Nine Returnees Ready to go for South Brunswick Wrestling

While there are no givens in high school sports, a lot of returning athletes from a successful team the previous season is certainly a good start.

The South Brunswick High School wrestling team is off to a good start.

"The Vikings return nine letter winners from last year's squad and hope the valuable experience gained last year pays dividends," said Coach Joe Dougherty, who has been at South  Brunswick for 22 years.

Coach Dougherty guided South Brunswick to a 16-6 record last year, which included a 6-2 mark in its division. For his career, Coach Dougherty has led South Brunswick squads to a record of 273-169-3.

The returning letter winners for South Brunswick include a pair of seniors. Lucus DelPiano, who will wrestle at 189, had a record of 8-5 last year and is 11-8 overall in his career. Steven Mastro, who will wrestle at  130 or 135 pounds, had a record of 3-8 last year.

The returning juniors are James Pagano (140/145), Tyler Jaramillo (152), Justin Lopez (112/119), Fran White (125), Chad Capraro (119), Luke Rimmer (140/145) and Jake Pietrefesa (160). All of these wrestlers won in double digits last year. Pagano was 18-12 (55-41 for his career), Jaramillo 17-18 (33-30 in his career), Lopez 22-15 (28-32 in his career), White 13-18 (31-28 in his career, Capraro 17-19 (21-22 in his career), Rimmer 17-13 and Pietrefesa was 15-12.

South Brunswick also has 18 new wrestlers that are working hard to get a spot in the lineup.

As usual, several of the freshmen will compete for spots in the lower weights, with George Young at 103 pounds,  Jordan Pagano at 112 and Tommy Dorsay at 125 or 130 pounds. Ali Yildiz is the exception as he wrestles at 171 pounds.

The new sophomores on the team are Parth Patel (112), Anthony Mastandino (119), Jesse Tainow (125/130), Constantine Rissiotis (140 or 145) and Kevin Moses (285),

The juniors trying to earn a spot are Matt Baratta (130 or 135), Ryan Dorsay (140 or 145), Kabir Golphin (152 or 160), Jasprett Singh (171) and Dallas Siegel (215).

The seniors trying to earn a spot are Jake Nieves (130/135), David Dominguez (130/135), Vic Aikal (152) and Andre Bankhole-Hones (160).

"This year the Vikings hope to remain competitive and improve upon last year's record and their finishes in the GMC (Greater Middlesex Conference) and District 20," Dougherty said.

South Brunswick will open the season at home on Saturday at 10 a.m. as it hosts Hillsborough, Camden Catholic and Warren Hills in a quad meet.  South Brunswick will also be home on Dec. 22 to host Howell at 7 p.m.