Rockets settle for a close second in District 22
Region VI tournament next for handful of local grapplers
BY WARREN RAPPLEYEA
Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY staff Middletown South's Tim Tomaino tries to pin Middletown North's Tom Booth during Saturday's District 22 215-pound semifinal bout at Middletown South.

Eight members of the Raritan High School wrestling team will compete in the NJSIAA Region VI competition after qualifying with solid performances in the District 22 Tournament.

Greg Alexander (103 pounds), Billy Voutsinas (135) and David Seidenberg (140) won their respective weight classes, while sophomore Chris van Sechtman (112), T.J. Mitchell (125), Dan Seidenberg (160), and Dan Bilowus (171) finished second, and sophomore Cody Mooney (119) finished third in his weight class. Raritan finished in second place, behind Ocean, 205.5-193.

"It was a good weekend for us," Raritan coach Rob Nucci said. "Our guys have worked hard all year long to get to this point and it's great to see it pay off. It's quite an accomplishment for eight guys to be moving on."

Overall Raritan went 22-2 on the year, winning the Shore Conference's Class A Central crown. The Rockets made their way to the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II finals before bowing to South Plainfield. Along the way, Nucci's club downed long-time nemesis Delaware Valley in the semifinal. Raritan also got to the final four in the Shore Conference tourney, the first Group II team to achieve that feat in 27 years, Nucci said. The Rockets only other loss came against powerful Jackson in the Shore Conference semifinal.

JEFFGRANIT staff Holmdel's Kris Reidy gets his fingers caught in the eyes of Freehold Borough's Ben Ostner during their 171-pound semifinal bout at Saturday's District 21 tournament in Manalapan.

Other highlights included a victory over Long Branch and a pair of triumphs over Wall, one of which ended in a tie and was decided in Raritan's favor by the seventh tie-breaking criteria - most back points.

Seven Rockets passed the 20-victory milestone and both Mitchell and Dan Seidenberg earned their 100th career victories in the District 22 semifinals. Mitchell leads the team in wins with a 32-2 mark and David Seidenberg is 31-3. Dan Seidenberg is right behind at 30-3, and his success in the District 22 semi-final was his 101st win.

JEFFGRANIT staff St. John Vianney's Kyle Patton grapples with Freehold Township's Dustin Craven during the District 21 tournament at Manalapan on Saturday.

Voutsinas, whose 3-2 victory helped propel Raritan over Delaware Valley, is 28-2; Alexander and Mooney have identical 26-8 ledgers; Bilowus owns a 24-10 mark; van Sechtman is 20-12; and Bob Hornacek, a junior, is 19-12.

The Rockets also received solid contributions from sophomore Chris Lobello (152), who went 15-11; Kevin Moore (130), who quickly cut weight to get ready after football season and went 14-10, keeping up a hectic pace for the full six minutes; and Chris Mooney, who was 6-6 shuttling between 215 and heavyweight. A first-time wrestler, Chris Mooney joined the team after football season and posted important wins against Long Branch and Delaware Valley.

Nucci noted that two sophomores showed plenty of promise in the upper weight divisions. Aaron Cruez (189) earned nine victories and Matt Walsh (HW) posted six wins.

Also of note: Raritan's coaches were named the District 22 coaching staff of the year. The staff includes Rich Dunnells, Eric Pritchard, Chris Villa, Dennis Andreola and Allen Mui.

"It's been a good year for our program and, hopefully, some of our guys will be going to the Super-Regionals," Nucci said. "Our team has come a long way over the last few years and it's because we have a great coaching staff and kids who are willing to come in here and work hard."

Plenty of locals flourish at district tournaments

While Raritan was the top local team in District 22, perhaps the most surprising showing came from Middletown North, which finished third in the team standings with 133 points.

The Lions didn't crown any individual champions, but did send three grapplers into the finals. Sophomore Alex Turitzen reached the 103-pound final, where he lost to Raritan's Alexander, 18-6, while sophomore Jake Bruno fell in the 130-pound final to CBA's James Beshada via a pin at the 2:17 mark. Senior Rob Shope reached the 189-pound final, where he ran into a buzzsaw in Ocean's Jeff Siciliano (the top-ranked 189-pounder in the state), and was pinned in 39 seconds.

Also advancing to the Region VI competition for the Lions were senior Brian Paone, who dropped his 145-pound semifinal bout to CBA's Joe Favia, 7-2, before coming back to beat Raritan's Bob Hornacek, 12-7, in their third-place consolation bout, and Tom Booth, who took third at 215 with a pin of Monmouth Regionals Chris Salcedo in 4:22. Booth fell to Middletown South's Tim Tomaino in the semifinals, 15-2.

Tomaino, a junior, went on to beat Keansburg's Rich Roser, 5-3, to win the 215-pound title. He will be joined at the Region VI tournament by teammates Andrew Dominach, a sophomore, who took third at 103 pounds, with a consolation-round win over CBA's Pat Cunningham, 10-2, and sophomore Charlie Croce, who bounced back from a loss to Beshada in the semifinals to beat Raritan's Kevin Moore, 3-1, in the third-place bout.

CBA put forth a strong team showing for fourth place with 110 points, led by the dominating performance of Beshada. The talented senior remained undefeated on the year (33-0) and could easily have won the tournament's outstanding wrestler award. With his pin over Ocean's Billy Knifel on Friday, Beshada notched his 100th career win, and enters the Region VI tournament this weekend ranked fourth in the state at 130 pounds.

Beshada will have plenty of company in Toms River this week, as a total of six Colt grapplers advanced with top three finishes. Favia, also a senior, took second at 145 pounds, losing to Ocean's Nick Menditto, 8-4, in a hard-fought bout in the final. Meanwhile, junior James Tracy bounced back from a semifinal loss to take third at 112, beating North's Alex Dulin with a pin in 3:15. Senior Frank McGrall took third at 125 with a pin of Red Bank's Jake Lenz in 1:54, after falling in the semifinals to eventual champion Zac Coulas of Ocean via a pin.

Sophomore Dylan Meade also advanced for the Colts with a pin of RBC's Tyler Short in 3:29, to take third at 140 pounds, while senior Sal Musto bounced back from a semifinal loss to Raritan's Dan Seidenberg to beat North's Justin Persico in the third-place bout, 10-4.

At the District 21 tournament at Manalapan High School, the Jackson Jaguars dominated, as expected, sending 10 of its 14 grapplers on to the Region VI tournament. Locally, Matawan put on a strong showing, taking fifth with 84 team points, and sending two wrestlers to the next round.

Senior Robert Sousa was the top performer, as he finished second at 171 pounds, losing to Freehold Borough's Ben Ostner, 14-0, in the finals. Sousa will be joined in Toms River this week by teammate sophomore Cesare Antista, who took third at 119 with a 6-2 win over Howell's Jeff Supzyinski in their third-place bout. Antista was beaten by Freehold Township's Mitch Berger, the eventual champ, 9-3, in the semifinals.

St. John Vianney will also be represented at the Region VI tournament, as Tom Kevlin bounced back from a 10-6 semifinal loss to Howell's Jason Ecklof in the 152-pound semifinal round to beat Matawan's Andrew DeNardo with a pin at 1:52 of their third-place bout.

The Region VI Tournament will be the final step toward AC. The Top 3 finishers from each weight class will advance.

The tournament started Tuesday night with the second- and third-place finishers from the four Districts involved squaring off. Friday is the quarterfinals and the start of the wrestle-backs with Saturday, the semifinals and finals. The state championships are March 2-4.

- Doug McKenzie contributed to this story