Knights take home Ice Breaker team title
BY WARREN RAPPLEYEA
Staff Writer

The Old Bridge High School wrestling team opened its campaign by winning Matawan’s Icebreaker Invitational for the second successive season, and coach Brian Garnett is optimistic that his squad can better last season’s 16-6 dual-match record.

Last winter, the Knights took second place in the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) Red Division, second in the GMC tourney and second in the District 20 competition.

“We had a good year — a lot of seconds,” Garnett said. “We were very close to winning both the Districts and the GMC, this year we want to win them both.”

Old Bridge has plenty of talent and returns four wrestlers with more than 20 wins: Eddie Ebewo (171 pounds), 26-13; Chris Orzechowski (189), 26-10; Travis Gerdon (215), 24-9; and junior Chris Suozzo (160), 24-15.

Gerdon was second in the GMC and District events and took fourth in Region V; Ebewo finished third in the District and fifth in the GMC; Orzechowski took third in both competitions; Suozzo was third in the GMC and second in the District.

“We’re very strong in the upper weight classes,” Garnett said. “Because of that some very good wrestlers won’t be in the starting lineup, at least not at the start.”

SCOTT PILLING staff East Brunswick’s Todd Maryott squeezes Middletown North’s Steve Grobelny for the pin during a bout on Saturday at the Neptune Classic.

In addition, heavyweight Troy Duecaster posted a 19-14 mark and Hamayun Daftani (171) was 18-13. Other key returnees include Matt Valentino (119), 14-20 and Brenton Mack (135), 4-4; juniors Andrew Schaeffer (112), 13-20; John Giusti (125), 10-21; and Justin Kitchen (152), 7-13; as well as sophomore Trevor Haughney (135), 13-16.

Giusti, who took third in his weight class at the Icebreaker, wrestled throughout the summer and is poised to have a strong season, and Garnett pointed out that the experience they gained last season will certainly help them this time around.

The remainder of the starting lineup heading into yesterday’s opener against J.P. Stevens included Mike Conway (140), who moves up following a strong junior varsity campaign, junior Joe Dunn (130) and freshman Conor Hayes (103), who took third place at the Icebreaker.

“They’re a hard-working group and they’ll continue to improve, plus we have several other guys who are knocking on the door to get into the lineup.”

This group includes junior David Zafrani (130) and sophomores Larry Mcdonald (125) and Rob Vafiadou (135), and Rob Weiss and John Najielik both 140. All were part of a freshman team that lost just once last year.

Garnett, now in his second year at the Old Bridge helm, credited former coach Ken Scott with creating and nurturing the winning tradition that the Knights are known for.

“This is a great program and I’m very proud to be the coach,” he said. “Ken Scott did a great job and the community is very supportive. We also have a great feeder system through the recreation and middle school programs. So, naturally, we have high expectations.”

Following its match against Stevens, the Knights will compete in the Hunterdon Central Tournament during the holiday break.

Tournaments offer early tests

for locals

While Old Bridge was impressive in winning the Ice Breaker Tournament, the wrestling team from Monroe put forth a strong effort in the Ewing Tournament, taking third place behind champion Point Pleasant Beach (165) and Allentown (163). The Falcons finished with 138 points.

Freshman Sam Emburgia made his varsity debut a successful on by taking home the 103-pound title, defeating Point Beach’s John Palso, 6-4 in the title bout.

Also taking the top spot on the podium was Monroe junior Jake Nale, who won the 215-pound weight class with a pin of Willingboro’s Drew Harris at the 1:29 mark of their final bout.

The Falcons, who enter the season with good numbers and plenty of optimism under head coaches Allen Rushing and Sal Profaci, also got third-place finishes from senior Chris Boehm at 171, senior Wally Seaman at 135 and heavyweight Frank Olexsen. Taking fourth for the Falcons were Chris (145) and Nick (152) Garibaldi.

Monroe, who finished 14-13 last year, will need to get over the loss of Grant Herring and Justin Lupo to graduation (a combined 54-12 record last year), but has plenty of talent returning, led by Nale, who was 25-12 last year, as well as junior Brendan Hodel (22-17 last year) and junior Justin Mazon (10-7) among others.

At the Colt Classic at Christian Brothers Academy in Middletown, Spotswood Drew Mackay opened his senior season with a bang, claiming the heavyweight title by pinning all three opponents he faced. Mackay, last year’s GMC champion at heavyweight, beat High Point’s Chris Luciano in 2:24 in the final bout to close out his dominant performance. Coming off a 35-4 season, expect more of the same from Mackay the rest of the way.

Also finishing well for the Chargers, who took seventh overall in the 12-team event, were sophomore Nick Underwood (130) and senior Jon Liebowitz (130), who both advanced to the semifinals.

East Brunswick’s young team saw three of its grapplers advance to the semifinals of the prestigious Neptune Classic, as seniors Todd Maryott (140), Bryan Pedreiro (171) and Sergio Garcia (189) all performed well. Garcia, coming off a 17-6 season, came back to win his third-place consolation match.

Fifth-ranked Sayreville hosted a quad match on Saturday, and came away with three wins. After knocking off New Brunswick (75-6) and South River (60-15), the Bombers were challenged a bit by Piscataway before pulling out the 49-21 victory.