Atlantic City offers the full gamut of emotions GMC wrestlers fare well against state's best BY DOUG McKENZIE Staff Writer PHOTOS BY JEFFGRANIT staff Above, Old Bridge's Eddie Ebewo tries to get Camden Catholic's Anthony Trongone, the eventual 171-pound champion, off his back during Saturday's quarterfinal bout in Atlantic City. At right, Spotswood's Drew Mackay does the same with Belvidere's C.J. Triantafyllos, while below, South RIver's Adam Mongelli pumps his fists after defeating New Egypt's Tom Morton in their first-round bout on Friday. Atlantic City can be a cruel place.It can also be a place where dreams come true. The top wrestlers in the state had an opportunity to experience the wide spectrum of emotions that the season's final tournament offers when they converged on Boardwalk Hall this past weekend to compete in the NJSIAA's state championships. For a handful of local grapplers, there were plenty of highs and lows over the course of the weekend. As the Old Bridge Knights put together another stellar season on the mats, the tandem of seniors Eddie Ebewo and Chris Orzechowski were the catalysts more often than not. With both grapplers capturing District and Region titles, they headed to A.C. with a combined record of 65-1, and hopes of competing for titles in their respective weight classes. While neither of them was able to achieve that goal, they certainly proved they were among the very best wrestlers in the state. Ebewo entered the 171-pound bracket seeded fourth in the bottom bracket, and immediately posted a 6-4 win over Point Boro's Skylar Engelken in his first match on Friday. He then drew a tough assignment in Anthony Trongone of Camden Catholic, a state runner-up last year. Trongone proved to be as good as advertised and handed Ebewo just his second loss of the season, 13-4. Trongone went on to upset the top seed, Ocean Township's Kyle Kiss, to claim the state title at 171. For many wrestlers, it is extremely difficult to come back from a loss in Atlantic City and maintain the focus it takes to win the next match. For Ebewo, it was simply a matter of challenging himself. "Coach told me to keep going and to keep focused. He said to dust it off, but it is hard," he said. "I didn't really come here with a goal, but that motivated me, just to keep giving it everything I had. Every time I accomplished something this year, coach told me that there was more to achieve." In his first wrestleback match later Saturday afternoon, Ebewo beat Newark Academy's Craig Helfer, 9-1, before falling to Bergen Catholic's Jonathon Becker, 6-5. That put Ebewo in the seventh-place match on Sunday morning, where he beat Hackettstown's Zach Ulm, 5-2. Following his win, Ebewo was all smiles, as he was immediately able to put his success in its proper perspective. "I placed in the state; not many people get to do that," he said. Orzechowski, who entered the tournament undefeated and as the fourth seed in the top bracket, took a similar route to the seventh-place match. After receiving a bye in the first round, he beat Bloomfield's Ryan Ackerman, 12-1, in his first bout, before falling to the top seed, Ocean Township's Jeff Siciliano, by pinfall in 1:31. Siciliano has earned a reputation as someone who records a lot of quick pins, and he was able to catch Orzechowski. But like Ebewo, Orzechowski was able to maintain his focus and keep working hard. "It was tough," the Old Bridge senior said. "I kind of shut down mentally and got pinned by Siciliano. That was my first loss of the season, and it didn't sink in right away. But I knew I had to wrestleback against some very tough wrestlers and would need to beat some very good wrestlers to place in the top eight." In his first wrestleback, Orzechowski beat Bridgewater's Drew Ives, 4-2, before falling to Middlesex's Joe Bozzomo, who finished fifth in the state, 3-2. That put him in the seventh-place match on Sunday, where he met a familiar face, Sergio Garcia of East Brunswick. Garcia's road to the seventh-place match included wins over Ridgefield's Phil Hawes (with a pin in 5:33) and Ives, 3-1. He then fell to Central's Nick Tenpenny (who went on to beat Siciliano for third place) in 1:42, before bouncing back with a wrestleback pin of Lenape's Vince Termini in 4:41. A loss to Westwood's Anthony LiSanti, 8-3, earned him his match with Orzechowski. Although they come from neighboring towns who wrestle in the same division, Orzechowski and Garcia did not face each other this season in their teams' dual meets. "This was actually the first time we've wrestled against each other, but he was coming to our practices last week because he had no one else to wrestle with," Orzechowski said. "It's funny that we would meet again in the seventh-place match. He's a very tough wrestler." Orzechowski was able to win the match, 6-2, to take home the seventh-place medal. "I did all right, just not what I expected of myself," he said after defeating Garcia. "I'll never be completely satisfied, but now this is in the past. But I'll probably be dreaming about it for a while." For now, he'll start thinking about where he wants to wrestle next, having narrowed his college choices down to Rutgers, Bucknell, Lehigh and the University of Pennsylvania, among others. Monroe's Sam Emburgia, the surprise of the Region V tournament, lost his first 103-pound match on Friday, falling to South Plainfield's Nick Heilman, 11-4, but came back to win his first wrestleback, 8-6, over Brian Conley of St. Augustine. He was then eliminated by Camden Catholic's Mike Tully, 8-6, but not before gaining some valuable experience to cap what has been a memorable sophomore season. South River's Adam Mongelli won his first bout at 112, beating New Egypt's Tom Morton, 9-8, before falling to Jaishon Scott of Montclair, 11-3. Mongelli was then eliminated by Toms River East's Vinnie Dellafave, who went on to take third at 112, with a pin in 1:34. South Brunswick's Ryan Smith scored a first-round win over River Del's Tony Cariddi with a pin (1:28) at 140, before falling to Camden Catholic's Dakota Moore, 8-6, in overtime on Friday. He then lost a wrestleback Saturday morning to Dan Clarke, of Ramsey, 7-2, to end his tournament run. Spotswood's Drew Mackay lost his first match at heavyweight to Morris Knolls' Zac Walsh by pin in 3:30, then fell in the wrestlebacks to Belvidere's C.J. Triantafyllos, 5-4. Sayreville's Scott Poore had a quick stay in A.C., losing his first-round 145-pound match to Robert Roesin of Secaucus by pin in 2:53, while Old Bridge's Travis Gerdon suffered a similar fate, falling to High Point's Chris Smith, 7-5, in overtime in their 215-pound match. There were several other GMC grapplers who represented the conference well in Atlantic City, starting with South Plainfield's Patrick Hunter, who took second at 112. Hunter lost to Dan Kelly, of Delaware Valley, 3-2, in a highly competitive bout in the final to finish 40-2 on the season. Kelly, who was the top seed, finished undefeated on the year at 41-0. Heilman went on to take fourth at 103, while Perth Amboy's Gabriel Roman was fourth at 119. Edison's Mikey FrancoBandiero left Atlantic City disappointed on Sunday, not with himself, but rather with the way his first trip to the state finals was tarnished by an unfortunate incident. The talented sophomore came home with a strong fifth-place finish, but couldn't help but feel that he should have finished third. After winning his first two bouts on Friday night, 16-9 over Camden Catholic's Taylor Walsh, and 17-4 over High Point's Tyler Forbeck, FrancoBandiero lost 12-1 in the quarterfinals to South Plainfield's Patrick Hunter, the Region V champ and the second overall seed. FrancoBandiero then entered the wrestlebacks, where he posted wins over Hopatcong's Gabe Ramos (8-3), and Vernon's Brian Hoyt (5-3), to reach the wrestleback semifinals. In that bout, against Delran's Dan Hughes, FrancoBandiero inadvertently drove Hughes headfirst into the mat with a near-fall combination. Emergency technicians immediately tended to Hughes, who was placed on an immobilizer and transported to Atlantic City Medical Center as a precaution, according to NJSIAA officials. As a result, the Edison grappler was disqualified, since he didn't bring his opponent to the mat safely while making the move. FrancoBandiero was upset with the call, but managed to maintain his focus enough to come back the next day (Sunday) and beat Don Bosco Prep's Vinny Fava, 6-4, in overtime to claim fifth place. Trailing 3-1 in the third period, FrancoBandiero scored a quick escape and a takedown to take a 4-3 lead. He then let his opponent go with just under a minute left to tie the score at 4-4, knowing that he could score another takedown in overtime, if needed, to secure the win. "I just wanted to keep grinding. I was down the whole match, but I always try to keep going at the person," he said. "Once it went to OT, I knew I was going to win. I always get a burst of energy in OT." That burst of energy allowed him to score the winning takedown with an outside single. Hughes was unable to wrestle in his third-place match, giving Toms River East's Vinnie DellaFave the third-place medal via forfeit. JFK's Pete Simon also left A.C. with a fifth-place medal - another one to add to his collection after finishing fifth last year as well. Simon won his two bouts on Friday - 12-6 over Jefferson's Trevor Salvatore and a pin at 2:22 over Lenape's Karl Reed - before dropping his quarterfinal bout against Lodi's Dan Rinaldi, 5-2. Simon then came back to beat Point Boro's Skylar Engelken, 6-3, in his first wrestleback on Saturday, then knocked off Hackettstown's Zach Ulm, 8-4, later in the day. He then fell to Kittatinny's Tommy Spellman, 10-6, putting him in the fifth-place match against Bergen Catholic's Jonathon Becker. Simon, wrestling in what would be the final match of his stellar career at JFK, then pinned Becker in 2:43 to take fifth, and end his senior season with a 37-7 record. Simon's teammate Vin Maglione won his 215-pound opener on Friday, 17-7, over Montville's Arjan Leka, then beat West Essex's Anthony Hayek with a pin at 3:22, before falling to Bergen Catholic's George Kocher via a pin at 1:23 of their quarterfinal match. Maglione was then eliminated Saturday morning with a 13-2 loss to Mitch Sparks of Cinnaminson. Like Simon, Bishop Ahr's Joe McAuley also won his final match of the year, beating Haddonfield's Andrew Hassert, 17-6, in their seventh-place match at 140 pounds. McAuley, a sophomore, lost his first match on Friday to Northern Highlands' Derek Steuben, 6-4, but came back to win two straight wrestlebacks on Saturday - 8-6 over St. Augustine's Mike DiGalbo, and 17-6 over Parsippany's Nick Bach, before falling to Raritan sophomore Dave Seidenberg, 8-2, in their wrestleback quarterfinal.