Eagles finish third in District 19 tourney
BY SHAWN LAYTON
Staff Writer

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Bishop Ahr's Lindsey Brown hoists a shot over J.P Stevens' Kathlyn Rhuno during the Trojans' upset of the Hawks on Feb. 15 in Edison.

EDISON - The Edison High School wrestling team sent six grapplers into this week's Region 5 Tournament at Hunterdon Central after solid performances at District 19 in Woodbridge.

The team's lone champion, Mike FrancoBandiero, took home his second title in as many seasons with a 17-5 decision over Perth Amboy's Jairo Bernal at 112 pounds. FrancoBandiero was a District 19 champion as a freshman at 103 pounds in 2006.

"Mike had a nice tournament with a pair of pins before reaching the finals," Edison head coach Gerry Nisivoccia said. "It was one of the better performances from a champion."

FrancoBandiero will enter Region 5 action with a 28-2 record and 68 career wins under his belt.

Sophomores Jeff Peterson and Dan Walker reached the finals at District 19 but fell just short of a title. Peterson lost 17-8 to Perth Amboy's Gabriel Roman at 119 pounds, while Walker was bested 3-2 by Perth Amboy's Argenis Minaya.

"Jeff has done a great job since last season," Nisivoccia said. "I thought he did a great job against the county champion from Perth Amboy."

Peterson began Region 5 action last night with the rest of the second- and third-place winners. He takes a 29-4 record into the tournament.

Walker also lost to this year's reigning county champion in the heavyweight finals.

"Dan beat the Perth Amboy kid in a dual meet this year, but came up just short at the Districts," Nisivoccia said. "He did a fine job in the tournament and avenged a loss to the Piscataway boy in a nice match. His weight class is wide open this year and there are a lot of people that can take Region 5."

Three Eagle wrestlers advanced to the regions with third-place finishes. Senior Brandon Swift, a District 19 champion a year ago at 145 pounds, suffered a devastating loss in the semifinals. Fortunately, Swift regrouped to take the consolation match and advance.

"Brandon was winning his match and was going for some more back-points, but was called for a defensive pin," Nisivoccia said. "It was an unfortunate loss for him, but hopefully it will make him hungrier for this week."

Last season, Swift was a win away from advancing to the state tournament in Atlantic City with a fourth-place finish at District 19.

Freshman Anthony Peterson avenged a loss he suffered to his opponent from Bishop Ahr in the county tournament to advance at 103 pounds. Senior Brian Pascal advanced at 215 pounds in just his first year wrestling.

"Brian's win was a nice accomplishment and I was very pleased with his performance," Nisivoccia said.

"We almost sent a seventh wrestler to Region 5, but Matt Kouyonmdjin lost a tough one at 171 pounds."

Kouyonmdjin lost 3-2 in his consolation match, but will be back next year for his senior season.

Overall, the Eagles finished in third place behind champions Perth Amboy and second-place finisher JFK.

JFK's second-place finish was fueled by three individual titles - Anthony Howard at 145, Pete Simon at 171 and Vin Maglione at 215.

Howard beat Piscataway's Tyler Adams, 5-0, in their final bout, while Simon cruised to his title with a pin of Bishop Ahr's Duane Quarles in 4:19. Maglione was also impressive, beating Woodbridge's Jose Gonzalez, 8-0, in their final bout.

Among the other Mustang grapplers to advance to the Region V tournament were Tom Hogan, who fell in the 103 final to Perth Amboy's Heirberto Quintana, 5-4; Dustin Rudy, who lost to Bishop Ahr's John Meyers in the 152-pound final, 5-2; Matt Hart, who bounced back from a loss in the 112-pound semifinals to beat Stevens' Marion Perricone, 14-3, in the third-place bout; Pete Buttita, who won this 125-pound third-place bout over Bishop Ahr's Justin Thiele in 45 seconds; and Rich Bonhomme, who lost to the eventual 189-pound champ, Marek Szwast of Metuchen, 13-6, in the semis before coming back to win by forfeit over Perth Amboy's Shaun Lockwood in their consolation bout.

Bishop Ahr only crowned one individual champion at the District 19 tournament - Meyers at 152 - but will be sending five grapplers to Toms River this week.

While Meyers took his title with a 5-2 win over Rudy in the finals, Joe McAuley also reached the finals, where he lost to J.P. Stevens' Greg Zannetti by pinfall (2:42). Quarles was also pinned in the finals, as Kennedy's Simon won the 171-pound title in 4:19.

Don Gottlick was the fourth Trojan wrestler in the finals; however, he was beaten in the 189-pound final by Metuchen's Szwast, 11-9.

Those four are joined in Toms River this week by Derek Delacruz, who bounced back from a 4-3 loss to Perth Amboy's Jairo Bernal in a 112-pound semifinal to beat Carteret's Don Smith, 5-0, in the third-place bout to advance.

Metuchen is being represented in the Region V tournament by Szwast, Mike Jachim (third at 130) and Ben Hohmann (third at 152). Jachim lost to eventual district champ Matt Buchan via a pin in the semifinals before coming back to beat Perth Amboy's Edwin Arocho, 2-1, while Hohmann, who lost to Rudy in the semifinals, 8-3, came back to beat Perth Amboy's Johnny Rodriguez, 8-1.