South Brunswick Wrestling Edged in CJ Group IV Semifinals

Considering how one-sided the match was the first time the two teams wrestled against each other this season, both coaches were expecting changes when South Brunswick hosted Howell in the Central Jersey Group IV semifinals on Wednesday night.

Amazingly, the changes even included the winner of the match.

Howell defeated South Brunswick, 33-29. When the two teams met in a regular season match on Dec. 22, South Brunswick won by a score of 39-22.

"Howell is a team with a great tradition and program," South Brunswick Coach Joe Dougherty said. "With a team like that, what you get in December isn't going to be the same as what you get in February."

Well, at the start, it sure looked like it would be. If anything, South Brunswick was doing even a little better than the first time around.

Tyler Jaramillo decisioned Zach Bohm, 5-3. When the two met earlier in the season, Bohm won by decision.

"That was a huge win for us," Dougherty said. "That was something we needed to happen to have a chance."

Jake Pietrefesa (160) and Ali Yildiz (171) followed with major decisions. When Lucus Del Piano added a pin at 189 pounds, South Brunswick was leading 17-0.

Unfortunately for South Brunswick, the big changes from the first meeting were coming.

Howell's John Hlava went from 189 pounds in the first match to 215. He then recorded an 11-2 win over Dallas Siegel.

"We knew we had to make some changes," Howell Coach John Gagliano said. "The first time we wrestled against them didn't work.

"We also knew we had to change some of the losses. Getting bonus points was also going to be key."

South Brunswick's Kevin Moses was leading his 285-pound match by three points going into the final seconds. Suddenly, Howell's Bryan Sherlotti put Moses on his back and managed a pin with less than one second (.7) to go in the match.

"He (Sherlotti) went from getting pinned in the first match to getting a pin," Gagliano noted. "That's a 12-point swing. Obviously, that was huge. And it was such an exciting match. It was just going back and forth."

Jimmy Slendorn cut South Brunswick's advantage to 17-16 with a pin at 103 pounds. South Brunswick's Jordan Pagano, however, responded with a 4-3 win over Ben Esposito in overtime.

Going into the final five matches, South Brunswick was holding on to a 20-16 lead.

Howell closed the gap with Matt Lindemann's 9-4 win over Justin Lopez at 119 pounds. Howell then took the team lead when Joey Schultz decisioned Tommy Dorsay, 7-2, at 125 pounds. Schultz had wrestled at 130 pounds when the teams met earlier in the season.

"We wrestled a completely different team the first time," Dougherty noted. "They had different kids or they had them in the right weight class."

Howell changed eight of their 14 weight slots from its first meeting with South Brunswick.

Both teams had different wrestlers at 135 pounds. South Brunswick's Steve Mastro defeated Stephen Strauss, 10-8, in overtime.

South Brunswick now led 23-22 with three matches left.

"I figured this would come down to the final bout," Dougherty said. "I liked our chances putting Jordan Pagano out there. I was confident with Jordan Pagano out there."

Pagano did win, picking up a forfeit at 145 pounds. The team match, however, had been decided before that.

Howell's Cole Cameron won by pin at 135 pounds. Mike Shaughnessy then clinched the team victory with a technical fall at 140 pounds.

"Howell's a lot better team than we faced the first time," Dougherty said. "We're probably also a better team  than we were in December. We just left some points out on the mat."

Points that Howell needed to close that 17-point gap.