On Wrestling's Biggest Weekend, Brick Athletes Shine

(Alec Donovan smiles as he stands atop the podium at the NJSIAA Wrestling Championships Sunday. Credit: Karen Wall)

As workers in Boardwalk Hall began packing up the NJSIAA’s wrestling mat for the final time of the season, longtime observers of high school wrestling in New Jersey were taking score of the weekend.

And while the 2015 NJSIAA State Wrestling Championships were dominated by parochial schools, there was one fact that stood out: Out of the 112 wrestlers who medaled -- medals are awarded for first through eighth place in 14 weight classes -- seven were from Brick Township schools.

A little perspective:

That’s seven wrestlers out of 336 who started the weekend, after placing in the top three in regional competition. That’s seven wrestlers out of 1,344 who reached the eight region tournaments by placing in the top three in their districts.

And that’s seven wrestlers out of 4,480 statewide who began the chase for Atlantic City at the 32 district tournaments -- which comprise the best wrestlers at 10 or 11 schools, depending on the district -- that took place the weekend of Feb. 20-21. Ten wrestlers per weight class start at the districts, and each weight class at the region tournament is 12 wrestlers. Twenty-four from each weight class reach Atlantic City.

Only Bergen Catholic -- a parochial school that draws students from a wider area -- had more medalists, with eight.

It’s an accomplishment that Alec Donovan, Gianni Ghione, Cliff Ruggiero, and Nick Rivera from Brick Memorial High School, and Dean Sherry, Kyle Wojtaszek, and Will Scott from Brick Township High School should be proud of earning, especially considering they wrestle in one of the toughest conferences in the state: 20 Shore Conference wrestlers medaled this weekend.

Here’s how those seven Brick Township wrestlers finished out the weekend:

• Donovan, a senior, had the biggest smiles of all on Sunday evening, as he won a state title at 145 pounds. He earned a 1-0 decision over Stephan Glasgow of Bound Brook, earning the point when Glasgow decided to turn him loose for an escape point to start the third 2-minute period of the final. Glasgow tried repeatedly to take Donovan down, but the Donovan never let him have a good shot.
• Ghione, a sophomore, took silver at 113, battling Brandon Cray of Hamilton East, who set the tempo for most of the bout. Cray, who took fourth in the state at 106 in 2014, and Ghione have wrestled each other in the past at other events, so they went into the final knowing each other’s style. Cray won 3-1 and never gave Ghione much of a chance.
• Ruggiero, a senior, also took silver, running into David McFadden of DePaul Catholic in the 160-pound final. McFadden controlled Ruggiero -- who had pinned two of his four opponents on the way to reaching Sunday’s final, including a 44-second pin of Edward Lenkowski in Saturday’s semifinals -- en route to a 7-2 victory in the championship bout.
• Rivera, a sophomore, dueled Zack Chakonis, an undefeated senior from Don Bosco, at heavyweight and came away with silver. Rivera, who wrestled hard, couldn’t get an edge against the more experienced senior, who claimed a 5-1 victory.
• Wojtaszek, the Dragons’ senior who lost to state runner-up Joshua Ugalde of Bound Brook in the prequarterfinals on Friday night, put an exclamation point on his impressive run through the wrestlebacks at 170 pounds, claiming bronze with a pin of Kenny Long from Holy Cross in the third period.
• Sherry, a senior, shook off the disappointment of his Saturday night loss in the 182-pound semifinals to claim bronze as well, with a 12-3 major decision over Nick DePalma of DePaul in the third-place bout. Sherry simply went after DePalma, never giving him a rest. Sherry, who had lost to state champion Kevin Mulligan of Bergen Catholic in the semifinals, also scored a 15-3 major decision over Chris Morgan of West Orange to reach the third-place bout.
• Scott, a senior 160-pounder, took sixth place, falling to Tyler Mullen of Northern Valley-Old Tappan, who pinned him in the fifth-sixth-place bout. Scott had reached the semifinals but was knocked into the consolation bracket by McFadden, who pinned him in 2:54 on Saturday evening before turning his attention to Ruggiero on Sunday.