Rebels SCT Dreams End With Loss to Rams

In defeating the Ocean Spartans and Point Boro Panthers on Friday night, the Howell wrestling team punched a ticket for a spot in Saturday's Shore Conference semifinals.

The third-seeded Rebels took on the two seed, Southern Regional, while the fourth-seed Rariatan Rockets were looking for an upset against top-seeded Jackson Memorial. The winners of those matches would meet in the Shore Conference final.

Throughout the semifinal match for the Rebels, there were plenty of ups and downs.

One of the best moments of the season saw senior Mike Shaughnessy get his 100th career win in his 140-pound match with Anthony Meesler.

Shaughnessy posted a 6-3 victory in a match that was stopped many times due to blood timeouts.

"It's an awesome feeling," Shaughnessy said. "It's an opportunity not many get to experience.  There has been a lot of work put in to achieve this."

"Through his four years here, he has been a big part of our program," Howell head coach John Gagliano said. "Today was a tough match up too, but he just went out there and did his job as he always does."

The match kicked off with the 215-pound weight class that paired Howell's Johnny Hlava against Cody Smead.  Hlava trailed 9-2 after the second period but fought back and cut the lead to 10-6 but it was not enough, as Southern took a 3-0 lead following the decision.

Southern's Kyle Cox beat Bryan Sherlotti 4-2 in triple overtime. The two heavyweights were tied at 1. Sherlotti had gotten to his feet late and escaped Cox taking a lead in the third overtime. Just when it looked as if Sherlotti was going to win, the tables turned as Cox pulled off an escape and in a matter of seconds took Sherlotti down to give the Rams a 6-0 lead.

Jimmy Slendorn and Ben Esposito lost their 103 and 112 matches, respectively, by a combined three points. Slendorn fell behind Kyle Davis 6-1 after two periods before coming back scoring three points in the third.

Esposito suffered a similar fate. The sophomore yielded four early points to Zach Wilhelm and despite getting within one point after a late takedown, he could not muster anymore in the loss.

Freshman Matt Lindenmann got the Rebels on the board following his defeat by decision over Southern's Trevor Mooney at 119. Lindenmann won,  8-4.

Fellow freshman Joey Shultz followed up Lindenmann with a decision victory of his own. Shultz defeated Bryan Bowker in the 125-pound bout, 10-4.

Southern answered with a decision, a major decision and a pin that lead up to the Shaughnessy victory which made the score 25-9 in favor of Southern.

Cody Kirk  of Howell won his 152-pound bout in double overtime over Cory Case by virtue of his ability to escape to earn himself a point and then not allow Case to leave his grasp, as Case tried to escape.

Junior Zach Bohn defeated the Rams' Connor Case 8-0. Bohn and Kirk got Howell within 10 points before the Rams' Jeff McElwee pinned Matt Sulkowski at 171 pounds, to clinch a berth in the finals for the Rams. Southern forfeited the 189 bout and defeated Howell in a close 31-22 battle.

The Rams went on to upset Jackson Memorial in the finals, 28-23.