McAuley leads list of locals heading to A.C. BY SHAWN LAYTON Staff Writer EDISON - Bishop Ahr High School wrestling team's Joe McAuley heads the list of area grapplers headed to Atlantic City's Convention Hall this weekend to compete for a state title. McAuley captured the Region 5 title at 140 pounds with a pin over Will Buchan of Woodbridge in the finals in 3:37, and in doing so was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler. "The key was that Joe was intense in every match," Bishop Ahr head coach Nick Tonzola said. "In all three of his losses this season you can pinpoint a stretch of time when he lost his intensity. He didn't lose focus the entire tournament and he's wrestling really well right now and that's exactly what you want heading into the states." McAuley advanced to the finals with a 4-3 win over Bridgewater-Raritan's Dan Liss. "Although the final score was close and Joe won by just a point, he was in control the whole way," Tonzola said. "He gave up all of the points intentionally and he was never in danger." McAuley advanced to Region 5 with a second-place finish at the District 19 Tournament behind J.P. Stevens' Greg Zannetti. This year marked the second straight year he advanced to Region 5. In 2006, McAuley took eighth and failed to advance to the states while teammate Hector Gonzalez made the trip south and finished among the top 16 in his weight class. "The 140 pound weight class was really loaded this year," Tonzola said. "It was a class that could have 10 different winners 10 weeks in a row." McAuley's first match is scheduled for Friday and Tonzola has high hopes for McAuley to wrestle deep into the tournament. "Joe has to continue to practice with intensity," Tonzola said. "He had a strong week of practice last week and hopefully he realized it will take another good week. He has the capability to go far, absolutely." Also advancing from Region 5 to the state tournament along with McAuley and Buchan are second-place finishers Mike FrancoBandiero (Edison), Dan Keiser (J.P. Stevens), Pete Simon (JFK) and Vin Maglione (JFK). Consolation match winners making the trip are JFK grapplers Tommy Hogan (103) and Anthony Howard (145). Unfortunately, Metuchen's Mike Jachim (130), Edison's Brandon Swift (145), and Woodbridge's Craig Batista (160) just missed qualifying for this weekend's action with fourth-place finishes at Region 5. Franco-Bandiero reached the Region V final at 112 pounds, where he dropped a 2-1 decision to last year's state runner-up, Delaware Valley's Dan Kelly, while Keiser fell in the 125 final to Del Val's Kris Sigafoos, 4-3. Sigafoos (27-2) was fifth in the state last year. Simon, who finished fifth in the state last year, fell in the 171-pound final to Old Bridge's Eddie Ebewo, 17-6 - the third time Ebewo has defeated Simon this year. Ebewo, who was knocked out of the Region tournament in the first round last year by Simon, is one of the state's most improved wrestlers, and has certainly blossomed thanks to his daily workouts with teammate Chris Orzechowski, the 189-pound Region V champ. Maglione had one of the toughest tasks of anyone in the final round when he took on Bridgewater-Raritan's Roy Dragon III in the final. Dragon, a three-time Region champ who was third in the state last year, pinned Maglione in 1:40, but not before the Mustang grappler avenged two earlier defeats to Old Bridge's Travis Gerdon with a pin in 1:29 of their semifinal match-up. Hogan bounced back from a 3-2 loss to Del Val's Bobby Stevely in the quarterfinal round to earn a shot at third place, where he avenged that defeat to Stevely with a 5-4 win. Howard, meanwhile, fell to the eventual champion, Del Val's Tyler Riccio, 7-2, in the semifinals, but came back to beat Edison's Swift, 2-1, to earn his trip to Atlantic City.