wrestlers from the school’s sectional championship football team, believes the Pioneers will steadily improve throughout the course of the year at a pace commensurate with the team’s ability to increase its stamina.
“We’ve been able to be successful early this year in tournaments by almost everyone winning their first match and getting wins where they can after that,” Flanagan said. “A lot of the guys on the team are seniors who have wrestled for a while, but are not necessarily offseason wrestlers. I think a lot of that (not winning individual titles) is also attributable to the fact that these (wrestlers) aren’t in tournament shape yet, but they are going to be come February or March. We’re not where we need to be yet winning those battles in our third or fourth match of the day.”
READ: Tournament results from across the state for Thursday, Dec. 28
Flanagan is hopeful the Pioneers will start hitting their groove in the middle of next month, at which time Somerville hopes to battle for the Somerset County Tournament title with Wathcung Hills, the early favorite now that six-time defending champion Bound Brook appears to be rebuilding, Manville and others.
At the Bear Invitational, Somerville amassed 155 team points to finish behind champion Hopewell Valley, the lone competitor in the tournament to fill all 14 weight classes. Manville, competing with just 11 wrestlers, finished eight points behind the Pioneers in third place. Montgomery was seventh and Bound Brook, which entered half a squad, placed 10th in the 14-team field.
READ: Tournament results from across the state for Wednesday, Dec. 27
Somerville’s flagship wrestler, 120-pounder Brock Laggini, a defending county tournament champion, district runner-up and state qualifier, has been hampered in the early going with a mild knee injury. He placed second in both invitationals including the Garden State Classic, where Somerset County schools Bridgewater-Raritan (sixth), North Plainfield (ninth) and Franklin (10th) finished behind the Pioneers.
“Brock has gotten off to not the start we exactly were looking for,” said Flanagan. “One of the messages we always try to talk about is there’s always going to be some sort of battle or obstacle or struggle that you have to endure, and that’s what makes being successful valuable. In our first dual, Brock had a (mild knee) injury that he’s trying to work back from. He’s not where he wants to be right now, but that’s part of the process, something he has to endure and work through to be where he wants to be in March.”
Flanagan said Somerville’s lineup features 10 wrestlers who are capable of qualifying for regions. Among them are heavyweight Jake Pidgeon, an incumbent county and district runner-up who fell one win shy of punching a ticket to Atlantic City last year.
“We are just building into tournament shape right now,” said Flanagan, reiterating that his five two-sport athletes were two weeks behind their peers due to the extension of a championship football season. “We are trying to impress upon the kids, if we could just get a little bit better every day, we’ll be where we want to be. It’s not going to happen overnight. We’re just trying to grow and become a team that can win those matches late in tournaments.”
Flanagan said his wrestling team is attempting to emulate the culture of Somerville’s football program, which rebounded from a 25-game losing streak that ended in 2015 to finish 21-2 over the past two seasons.
“Culture has been one of the hardest things to build and the most frustrating things as a coach to build because there’s so much that’s out of your control,” Flanagan said. “It’s helped tremendously to have a football team that has gotten a lot of success from placing value on culture and things like showing up on time. That’s certainly translated over to our program, as well. One of the things I talk about all the time is success is a product of doing all the little things right. One of the (messages) on our white board is consistent effort equals success over time. In life, if you work hard long enough, eventually you’re going to be successful.”
Somerville owns a 1-2 dual meet record including losses to Watchung Hills and Roselle Park, arguably the best teams on the Pioneers’ schedule and opponents Flanagan would have rather faced near season’s end.
The Pioneers will compete next week at the Zephyr Duals in Pennsylvania, where Flanagan hopes Somerville can start building the foundation for a run at a county tournament championship.
“Our goal has been to win the counties since we took third last year,” Flanagan said. “Obviously, there’s going to be obstacles and things we have to overcome to do that.”
LENAPE VALLEY TOURNAMENT
With championship performances from three of its upper weights, the Voorhees High School wrestling team finished second in Thursday’s Lenape Valley Tournament, 12.5 points behind Millville.
Colby Koshinski (113), Hunter Rinehart (126), Scott Fernandes (195), Lewis Fernandes (220) and Sam Huff (285) all won individual titles for the Vikings, who registered 122 team points.
Owen Smith won the 160-pound bracket for New Providence, which placed seventh in the eight-team field.
WALTER WOODS TOURNAMENT
Despite not crowning an individual champion, the Monroe High School wrestling team managed to finish fourth, one half point ahead of Watchung Hills, in Wednesday’s Walter Woods Tournament at Middletown South High School.
Joe Fiodaliso (106), Nick DePalama (113) and Andy Lombard (138) placed second for the Falcons, who totaled 86 points.
Justin Hayward won a 182-pound title and teammate Danny Miller reached the 126-pound final for the Warriors, who finished with 85.5 points.
Hillsborough’s Anthony Donnadio claimed a championship at 132 pounds, while teammates Kevin Faulkner (170) and Michael Dooley (182) placed second in their respective weight classes.
Hillsborough placed 10th in the 16-team field.
HOLMDEL HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT
Scotch Plains-Fanwood advanced six wrestlers to the finals of Wednesday’s Holmdel Holiday Tournament and crowned an individual champion en route to capturing the team title of the invitational.
Sam Wustefeld won the 195-pound weight class with a 13-1 major decision over Red Bank Catholic’s John Columbia.
Teammates Justin Sidebottom (120), Jack Cannon (145), Mikey Ramos (152), Nick Palazzolo (170) and Bobby Mount (285) placed second for the Raiders, who amassed 189 points.
New Brunswick placed sixth, J.P. Stevens finished eighth and Metuchen was 14th in the 15-team field.
Nico Vargas reached the 138-pound final for the Hawks.
JOHN GOLES INVITATIONAL
The North Hunterdon High School wrestling team finished two points behind team champion Newton at Wednesday’s John Goles Invitational.
Delaware Valley placed fifth and Edison finished seventh in the seven-team tournament.
The Lions crowned more individual champions than any other school as Connor Robinson (106), Connor Quinn (113), Andrew Gapas (138) and Michael Wilson (145) all won their respective weight classes.
Michael O’Brien (120) and Keyon Goodwin (285) won titles for Edison, while AJ DeRosa (132) was Delaware Valley’s lone champion.
COLLINGSWOOD TOURNAMENT
South Brunswick High School’s Jonathan Lamprecht (126) and Gus Palacio (195) placed second for the Vikings at Wednesday’s Collingswood Wrestling Tournament, where Kingsway won the team title.
Nick Jairdullo took home a third-place medal at 170 pounds for the Vikings.
RUMBLE IN THE PINES
Woodridge High School’s Xavier Laracuente (113), Hunter Kiraly (152) and Nick Nyers (220) all won individual titles at the Rumble in the Pines Tournament on Thursday.
Dominic Zecchino reached the 170-pound final for the Barrons.
RAHWAY TOURNAMENT
Carteret High School’s Demetrius Ruiz won the 182-pound title at the Rahway Wrestling Tournament on Thursday.
The eight-team event also featured Bishop Ahr, which received second-place finishes from Christian Diaz (113), Samori Simon (120) and Robert DeSantis (152).
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