Bulldogs have strong weekend on the mats
Flurry of local teams enjoy similar success
BY SHAWN LAYTON
Staff Writer

JFK-Iselin 171-pound senior Pete Simon notched his 100th career win on Saturday, as he continues to make his mark as one of the GreaterMiddlesex Conference's top wrestlers.

METUCHEN - The Metuchen High School wrestling team picked up three wins over the weekend to improve its record to 3-4 on the season.

The Dogs registered wins over Spotswood (42-33), Lakewood (44-29) and North Brunswick (51-30).

"Winning all three matches was definitely a positive thing for us," Metuchen head coach Ed Angus said. "We had a number of wrestlers win all three of their own matches to really put the stamp on the weekend."

Junior Mike Jachim was one Bulldog to win all three of his matches. Jachim tallied pins over Spotswood's Nick Underwood and North Brunswick's Robert Ahad and defeated Lakewood's Pat Cunliffe 14-0 for the major decision.

"He's off to a fast start this year with a 12-0 record," Angus said. "Mike missed the beginning of the season last year with an injury, so it's nice to see him rolling right from the start. He spends a lot of time working on his skills in the off-season and it had made him a much better wrestler."

Juniors Jack Rems and Marek Szwast also went 3-0 on Saturday. Rems improved his mark to 10-3 on the season at 152 pounds. Rems tallied pins over Spotswood's Michael Palumbo, Lakewood's Jeremy Clarkin and North Brunswick's Aaron Thompkins.

"Jack is having another solid year for us," Angus said. "He's a tough, fast kid who always goes out there with no fear."

Szwast also tallied three pins on the day, with each coming in the first period of his respective bouts with Spotswood's Zach Santora, Lakewood's Luis Brown and North Brunswick's Jason Scott-Danello.

"Marek started the season 7-0 and then lost two bouts to a pair of very tough wrestlers," Angus said. "He works extremely hard and is always looking for ways in which to improve. He always wants to do better."

Junior Sam Vinci picked up three wins at 125 pounds, as did Jake Duva at 171 pounds.

Vinci is currently on a four-match win streak, while Duva is starting to show confidence in the upper weights.

Also coming up big over the weekend was 119-pounder Niko Ratzkovich. Ratzkovich's 9-7 win over Spotswood's Mike Martin was the clinching bout in the team's victory.

"Overall we wrestled really well and got some key wins from a number of guys," Angus said. "Ben Hohman, Sean Aquardo and Mike Gassaway gave us big wins when we really needed them to come through for us."

The Dogs will have their hands full this week at a Jan. 10 tri-meet at Cranford with the host school and powerhouse JFK.

"JFK is an excellent team and they are definitely the cream of the crop in the Blue Division this season," Angus said. "Coach Bill Deniz has done a great job over there. They have no weak spots in their lineup."

Metuchen will finish the week with a road bout Jan. 12 at Governor Livingston before heading to Red Bank Regional for a tournament Jan. 13.

"We'll see some tough kids down at the tournament," Angus said. "It should be very competitive."

Mat notes... Several Greater Middlesex Conference teams converged on the Dunn Center in Elizabeth on Saturday to compete in the Minuteman Invitational.

While Old Bridge (168 points) took home the team title in impressive fashion by claiming six individual titles (at 103, 145, 160, 171, 189 and 215 pounds), Edison took home second place with 120 points, followed by Bishop Ahr (118) and Sayreville (103).

Edison was paced by Mikey FrancoBandiero's and Dan Walker's wins at 112 and heavyweight, respectively, while Anthony Peterson (119) and Alan Romero (130) each finished second.

Bishop Ahr was led by Joe McAuley's win at 140 pounds. The Trojans proved once again that they are a force to be reckoned with this season, and appear to be ready to challenge JFK-Iselin for the Blue Division title this year. While not quite as strong as Old Bridge, Bishop Ahr proved it can hang with both Edison and Sayreville, two of the top 10 teams in the GMC with their showing on Saturday.

JFK, meanwhile, won three matches on Saturday, knocking off Piscataway, 54-17, South Brunswick, 47-27, and Franklin, 51-9, to improve to 6-0 on the year. While several Mustang grapplers enjoyed perfect days, 171-pound senior Pete Simon was the story of the day as he won his 100th career victory in the match against South Brunswick. With his pin of Malcolm McQueen in 1:36, Simon improved to 100-23 for his career, before adding another victory (and another pin) in the match against Franklin.

Simon appears to be on a mission so far, coming off a brilliant season that included GMC and District 17 titles, a second place in Region V and a fifth-place finish in the state.

The Woodbridge Barrons also had a strong showing over the weekend, taking home second place in a highly competitive 12-team tournament at Suffern High School in New York.

Woodbridge, which is expected to battle with Sayreville for the GMC White Division title, was led by junior Matt Buchan's win at 130 pounds on Saturday, while sophomore Brian Chin (103), junior Craig Battista (171) and junior Jerry Pohida (145) all claimed second-place honors in their respective weight classes.

J.P. Stevens won two out of three matches in a quad-meet on Saturday, losing 45-18 to North Bergen, before rebounding with wins over Cliffside Park, 39-27, and Kearny, 50-24, to improve to 7-3 on the year.