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UNION COUNTY TOURNAMENT SEEDS

Scotch Plains-Fanwood sophomore center fielder Joey D'Annunzio (top above) and senior catcher James Dinizo (bottom above) will lead No. 4 seed Scotch Plains-Fanwood against No. 13 seed Jonathan Dayton Saturday afternoon in a first round Union County Tournament game.

Thursday
No. 17 Rahway at No. 16 Plainfield winner to play at No. 1 Elizabeth (Saturday). 3 p.m.

No. 9 Linden at No. 8 Governor Livingston (Saturday), 3 p.m.

No. 12 Summit at No. 5 Roselle Catholic (Saturday, 3 p.m.

No. 13 Dayton at No. 4 Scotch Plains-Fanwood (Saturday), 3 p.m.

Thursday
No. 19 Hillside at No. 14 Roselle Park winner to play at No. 3 Cranford (Saturday), 3 p.m.

No. 11 Brearley at No. 6 Union Catholic (Saturday), 3 p.m.

No. 10 Johnson at No. 7 Union (Saturday), 3 p.m.

Thursday
No. 18 Oratory Prep at No. 15 New Providence winner to play at No. 2 Westfield (Saturday), 3 p.m.

Blogs are moving

Starting tomorrow, this blog will be relocated to the new website mycentraljersey.com, which will be a combined site for the Courier News and Home News Tribune.

I am not exactly sure what the link will be yet. I will post it when I know.

Thanks to all the readers who make this blog worthwhile. I hope we can make a smooth transition together.

Bridgewater-Raritan beats Somerville Sunday night

Greg Grande's two-run double in the second inning turned out to be the game-winning hit as Bridgewater-Raritan beat Somerville 4-1 at Prince Rodgers Field, snapping the Pioneers' 10-game winning streak.

The Panthers also handed Somerville senior ace lefty Ryan Zamorsky his first loss of the season. Zamorsky is 5-1. He struck out five, walked three and allowed five hits. He allowed two earned in six innings.

Senior Andrew Priece got the save for Bridgewater-Raitan. Somerville had runners on second and third in the sixth, but Priece struck out Eric Fowler and Chris Venditto to escape.

Since Gill St. Bernards surprised Bridgewater-Raritan in the Somerset County Tournament Saturday, Zamorsky started Sunday night. He will start again Saturday when fourth-seeded Somerville meets No. 13th Gill at White Oak Park in Branchburg.

Somerville (11-2) 010 000 0 - 1-5-2
Bridgewater-Raritan (6-6) 020 101 x - 4-5-3

2B: S--Zamorsky; BR-Grande

WP: Stark (2-0); LP: Zamorsky (5-1)
Save: Priece

Governor Livingston (10-4) lost to St. Rose of Belmar (13-0) Sunday night 4-1 in the Shore Challenge at FirstEnergy Park, home of the Lakewood BlueClaws.

Senior catcher Matt Fullowan singled home GL's run in the top of seventh. St. Rose scored all of its runs in the sixth.

T.J. Hoppe to The College of New Jersey

T.J. Hoppe, one of Immaculata's key leaders in its 23-1 record the past two seasons, will play at The College of New Jersey in the fall.

Hoppe was the Spartans' starting left tackle in 2006 when the Spartans went 12-0, winning a Non Public Group III state title. Hoppe was moved to left guard last season as the team went 11-1, losing to Holy Spirit in the Non-Public Group III title game.

""We moved him to left guard to make use of his trapping and sweep ability,'' Immaculata head coach Pierce Frauenheim said. ""T.J. is one of the best ofensive lineman we've had at Immaculata. He has excellent technqiue along with tremendous explosion.''

Hoppe was the winner of the Immaculata Jack Gardner Memorial Award for loyalty, dedication ad perseverance. He also received the offensive lineman MVP at the Chuck Mound Football Challenge XIII combine in 2007.

Hoppe is a Manville native.

GANNETT BASEBALL TOP 20

1. Don Bosco Prep 11-0

2. Shawnee 6-0

3. Immaculata 7-2

4. Toms River North 9-1

5. Sacred Heart 9-1

6. Morristown Beard 10-0
7. Hanover Park 8-1

8. Seton Hall Prep 8-2

9. Washington Township 10-1

10. Watchung Hills 8-2

11. Lenape 9-1

12. St. Joseph-Montvale 10-2

13. Hunterdon Central 11-2

14. Old Tappan 9-2

15. Toms River South 9-3

16. J.P. Stevens 8-1

17. Jackson Memorial 8-2

18. Bloomfield 11-2

19. Hillsborough 7-4

20. Morris Hills 9-3

Del Val's Nick LaFevre to Clarion

Delaware Valley High School senior and wrestling standout Nick LaFevre has just announced his intention to attend Clarion University in Clarion, Pa.

LaFevre, a Region 5 Tournament champ last season, finished his career as the third winningest wrestler in Del Val history. He finished with a 116-30 record only behind Kris Sigafoos (129 wins) and Dan Kelly (142 wins) on the Del Val list.

LaFevre was a four-time District 17 champion.

LaFevre will major in business.

Tough day for Westfield

Eight runs in the top of the seventh at Union. An improbable rally. Darkness. Game called. Rally wiped out.

That's what happened to Westfield Wednesday afternoon in a 4-hour marathon at Union.

The Blue Devils lost 18-12. Now, Westfield scored eight runs in the top of the seventh to take a 20-18 lead.

But.

With darkness closing in, Union's first batter in the bottom of the seventh walked. Umpires then decided to call the game because of darkness. Thus the game reverts to the end of six, meaning a 18-12 Union win.

Tough to take.

Now here's where there's a twist. Union has lights. Could somebody have put the lights on as darkness closed in? Seems reasonable enough, right?

"I don't blame the umpires,'' said Westfield coach Bobby Brewster, who said he had never seen anything like it in more than 30 years of coaching.

Hunterdon/Warren Tournament seeds

Here are the seedings for the Hunterdon/Warren Baseball Tournament that starts with preliminary round games this Saturday.


No. 9 Belvidere (5-5) at No. 8 Voorhees (1-8-1) this Saturday; winner to play No. 1 and defending champion Hunterdon Central (11-1) Saturday May 3 (2 p.m.)

No. 5 North Warren (8-2) at No. 4 North Hunterdon (7-3) Saturday, May 3 (2 p.m.)

No. 6 Hackettstown (8-2) at No. 3 Phillipsburg (4-4) Saturday, May 3 (2 p.m.)

No. 10 South Hunterdon (2-6) at No. 7 Delaware Valley (5-5) Saturday (2 p.m.)winner to play at No. 2 Warren Hills (8-3) Saturday May 3 (2 p.m.)

Semifinals are scheduled for Saturday May 10 at higher seeded team.

Final will be held 2 p.m. May 17 at HealthQuest. Rain date is Monday May 19 at higher seeded team.

Riddick to play at Notre Dame

Immaculata High School star running back Theo Riddick is expected to announce that he will play at Notre Dame University tomorrow afternoon at a press conference at the Somerville school.
Riddick, who led Immaculata to a 12-0 season and the state Non-Public Group III championship in 2006, was offered more than 10 scholarships, including those from Penn State, Boston College, the University of Pittsburgh and Syracuse.
Riddick will play for Irish head coach Charlie Weis, a 1974 graduate of Middlesex High School, who also coached at Franklin High School for a year.

Somerset County Tournament selections

Can Bridgewater-Raritan get back to Commerce Bank Ballpark and the Somerset County Tournament semifinals?

The Panthers are 3-3 now after beating Scotch Plains-Fanwood 4-3 Saturday afternoon. Bridgewater-Raritan has strong leadership in senior third baseman/right handed pitcher Corey Frankosky (above top picture) and promising newcomers like sophomore shortstop Jon Guida (above bottom picture).

The Panthers play host to No. 13 Gill St. Bernards Saturday at 2 p.m. in a county tournament second round game. Ninth-seed Franklin plays at No. 8 Rutgers Prep; No. 14 Bound Brook plays at No. 6 Ridge and No. 10. Montgomery plays at No. 7 Bernards.

Here's my picks:

Rutgers Prep 9, Franklin 1 (The Argonauts are balanced enough to win this game comfortably. That would give them a trip to top-seed Immaculata in a quarterfinal round game.)
Bridgewater-Raritan 6, Gill St. Bernards 2 (The Knights have shown how strong they are. Consider their 3-2 loss to Bernards a week ago Monday. They shut down Pingry 5-2 Saturday and should stay in another county game with Bridgewater-Raritan. But the Panthers are too strong.)
Ridge 14, Bound Brook 2 (Congratulations to the Crusaders for winning a mercy-rule game at North Plainfield. But Ridge is simply too strong and deep. The Red Devils have balanced offense with shortstop Kyle Edgar, left fielder Mike Thiele and first baseman Pat Smith. Kyle Burdi is the team's ace).
Bernards 4, Montgomery 3 (This should be the best game of the second round. The Mountaineers are very leery of Montgomery. How Montgomery is 1-8. That's the kind of team to be very leery of since the Cougars have a very good history in the county tournament and have played a strong Skyland Delaware schedule. But Bernards has shown resliency and have players like Robbie Steinkopf and other contributors. It'll be close. But I'll go with the upper seed -- barely).

Quarterfinal round
Rutgers Prep at No. 1 Immaculata: Immaculata has simply too much firepower and defense. This could be a mercy-rule game.
Bridgewater-Raritan at No. 4 Somerville: Maybe the best quarterfinal round game. Interesting twist to this game is the fact that the teams play next Sunday night at Prince Rodgers Field in Bridgewater. Will Somerville coach Rick Sabol use ace Ryan Zamorsky in the regular season game? Will Zamorsky work out of the pen? I'm picking Somerville to beat Bridgewater-Raritan in the county game because of Zamorsky.
Ridge at No. 3 Watchung Hills: Watchung Hills beat Ridge 11-1 in an early-season game. This won't be the mercy rule game it was then, but Watchung should win by a few runs.
Bernards at No. 2 Hillsborough: Whenever Raider coach Norm Hewitt says his team is going to be "young and inexperienced,'' opposing teams should beware. There's enough offense, defense and pitching for the Raiders to beat Bernards or Montgomery. Something about Montgomery struggling, though, has me thinking ''danger, danger.''

COUNTY SEMIFINALS
I picked Somerville in our weekly podcast and I'm going to stick with it. I know -- as everybody has reminded me -- I'm going to take a beating from the Immaculata nation, Hillsborough fan base, Watchung Hills contigency, but, you know what? I just like Somerville's pitching. Zamorsky is the best pitcher in the county right now.
I like Watchung Hills over Hillsborough in a county semifinal, Somerville over Immaculata in the semifinal and Somerville to beat Watchung Hills in the final.

There it is. I wrote it.

GILL WINS!

Gill St. Bernards won what it is believed to be its first-ever Somerset County Tournament game. The Knights beat Pingry 5-2.

Andy Williams hit a three-run homer in the fifth to give the Knights a 3-2 lead and John Strony provided an outstanding, 11-strikeout performance. Strony left after hitting a batter to start the seventh. Williams closed it out.

Gill plays at No. 5 Bridgewater-Raritan next Saturday in the SCT second round.

Strony is a Lebanon resident.

Bound Brook, the 14th seed, beat No. 11 North Plainfield 11-0 and plays at No. 6 Ridge Saturday. No. 10 Montgomery, a 10-0 winner over No. 15 Manville, plays at No. 7Bernards.

I didn't make picks for the first round games, but I wouldn't have picked Bound Brook and Gill St. Bernards. Probably not anyway.

GANNETT TOP 20

4-18-08
1. Don Bosco Prep 8-0

2. Shawnee 4-0

3. Immaculata 5-1

4. Toms River North 7-0

5. Seton Hall Prep 7-1

6. Sacred Heart 6-1

7. Toms River South 6-2

8. Bloomfield 7-2

9. Columbia 5-2

10. Washington Township 6-1

11. Millville 6-1

12. Hanover Park 6-0

13. Winslow 5-0

14. West Morris 7-3

15. Old Tappan 6-2

16. Edison 6-2

17. St. Joseph Montvale 6-2

18. Hunterdon Central 7-1

19. Overbrook 7-0

20. Cherry Hill East 4-2

Somerset County Baseball Tournament seeds

1. Immaculata
2. Hillsborough
3. Watchung Hills
4. Somerville
5. Bridgewater-Raritan
6. Ridge
7. Bernards
8. Rutgers Prep
9. Franklin
10. Montgomery
11. North Plainfield
12. Pingry
13. Gill St. Bernards
14. Bound Brook
15. Manville
16. Somerset Tech

Saturday preliminary rounds
No. 16 Somerset Tech at No. 9 Franklin
No. 13 Gill St. Bernards at No. 12 Pingry
No. 14 Bound Brook at No. 11 North Plainfield
No. 15 Manville at No. 10 Montgomery

Franklin-Somerset Tech winner will play at 8. Rutgers Prep April 26 -- winner of that game to play No. 1 Immaculata
Pingry-Gill St. Bernards winner will ply at 5. Bridgewater-Raritan April 26 winner to play at 4. Somerville
Bound Brook-North Plainfield winner to play at 6. Ridge april 26 winner to play at 3. Watchung Hills
Manville-Montgomery winner to play 7. Bernards April 26 winner to play 2. Hillsborough.

second round is May 3 at 2 p.m.
Semifinals at Commerce Bank Ballpark May 13 at 4 and 7 p.m.
Finals at Commerce Bank Ballpark May 18 at 7 p.m.

Who didn't win today? (And county seed predictions)

...upset Tuesday....


No, Hillary didn't beat Obama in Pennsylvania...that primary is next week...

Some surprises in Somerset County should make for an interesting tournament seeding meeting at North Plainfield High Wednesday night. (We'll have the real seeds posted here as soon as we can Wednesday night with a podcast to follow).


Bridgewater-Raritan beat Immaculata 9-5 at Cust Academy in Raritan Township.
Hillsborough beat previously unbeaten Watchung Hills 9-8 in eight innings at Hillsborough
North Plainfield knocked off Hackettstown 7-3 on the road.
Franklin won its first game of the season by beating Montgomery 9-2 in a game where both teams were winless.

So? What does it mean for the seeds?

Bridgewater-Raritan and North Plainfield were big winners here. Since Watchung Hills was beaten by Hillsborough, the Warriors will probably fall to third or fourth. Take a look:

Immaculata (4-1). One loss isn't going to matter. The Spartans are the defending champions and should be treated as such. Top seed.

Hillsborough(5-2). It beat previously-unbeaten Watchung Hills. Watchung Hills hasn't played Immaculata. Head-to-head right?

Watchung Hills (6-1) or Somerville (6-1): The Warriors and Somerville could be as high as second, but Hillsborugh's win Tuesday should stand in the way. Somerville plays in the Raritan Division of the Skyland Conference. Watchung Hills in the Delaware East. Somerville's opponents have a composite 23-21 record. Watchung's 20-19-1. Tough call.

I'll go with Watchung third and Somerville fourth -- not by much.

Fifth seed: Bernards (4-2)? Rutgers Prep (7-1)? Bridgewater-Raritan (2-2)?

Bridgewater-Raritan's win over Immaculata should be enough for the fifth seed, considering -- the county is not very deep this year. That's being nice.

Sixth? Bernards (4-2) and Rutgers Prep (7-1) both beat Gill St. Bernards. Don't discount the Argonauts.

Bernards should gain the sixth spot by inch. Rutgers Prep coach Larry Santowasso has some good ammunition. His team has won six straight since losing to Princeton Day.

Prep gets seventh.

Eighth? Ridge is 4-5 with a quality win over Elizabeth and South Plainfield. The Red Devils should get the eighth spot though it is 0-5 against Skyland Conference teams.

North Plainfield is 3-4 after beating Hackettstown Tuesday. Hackettstown is 3-2 with a quality win over Delaware Valley (4-2), which beat North Plainfield 10-3 in the season opener.

North Plainfield ninth. Barely. If Franklin had protected leads of 9-0 and 9-7 in what turned out to be a 10-10 tie against Voorhees last week, I would have felt much better about the Warriors.

Franklin (1-3-1). Its win over Montgomery (0-6) should give the Warriors a ninth or 10th

This is the first time in years since Montgomery has stumbled. Remember, this is a team that lost to Immaculata 7-6 in its opening game. But losing to Franklin should mean the Cougars are headed to a preliminary round game and an 11th seed.

Gill St. Bernards (2-5): The Knights could have really gone a long way in making a point of being in the single digit seeds by beating Bernards Monday. They had a 2-0 lead, going into the bottom of the seventh before the Mountaineers scored three runs to win 3-2. Is Gill St. Bernards better than Montgomery or Franklin? No. 12.

Pingry (0-6). Pingry lost to Montclair Kimberley 7-0. Gill lost to MKA 10-9. What ele is there? A 13th seed?

Somerset Tech (3-2). Is it possible? Yes. Two seeds below the Jags. They beat Bound Brook 3-2 and haven't played Manville. No. 14 for the Jags.

Bound Brook (1-5). The Crusaders have a win. A 15th seed means a possible trip to Franklin Saturday. Bound Brook was eliminated by the Warriors last year in a prelim game.

Manville (0-4). The Mustangs don't play Somerset Tech and their season opening game with Bound Brook was rained out. The two play Wednesday in Manville. The Mustangs get 16 and a probable trip to North Plainfield in a prelim Saturday.

Immaculata time change

Immaculata will play host to Bridgewater-Raritan Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Cust Academy in Raritan Township. The game time has been changed from 3:45.

RIP Mr. Voight

Spoke to North Hunterdon head coach Parker Snare Saturday night about Bob Voight, who died a few days ago.

Mr. Voight was just 52 years old. He was a huge contributor to the North Hunterdon High School and Clinton community.

He will be missed.

Ridge takes big step with two Kyles

Can the Red Devils get into the mix for one of the top Somerset County Tournament seeds? The tournament seedings are Wednesday night at North Plainfield.

Junior righty Kyle Burdi (above bottom) pitched six strong innings and shortstop Kyle Edgar (above top) went 3-for-4 with three RBIs to lead the Red Devils past South Plainfield 5-1 Saturday afternoon. Ridge improved its record to 3-4, but now it needs to find some wins against Skyland Conference/Somerset County opponents.

THe Red Devils have beaten Elizabeth, North Brunswick and South Plainfield, but have lost all four Skyland Conference games they've played. They are scheduled to play A.L. Johnson of Clark Monday, then get another chance to beat a Skyland team when they play at Warren Hills Tuesday afternoon.

Tough start for Montgomery. The Cougars fell to 0-5 with a 4-3 setback to Union. The Cougars are usually one of the higher seeded schools in the county tournament. Where do they fall this year?

Also, Pingry is 0-5, another team that has had recent success going deep into the tournament.

Skyland Conference news

I've written something in Saturday's paper about a couple of Skyland Conference baseball coaches and their feelings about the Skyland Valley teams having to play "up'' against Skyland Raritan teams twice during the regular season.

There is a Skyland Conference athletic director's meeting Wednesday and it appears that it's very likely Valley Division schools won't have to play their bigger cross-divisional foes twice starting next year.

That would open up some spots for non-conference games for the smaller schools like Bound Brook, Manville, South Hunterdon and Belvidere. Softball teams follow the same schedule.

I think it's the best way to go. The smaller schools should get the opportunity to play more schools their own size, but -- at the same time -- get a chance to play bigger schools, which in most years will have better clubs. You're only going to get better if you get samplings of better competition. Though beating teams 19-0, 17-2 isn't going to help either. There's got to be a better balance.

GANNETT TOP 20

THIS WEEK'S GANNETT TOP 20

1. Don Bosco Prep (3-0)

2. Immaculata (4-0)

3. Shawnee (2-0)

4. Toms River North (4-0)

5. Toms River South (4-1)

6. Sacred Heart (3-1)

7. Cherokee (2-1)

8. Bloomfield (3-0)

9. Steinert (4-1)

10. Columbia (1-0)

11. Pequannock (5-0)

12. Nottingham (4-0)

13. Wall (3-1)

14. West Morris (5-0)

15. Wayne Hills (3-0)

16. Seton Hall Prep (1-1)

17. Christian Brothers Academy (3-1)

18. Watchung Hills (5-0)

19. J.P. Stevens (4-0)

20. Westfield (3-0)

Rain -- please stay away

....


Seven days since my last post. Just a few thoughts about the week that was...

Immaculata hit six home runs in a 12-10 win over Phillipsburg at Cust Academy. Chaz Crane and Matt Marquis had two homers apiece. Marquis hit two homers in one inning.

Somerville left hander Ryan Zamorsky pitched a no hitter against Ridge Monday, a 3-0 Pioneer win. Zamorsky is having quite a season. He allowed one hit in six innings in the season-opener at Hackettstown.

North Hunterdon senior righty Jason Knapp has pitched well in both starts against HIllsborough and Warren Hills, but the Lions' bullpen imploded after he left and Knapp didn't get a decision in either game -- a win over Hillsborough and a eight-inning loss to Warren Hills.

Watchung Hills is 5-0. The Warriors have mercy-rule wins over Ridge and Franklin, an 8-0 win over previously-unbeaten Warren Hills Thursday and a 7-2 win over Montgomery.

Montgomery is 0-4. Three of the Cougars' losses have been to strong teams -- Immaculata (4-0), Watchung Hills (5-0) and Hunterdon Central (4-1).

South Hunterdon got its first win of the season at Manville Thursday after opening with losses to Bernards and North Plainfield. South scored six runs in the top of the seventh to win 7-4.

Bridgewater-Raritan got its first win for first-year coach Max Newill, beting Franklin 8-6. Got to feel for Franklin. The Warriors (0-3-1) let a 9-0 lead slip away Thursday in a game that eventually turned into a 10-10 tie that took eight innings. The game was called because of darkness.

"It sure felt like a loss,'' Warrior coach Bill Nickel said.

EL TORO AND GANNETT TOP 20

Immaculata sophomore lefty Jon Torregroza (above) had a great varsity debut Thursday as he five-hit Hunterdon Central, leading the Spartans to a 11-3 win. Torregroza struck out one, and walked just one.

His teammates refer to him as "El Toro.''

THIS WEEK'S GANNETT TOP 20
Pre-season Top 20
1. Don Bosco Prep (1-0)

2. Immaculata (2-0)

3. Seton Hall Prep (1-1)

4. Shawnee (1-0)

5. Colts Neck (1-0)

6. Toms River North (1-0)

7. Toms River South (0-1)

8. Sacred Heart-Vineland (2-0)

9. Cherokee (1-0)

10. Steinert (1-1)

11. Washington Township (1-1)

12. Morris Hills (2-0)

13. Toms River East (0-0)

14. Christian Brothers Academy (1-0)

15. Gloucester Catholic (0-1)

16. Watchung Hills (3-0)

17. Pequannock (2-0)

18. Bishop Eustace (0-1)

19. Westfield (1-0)

20. Cranford (0-1)

As good as advertised...

A good April Fool's Day gag might have been if we actually had a nice day. But -- only three of the scheduled 13 baseball games were played. Many of them were moved to Wednesday.

At Westfield, junior right hander Chris Jenkins shut down defending Union County Tournament champion Cranford 4-1. He pitched a complete game, allowing just two hits, walking three and striking out 12.

"He's legit,'' said longtime Westfield coach Bobby Brewster. "He's going to have his fastball over 95 (miles per hour) as the season goes on. The kid has a great head on his shoulder as well. He said he was going to go home and run. He is really a good student, so you don't have to worry about him in the class. We just told him to make sure to ice that shoulder.''

Jenkins will pitch again Monday against Plainfield, then again the following Monday against rival Scotch Plains-Fanwood.

Brewster said that Jenkins hit between 85 and 93 at times during the game, which took less than two hours to complete. Neither team made an error.

"It was a good high school baseball game,'' Brewster said.

First week.....

What do we have the first week of the baseball season? Well, today it rained, today's schedule would have been wiped out if it was April 1, the first day of the spring season...

But, the first day of the spring season is April 1...

Among the games that look intriguing this week are:

Tuesday
Bridgewater-Raritan at Hillsborough, 3:45: Bridgewater-Raritan has a new coach in Max Newell and Hillsborough lost a ton of players to graduation. Can Bridgewater-Raritan get back to the North 2 Group IV playoffs this year? A win over Hillsborough to start the season would be a great confidence builder.

Westfield at Cranford, 4 p.m. Defending Union County Tournament champ Cranford has eight players back from last year when the Cougars made the state Group II final. Westfield should be a serious challenger to unseat the Cougars this year.

Wednesday
Scotch Plains-Fanwood at Watchung Hills, 3:45: The Warriors are our third ranked team. Scotch Plains-Fanwood is seventh. Too bad this game is so early in the season.

Thursday
Immaculata at Hunterdon Central, 3:45: Central is the defending Hunterdon/Warren Tournament champion. Immaculata has won nine of the past 11 Somerset County Tournament titles. There's a little twist added this year. Immaculata junior lefty Evan DeLuca transferred over from Hunterdon Central during the off-season.

FRIDAY
Franklin at Rutgers Prep, 4 p.m.: Rutgers Prep believes it will be much better than it was last year. Franklin's Bill Nickel is looking for much more than the 2-23 his Warriors produced last year.

SATURDAY
St. Joseph of Metuchen at South Plainfield, 10 a.m.: The Falcons should be an outstanding club this year and was ranked 15th in the first Gannett New Jersey Poll last week. South Plainfield is always a strong club.

New football coach at Bernards; Ridge's Roussey steps down

Bernards High School has announced that Jon Simoneau will be their head football coach in 2008 at a board meeting this week. He replaces longtime coach Joe Milde.
Simoneau is a 1996 graduate of John F. Kennedy High where he played football and baseball. David Carmon, a 2001 JFK graduate and a former Mustangs' standout, will be the offensive coordinator. Simoneau had been the team's offensive coordinator.


Milde stepped down as head coach of the Mountaineers after eight years. His team made the sectional playoffs three times, including this past season when the Mountaineers qualified as a North 2 Group II school.


Milde, who has had one of the longest tenure of any Mountaineer football coach in their long history, has been affiliated with the team for 15 years -- seven as an assistant. He will continue to coach girls basketball and golf.


Jay Roussey, the head coach of the Ridge wrestling team the past eight years, has also stepped down. The Red Devils set a school record for dual meet wins with 20 this past season and also made the sectional playoffs for the first time since 1990. No replacement has been named, but assistant coach Steve Hendershot is expected to replace Roussey.

First baseball podcast is up

http://www.c-n.com/specialsections/podcasts/frezza/frezza0328.htm

Gannett Pre-season Top 20

Immaculata High School right fielder Frank DeNick (right) -- led the Spartans' football team as their quarterback the last two years when they went a combined 23-1. He'll be the Spartans' leadoff hitter for the second straight year.

Pre-season Top 20
1. Don Bosco Prep 27-2

2. Seton Hall Prep 32-1

3. Immaculata 24-3

4. Shawnee 15-9

5. Toms River South 21-8

6. Randolph 24-8

7. Gloucester Catholic 23-6

8. Cranford 26-5

9. Sacred Heart 28-5

10. Cherokee 24-5

11. Washington Township 20-11

12. Colts Neck 22-7

13. Morris Hills 22-7

14. St. Joseph-Metuchen 16-13

15. Toms River East 20-7

16. Hunterdon Central 22-7

17. Christian Brothers 25-6

18. Bishop Eustace 21-7

19. Pequannock 18-8

20. Watchung Hills 18-8

BASEBALL PODCAST

The Courier News baseball and softball podcast will be done Friday afternoon and should be up by Friday night!

Sim Pincus, Jerry Carino and I will do it.

Beisbol!

It starts April 1. As long as it's not 18 degrees and pouring rain. The way our Aprils have gone, a nice day would be a major surprise.

OK, high school baseball and softball previews runs in Saturday's Varsity sections of the Courier News and Home News and Tribune.

The Trentonian had a great pullout section in Thursday's paper on the Colonial Valley Conference. Great stuff.

Our Top 10 in baseball will run as well. It's just a list, so the blog gives me a chance to talk about what goes into my thinking.

Our No. 1 pre-season team is going to be Somerset County Tournament and Skyland East champ Immaculata, 24-3 last year. I don't know how anybody else can be ranked ahead of the Spartans. Senior Chas Crane moves from third base to short. Crane will be terrific as well in the Spartan outfield. Junior Evan DeLuca in left; senior Matt Marquis in center and senior Frankie DeNick in right. It'll be fun to watch them. The pitching might be better than last year with Johnny Schoberl and DeLuca, who transfers over from Hunterdon Central.

Speaking of Central, I think the Red Devils -- 22-7 last year -- are going to have a another fruitful season. They won the Hunterdon/Warren Tournament last year. There's some concern about the pitching, but they will definitely have the offense with the likes of third baseman Danny Fitzsimmons. Freshman Josh Ake will be shortstop. A freshman playing shortstop at a monstrous school like Central is a very, very impressive thing.

Watchung Hills -- 18-9 a year ago -- has just about everybody back from last year. Of course, they will miss center fielder Jeff D'Annunzio and lefty pitcher Joe Giaimo. The Warriors have a dozen letter winners back, including junior pitchers Travis Zilg, senior catcher Cameron Edwards and senior first baseman Patrick Doyle.

Those will be the top three.

North Hunterdon will be ranked fourth. I think the Lions are going to have a very good year. They were 13-11 last year, but with North Carolina-bound Jason Knapp throwing every few days and a solid team behind him, the Lions should be a strong contender in the North 2 Group IV playoffs. Knapp was 3-3 last year with a 1.99 earned run average with 56 ks.

Hillsborough (20-6) is young and will be starting two or three freshman. Westfield (16-10) has an outstanding pitcher in junior righty Chris Jenkins and senior Justin Olson behind the plate. Olson is going to Rutgers next year. I might flip those two clubs.

Watchung Conference defending co-champion Scotch Plains-Fanwood (19-8) is right behind with Skyland Raritan champ Somerville right behind. Somerville (23-6) has a fine senior center fielder in Eric Fowler and a reliable senior lefty on the mound in Ryan Zamorsky.

I'm taking a risk at ninth and 10th. I'm expecting Bridgewater-Raritan and Ridge -- both 11-14 a season ago -- to be significantly better. Just a feeling on my part.

New Providence, which has a new coach in former Hillside coach Chris Brodeur, will be playing all of its games on the road this year since a new field is being renovated.

God I hate the New York Rangers.....I had to get that out of my system. Hang in there Devils. I heard Ranger fans chanting "You can't beat us,'' tonight during the Rags 3-2 win. The Rags have beaten the Devs seven straight times this year.

But their fans have short memories. Just a few years ago, the Devils had something like a 22-0-1 streak against the Rags. Oh well.

Wrestling season doesn't end does it?

Happy Easter to all of our Christian readers.

I know the high school wrestling season has wrapped up -- at least for us who cover it, but I do realize that it really goes year round for a lot of folks out there. We'll try to stay on top of it, college signings, major off-season tournament results, etc...


I was able to cover the Easton Lions Classic Monday at Easton Area High and had the chance to talk to former South Plainfield High star Patrick Hunter, who recently completed his first season at St. Benedict Prep in Newark. Hunter, beaten in the 2007 state 112-pound final by Delaware Valley's Dan Kelly, won the State Preps this year and was second at the National Preps. Hunter was third in the state as a sophomore at 103.

Hunter, who will wrestle in the Senior High School Nationals in Virginia next weekend, beat Easton Area's Kegan Handlovic 8-7 at 119 at the Easton Classic. It was the final bout of the event.

"I had a great year,'' said Hunter. "I buckled down in school. I put a committment into school work. I messed up (when he was at South Plainfield)not taking school as seriously.

"I take some blame (about his departure from South Plainfield), but God works in mysterious ways,'' he added.

Hunter said he's not sure what his plans are for next year. He said he would consider another year at St. Benedict as a fifth-year student.

In case you haven't seen it, here's the Hunterdon Democrat's All Hunterdon team picked by my friend John Siipola.

http://www.nj.com/sports/hunterdon/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1206022225209560.xml&coll=12

FINAL TOP 10 (and an explanation)

While it may be easy to pick a first team for all area wrestling, choosing the area's Top 10 teams isn't so clear.

This year's final top team was pretty clear -- it was District 12 champ South Plainfield (14-4) which beat Delaware Valley 34-20. South Plainfield made it to the Central Group II final where it lost to Brearley. The Tigers were also runnersup at the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament. It wasn't a terrific season for the Tigers, but they were good enough to be our top team.

Now, here was the trick.

Number 2?

North Hunterdon beat Delaware Valley, but Delaware Valley beat Hunterdon Central, which beat North Hunterdon.

I went with Delaware Valley with these tiebreakers -- the Terriers (18-5) made it to the Central Group II sectional final where it wrestled well in a loss to Long Branch. The Terriers also won the District 17 title for the fourth straight year and finished second at the last Hunterdon/Warren Tournament to Phillipsburg. Del Val also wrestled well against Phillipsburg, losing 37-16.

North Hunterdon (14-5) earns the third spot -- two ahead of Hunterdon Central -- because the Lions (13-5) got to the North 2 Group IV final where it lost to Phillipsburg and the win over Del Val. The Lions also beat Watchung Hills twice. Watchung Hills beat Hunterdon Central early in the season.

Watchung Hills (21-6) is fourth since it won the Somerset County Tournament, beat Hunterdon Central Central and finished with a school record for dual meet wins with 21. The Warriors also finished second at District 12.

Hunterdon Central (13-9) is fifth. The Red Devils were 8-9 going into the final week of the regular season. Nice job beating North and the Red Devils beat Livingston, Nutley, J.P. Stevens, Somerville and Plainfield to finish the year. Hunterdon Central should be pretty good next year.

Hillsborough (16-13) is sixth in the final poll. The Raiders won District 18 and beat Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament and North 2 Group III champ Sayreville during the year. What hurt Hillsborough? The 34-25 loss to Hunterdon Central, a 39-32 loss to North Warren and a 29-23 setback to Skyland East champ Watchung Hills. Those are three close losses.

Montgomery (17-8) is seventh. The Cougars had an outstanding second year of varsity competition. The Cougars were proud of beating Bound Brook, Somerville and Bridgewater-Raritan. But their biggest fesat was making it to the North 2 Group III sectional final. That's what gets them a seventh. They did lose to Ridge, which didn't make the Top 10.

Somerville (14-14). The Pioneers, seventh in the Top 10, got a state champ in senior 125-pounder Jim Kirchner and finished second -- ahead of Bound Brook and behind Hillsborough -- at District 18. The Pioneers were seventh at December's Somerset County Tournament. Nice progress.

Bound Brook (10-15). 10-15? Well, you might not have seen it since the boxscores never ran in our paper the day after -- but the ninth-ranked Crusaders finished the dual meet season Feb. 16 by beating Middlesex, Lodi and Scotch Plains-Fanwood. The Crusaders were not a good dual meet team. But they did have a rugged schedule and finished third at the Somerset County and District 18 tournaments. That final day in the regular season pushes them into ninth.

Scotch Plains-Fanwood (14-14). The Raiders beat Ridge in the North 2 Group III quarterfinals. That's all I had to go on. Despite Ridge's 20-win season, I had to go with Scotch Plains-Fanwood on the strength of its 37-27 win over Ridge and an early-season 38-28 win over Bridgewater-Raritan, which beat Ridge.

All AREA

All area wrestling will run in this Saturday's Courier News in the Varsity section.

New Jersey wins Easton Lions Classic

New Jersey beat Pennsylvania 27-19 tonight in the annual Easton Lions Club Wrestling All Star Classic at Easton Area High School.

Somerville state champ Jim Kirchner scored a 13-4 major decision over Dieruff's Jose Arzuaga at 125. Delaware Valley's Nick LaFevre beat Freedom's Joe Finocchio 2-1 in overtime at 140 and St. Benedict's Patrick Hunter, the former South Plainfield High star, capped the night by beating Easton's Kegan Handlovic 8-7 at 119. Handlovic is a two-time Pa. Class AAA champ.

Bridgewater-Raritan's Wayne Hampton lost in three overtimes to Northampton's Mike Wechsler at 160.

Handlovic was ranked 10th in some national polls and Hunter was sixth.

Easton senior Jordan Oliver is terrific by the way. He pinned Blair Academy's Joe Stanzione at 130 pounds. Oliver finished the season with a 40-0 record and had a 175-5 career mark.

EASTON LIONS CLASSIC

We have four area wrestlers who'll be competing tonight at the Easton Lions Club Wrestling Classic at the 25th Street Gym in Easton. The meet pits senior all stars from the Lehigh Valley against New Jersey stars.

Former South Plainfield High star Pat Hunter, who recently won the New Jersey State Prep Tournament title for St. Benedict, will wrestle at 119 against Easton's Kegan Handlovic.

Somerville state champ Jim Kirchner will wrestle Dieruff's Jose Azruaga at 125.

Delaware Valley's Nick LaFevre will wrestle Freedom-Bethlehem's Jake Finocchio at 140 pounds.

Bridgewater-Raritan's Wayne Hampton will wrestle Northampton's Mike Wechsler at 160.

NCAAS

Here's a list of former area high school wrestlers who've qualified for this weekend's NCAA Tournament in St. Louis.

125: Ross Gitomer (Virginia, Blair Academy, Hunterdon Central). He won the Atlantic Coast Conference title at Virginia. He's 37-11 and is a red shirt sophomore.

133: Billy Ashnault (Lock Haven, South Plainfield). He was beaten by his high school teammmate Jim Conroy (Pitt) in the finals of the EIWA. Ashnault, a freshman, is 12-15.
Jim Conroy (University of Pittsburgh). Conroy, a sophomore, is 17-11 after winning the EIWA title a week ago Saturday.

141: Kellen Russell (Michigan, Blair Academy, High Bridge). Russell was the Big 10 champion as a freshman. Russell is 25-5.

149: Eddie McCray (Gardner-Webb, South Plainfield). McCray, who transferred last fall from Virginia State to Gardner-Webb, got a wild card in the East Regional. He was third and is 7-3.

165: Zack Shanaman (Penn, Blair Academy, Pingry). The Bernards Township resident, a junior, was second at the EIWA Tournament. He's 20-5.

174: Alex Caruso (Lehigh, Watchung Hills). The Green Brook native, a red shirt freshman, is 24-12, having taken fourth place at the EIWA Tournament.

Caruso's high school teammate, Shane Riccio, now at Bucknell, got a wild card in the EIWA Tournament. He's 25-9.

Hillsborough Hall of Fame

Hillsborough High School will hold its annual Athletic Hall of Fame dinner Saturday, March 29 at 5 p.m. at the Redwood Inn in Bridgewater.

Former boys soccer coach Rob Richards highlights the class along with versatile star leads
Erin Fuller ('01, soccer, basketball, track), Aubrey Horvath ('00, swimming) and Jessica Galli
('02, cross country, track) join basketball star Alex Marsh ('90) and multi-sport standout
Dustin Sheppard ('98, soccer, basketball).

The 2001 track and field relay team of Lauren Kloss, Kristen Meyer, Jaci Pfeiffer, and
Deanna Willard will also be inducted. That foursome won a national title. Contributor Angelo
Vitale will be inducted.

Call 908-874-6483 for ticket information.

Easton Lions Classic

Somerville's state champ Jimmy Kirchner (right) will wrestle in the annual Easton Lions All-Star Classic at the 25th St. Gym in Easton Tuesday night at 8 p.m. A youth tournament will begin at 6 p.m.

Kirchner is scheduled to wrestle Easton Area High senior Kegan Handlovic at 125 pounds. Handlovic won the PIAA AAA state title at 119 last weekend at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa.

Prep state champ Patrick Hunter, the former South Plainfield High star now at St. Benedict Prep, is also supposed to wrestle Tuesday night.

The meet features seniors from Pennsylvania's District XI and outstanding seniors from New Jersey.

Hunterdon County: 0

Delaware Valley senior 140-pounder Nick LaFevre (right) was one victory away from having at least an eighth place in the NJSIAA Wrestling Tournament last weekend. How close was he? He lost to Trenton's Jaazziah Bethea 4-2 in overtime. So close.

But when LaFevre and teammate Rich Gebert (135) were eliminated in the quarterfinal round of the wrestlebacks, it ended a 50-year stretch where Hunterdon County had at least one place winner.


Not so long ago, it might have seemed unbelievable for Hunterdon County's four wrestling programs to come away without one -- 1 -- state tournament place winner. But this past weekend, that's exactly what happened. Mercer County had two -- Bethea, who was eighth, and Hopewell Valley's George Saliba, who took fourth at 189.

My friend of the Hunterdon Democrat has a column in today's paper aboutJohn Siipola how long it's been since Hunterdon County went place less -- it was in 1957. That's a 50-year run of having had at least once place winner.

The best year for Hunterdon was in 1993 when the county had 11 with two champions in Delaware Valley's Brent Conly and Ricky Krieger at 119 and 180 respectively.

STATE CHAMPS ON PARADE

Somerset County's three state champs -- Jimmy Kirchner of Somerville, Andrew Campolattano of Bound Brook and Brendan Ard of Watchung Hills -- will have something of a victory lap at Sunday's St. Patrick's Day Parade in Somerville. So look for them.

Kirchner, the 125-pound champ, was feted with a ride around the borough Sunday night (pictured above) after returning from Atlantic City. He stopped by former longtime Somerville coach and two-time state champ Dave Kinney's house before stopping at his home where a crowd of more than 70 celebrated the Pioneers' first state title since 1962.

Local wrestlers at NCAA Tournament

Here's a list of former area high school wrestlers who've qualified for this weekend's NCAA Tournament in St. Louis.

125: Ross Gitomer (Virginia, Blair Academy, Hunterdon Central). He won the Atlantic Coast Conference title at Virginia. He's 37-11 and is a red shirt sophomore.

133: Billy Ashnault (Lock Haven, South Plainfield). He was beaten by his high school teammmate Jim Conroy (Pitt) in the finals of the EIWA. Ashnault, a freshman, is 12-15.
Jim Conroy (University of Pittsburgh). Conroy, a sophomore, is 17-11 after winning the EIWA title Saturday.

141: Kellen Russell (Michigan, Blair Academy, High Bridge). Russell was the Big 10 champion as a freshman. Russell is 25-5.

149: Eddie McCray (Gardner-Webb, South Plainfield). McCray, who transferred last fall from Virginia State to Gardner-Webb, got a wild card in the East Regional. He was third and is 7-3.

165: Zack Shanaman (Penn, Blair Academy, Pingry). The Bernards Township resident, a junior, was second at the EIWA Tournament. He's 20-5.

174: Alex Caruso (Lehigh, Watchung Hills). The Green Brook native, a red shirt freshman, is 24-12, having taken fourth place at the EIWA Tournament.

Caruso's high school teammate, Shane Riccio, now at Bucknell, got a wild card in the EIWA Tournament. He's 25-9.

Coach Fred Christ passes away

Former longtime Somerville High wrestling coach Fred Christ, a member of the National Wrestling Hall, Fame and Region 5 and Somerville High School Athletic Hall of Fames, died March 9 in Florida. He was 87.

He began teaching and coaching at Somerville High in 1950 and became the Pioneers' head coach in 1953. He remained head coach until 1974. His highlights included 12 state champions -- three in 1961 -- a 141-49 dual meet record and two unbeaten seasons.

The 1959 team was unbeaten and regarded as the best team in the state. Somerville High School played host to the state wrestling tournament in 1957 and '58.

"The biggest thrill is to see a kid succeed, to see a kid who really didn't have the ability of an outstanding wrestler to come through and do something,'' he said in 2003. "Sometimes that just meant making the team.''

One of Christ's state champions was Wayne Hicks, a two-time winner, who won at 106 pounds in 1961 and at 115 in 1962.

Hicks was the last state champion Somerville had until Sunday -- the day Christ passed -- when Jim Kirchner won the 125-pound title at Atlantic City.

5 from Somerset and a Somerville correction

Just to append to my earlier post, Somerset County had five place winners -- four from District 18, the other from District 12.

Champions Jimmy Kirchner (125 of Somerville), Brendan Ard (171 of Watchung Hills) and Andrew Campolattano (189 of Bound Brook). Bridgewater-Raritan senior Andrew Hampton was fourth at 160 and Franklin freshman Colin Hewitt was seventh at 135. Those four are out of 18. Ard is out of District 12.

Just a correction. The last two days I've written that Wayne Hicks, the last Somerville wrestler to win a state title before Kirchner's win, won at 106 pounds in 1962. He actually won at 106 in 1961 and at 115 in 1962.

Somebody from Florida, who wrestled Hicks back in the day, checked in to remind me. Thanks, Frankie C!

How did my (mediocre) picks turn out?

For fun, let me induldge myself and see how things went with my picks over the weekend at the NJSIAA Wrestling Tournament.

I was 6-8.

103:
My pick: Tyler Bisacha (Jackson).
What happened: He won. But I had Bisacha beating Old Bridge's Conor Hayes in the final. Hayes lost in the pre-quarterfinals and didn't place.

112
My pick: Frank Cagnina (Queen of Peace).
What happened: Cagnina was third. I had Cagnina beating Joe Duca of Paulsboro for the title. Howell's Joe Langel beat Ocean Township's Mike Beradesco 6-2 for the title.

119
My pick: Vinnie Dellefave (Toms River East)
What happened: Dellafave beat Camden Catholic's Taylor Walsh 9-7 in overtime. I had Dellafave beating Belleville's Filberto Colon in the semis -- he did 7-3 -- and beating Don Bosco Prep's Vin Fava for the title. Fava didn't place.

125
My pick: Joe Trause (Bergen Catholic)
What happened: Somerville senior Jimmy Kirchner, who should have won the tournament's OW, seemed to beat everybody on the "experts'' list of predicted place winners. He opened with a thrilling win over Lakeland's Colton Chalkley, knocked off two-time state champ Trause in the semifinals, then won the wild overtime final over Anthony Curcio of Washington Township. I had Trause beating Curcio in the final. Wrong.

130
My pick: Bobby Dabal (North Bergen)
What happened: Kittatinny's Derek Valenti beat Wallkill Valley's Kodie Silvestri 2-0 for the title. Dabal, the top seed, was knocked out 1-0 by Valenti in the quarterfinals and wound up eighth.

135
My pick: Hank Stinson (Eastern)
What happened: Stinson won. I had Stinson beating Westwood senior Dan Butcher in the final. Butcher didn't place.

140
My pick: Trevor Melde (DePaul)
What happened: I took the easy way out, going with a defending state champ. Melde was pinned by Delsea's Anthony Baldosaro in the final. I had Melde beating Baldosaro.

145
My pick: Sean Byrnes (Jackson)
What happened: I was right. Byrnes beat Brick Memorial's Steve Santos 7-1 for the title.

152
My pick: Nick Menditto (Ocean)
What happened: Menditto beat J.P. Stevens' Greg Zannetti 1-0 for the title. My projected runnerup -- Newton's Austin Alpaugh -- was seventh.

160
My pick: Scott Winston (Jackson)
What happened: Winston finished his amazing career with a 2:14 fall over Sacred Heart senior Scott Kelly. I had Winston beating Camden Catholic's Dakota Moore. Moore was eighth.

171
My pick: Dan Seidenberg (Raritan)
What happened: Seidenberg, second at 160 last year, was second again. He was beaten in overtime by fellow junior Brendan Ard in overtime. I had it the other way around.

189
My pick: Jon Becker (Bergen Catholic)
What happened: Bound Brook freshman Andrew Campolattano beat Becker 4-2 for the title. I had Becker beating last year's finalist -- Tyler Smith of Belvidere -- for the championship. Campolattano beat Smith in the quarters and pinned Isiah Miles of Sterling in the semifinals. Smith was third.

215
My pick: Glen Carson (Southern)
What happened: I picked Carson to beat Brearely's Jesse Boyden. But Boyden beat Carson.

285
My pick: Harry Turner (Howell)
What happened: Turner did make it to the final. But he was beaten 4-3 by Manchester sophomore Jimmy Lawson.

The Ville, The Brook and Wayne Hicks

Bound Brook and Somerville were tied for the lead for most state champions in Somerset County at 15 for about 55 minutes Sunday afternoon.

Bound Brook freshman 189-pounder Andrew Campolattano and Bergen Catholic's Jon Becker were the first to wrestle Sunday at the NJSIAA Wrestling Tournament since a random draw was used for the first time.

Campolattano won 4-2 to deliver BBHS its 15th state champ, but about an hour later, Somerville senior Jim Kirchner won the 125-pound title in overtime with a thrilling 14-12 overtime win over Washington Township junior Anthony Curcio.

That gave Somerville its 16th state champion and first since Wayne Hicks won at 115 pounds in 1962. Hicks was a two-time state champ, having won at 106 in 1961.


For those looking for ironies -- Kirchner's mother, Paulette, is a Bound Brook High graduate, his uncle, Jim Lopa, wrestled for the Crusaders and Anthony Curcio is the name of a former Bound Brook mayor.

Keep em coming

Numbers that is...

Consider -- District 17 had one - ONE! -- place winner at the NJSIAA Wrestling Tournament. And where was he from? Hopewell Valley. Senior George Saliba was fourth at 189. Good for HoVal and Mercer County, but for District 17? Not good.

Hunterdon County didn't have a single place winner, something that wasn't entirely surprising. Delaware Valley senior 135 pounder Rich Gebert was the closest to making it. Gebert lost to Highland's Matt Catalano 6-5 in the quarterfinals. He would have been in the semifinals and would have sealed at least a fifth/sixth place.

Gebert was beaten 5-1 by Franklin freshman Colin Hewitt in a wrestleback and eliminated from medal contention. Hewitt beat Gebert for the region title a week ago Saturday.

AMAZING PART II

Somerville has a state champ for the first time since 1962!

Senior 125-pounder Jim Kirchner won a wild, wild 14-12 overtime final over Washington Township junior Anthony Curcio. Kirchner, Somerville's all-time winningest wrestler with 132 wins, became the Pioneers' first state champ since 1962 when Wayne Hicks won at 106 pounds.

Somerset County is in position to have three state champions for the first time since 1974 when Ernie VanNess (Bridgewater-Raritan West), Dave Specian (Manville) and Tim Farrell (Bernards) were champions.

Sunday's attendance at Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall was 10,844 -- and 39, 883 for the three days.

CAMPOLATTANO WINS 189 title

Bound Brook freshman Andrew Campolattano won the 189-pound state championship by beating Bergen Catholic's Jon Becker 4-2. Camp is BBHS's 15th state wrestling champ. He scored a takedown with 1:30 left in the first period, but was reversed by Becker in the second period. Camp got two escapes and was able to defend two deep single leg shots by Becker along the way.

He finishes his season with 43-0 record. Amazing.

189

that's what weight was pulled from the random draw by State Association Executive Director Steve Timko. That means Bound Brook freshman Andrew Campolattano will start off the event with opponent Jon Becker of Bergen Catholic.

Camp told us during the wrestleback rounds that he wrestled Becker during the summer. He said he had sucess against Becker in Greco Roman, but that Becker beat him in freestyle.

We'll see.

ABSECON AT NIGHT

Well, we have 3 finalists -- Somerville senior 125-pounder Jim Kirchner, Watchung Hills junior 171-pounder Brendan Ard and Bound Brook freshman 189-pounder Andrew Campolattano.

Can they all win? Campolattano has wrestled Bergen Catholic's Jon Becker during the summer. Kirchner wrestles Anthony Curcio of Washington Township. The way Kirchner is wrestling, does it really matter who he's got in the final?

Ard wrestles Dan Seidenberg of Raritan.

I'm predicting 3 local champs...

How's this? Somerset County has 3 finalists -- Hunterdon County will have not one place winner. Mercer County has one in Hopewell Valley 189-pounder George Saliba. You need to go back a very, very long time to find out the last time Hunterdon County didn't have a place winner.

Atlantic City may be the best place to host this tournament, but I do know that those that run the Prudential Center in Newark would like to host it some day.

If you ever get to downtown Absecon, please try the Phoenix Diner. Good turkey clubs, BLTS, grilled cheese sandwiches and soups...:)

Colin Hewitt

Colin Hewitt, Franklin's fine 135-pound freshman, has clinched being Franklin's third state tournament placewinner since 1980. Hewitt, who is currently wrestling in the wrestleback rounds, can wrestle up to third place. He will join Chris Marino (third place at heavyweight in 1983) and Kevin Arline (sixth place at heavyweight in 1988) as Warrior state place winners.

AC, RAIN AND RIDING

One of the things I've seen here durng the first two days of the NJSIAA Wrestling Tournament is outstanding riding skills. Whether it's legs or just body to body, wrestlers have been able to keep their opponents down and win close bouts

Both Somerville senior Jimmy Kirchner and Watchung Hills junior Brendan Ard at 125 and 171 respectively are in the semifinals in large part because of it. But they aren't alone.

"I don't know what it is, but I think guys are doing it to prepare for college,'' Kirchner said. "Leg riding is a art. But I don't particularly like legs. I'm just a guy who'll ride you hard. I don't like to give up points. I don't like to let them up. I like top. It's fun.''

Kirchner rode defending state champ Joe Trause of Bergen Catholic for the entire second period in the state quarterfinal before winning 4-2 in overtime. He also heard cries to cut Lakeland's Colton Chalkley in a state pre-quarterfinal third period as time was running out, but tilt Chalkley with six seconds to win 9-8.

"I'm confident with being on top,'' Kirchner said. ""Those two or three points down here are gonna win you some matches.""

Ard beat zenior Kyle Hess of Cinnaminson 1-0 to advance into the semifinals. Ard was third at 160 last year. He also blanked Middletown North's Justin Persico 5-0 in the state pre-quarterfinals Friday night.

Ard rode Hess out for the entire third period.

"One of my goals down here is to ride a guy out, it'll make it tough for the other guy to win,'' Ard said. "I'm tryiing to stay dominant. If I'm winning 1-0 mentally, you see a zero up there an dyou know you can shut the kid down. you have to be mentally focused, keep on moving and be confident. Hess was moretough to move, more square bodies, but anyway to win ..''

Bound Brook freshman Andrew Campolattano won a memorable 6-5 win over top seed Tyler Smith of Belvidere in the 189-pound state quarterfinals.

"I just stuck to my game plan. I told Andrew (Flanagan)I was going to wear and tear and (hand) fight for a a minute thiry and then open up with shots when there were 30 seconds left,'' said Campolattano, 41-0.

Camp scored on a double leg, then rode Smith out for the rest of the period. Smith deferred in the second period and Camp escaped to make it 3-0. He scored another takedown on the edge in the third period.

"He's really funky on bottom.I couldn't really ride him,'' Campolattano said. "I knew he had a good single and he did cradles.''

KIRCHNER

Somerville senior 125-pounder Jimmy Kirchner continued his great run in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Wrestling Tournament Saturday morning with a 4-2 overtime win over Bergen Catholic's defending state champion Joe Trause.

Kirchner becomes the first Somerville wrestler since Allan Van Ness in 2003 to reach the semifinals

"I just kept driving him and driving him,'' said Kirchner, who lost to Trause in the pre-quarterfinal round last year.

Trause scored a takedown off a high single early in the first period but Kirchner escaped with 47 seconds left. Trause got in deep with another single late in the period, but Kirchner was able to keep his feet and the period ended 2-1.

Kirchner rode Trause out for the entire second period to keep it tied, then got out in he third to tie it at two.. He then scored a takedown in overtime to win it.

"He tried to do it again (the second single in the first period), but I controlled that one side,'' Kirchner said. "I tried to control that one side because I knew he'd try to shoot that way.''

33=14=7

We started with 33 wrestlers in contention for a state title, was reduced to 14 for the state prequarters and now just seven remain for Saturday' NJSIAA State Wrestling Tournamnt quarterfinals. We had 12 the past two years and 15 in 05.

Pete Terrezza (New Providence, 112), Jimmy Kirchner (Somerville, 125), Rich Gebert (Delaware Valley, 135), Nick LaFevre (Delaware Valley, 140), Mike Dessino (Middlesex, 152), Brendan Ard (Watchung Hills, 171) and Andrew Campolattano (Bound Brook, 189)....

Who has the best chance of advancing to Saturday evening's semifinal?

Terrezza has to wrestle top seed Joey Langel of Howell in quarterfinals. Kirchner, who surprised previously unbeaten Colton Chalkley of Lakeland in the pre-quarters, gets returning state champ Joe Trause of Bergen Catholic. Gebert wrestles Highland Regional junior Matt Catalano and LaFevre gets returning state champ Trevor Melde of DePaul in a 140-pound quarterfinal. Dessino draws Pennsville's Dustin Deckard. Dessino was eighth at 152 last year.

Campolattano will wrestle Belvider's Tyler Smith, who was the state runnerup at 189 last year. Ard, a third-place finisher last year at 160, will meet Cinnaminson's Kyle Hess in the quarters.

Wrestleback wrestlers number (9):

Erik Biago (Montgomery, 103), Bobby Stevely (Delaware Valley, 112), Nick Heilmann (South Plainfield, 119), Kevin Catullo (North Hunterdon, 130), Colin Hewitt (Franklin, 135), Nick Vallone (South Plainfield, 145), Mike Hafke (Voorhees, 145), Wayne Hampton (Bridgewater-Raritan, 160), Jeramie Powell (Piscataway, 285).

Stevely, Hewitt, Hafke, Hampton and Powell were Region 5 champs. Vallone won the Region 3 tile.

33

33 of our wrestlers remain alive for this weekend's state tournament at Atlantic City.

Here's a breakdown by class:
Freshman (3): Colin Hewitt (Franklin, 135), Dawud Hicks (Plainfield, 152), Andrew Campolattano (Bound Brook, 189),
Sophomores (6) : Erik Biago (Montgomery, 103), Bobby Stevely (Delaware Valley, 112), Brian Bistis (Hunterdon Central, 112), Nick Heilmann (South Plainfield, 119), Jerry Somma (Hunterdon Central, 140), Mike Hafke (Voorhees, 145)
Juniors (11): Tom Reynolds (Montgomery, 119), John Barnes (Westfield, 125), Gabe Gleason (Bound Brook, 130), Eric Norgard (Middlesex, 135), Nestor Taffur (Bound Brook, 135), Nick Vallone (South Plainfield, 145), Mike Dessino (Middlesex, 152), Brendan Ard (Watchung Hills, 171), Jon Conroy (South Plainfield, 189), Jeramie Powell (Piscataway, 285), Joe Kania (Westfield, 285)
Seniors (13): Vin Zaccardi (Middlesex, 103), Peter Terrezza (New Providence, 112), Jimmy Kirchner (Somerville, 125), KEVIN Catullo (North Hunterdon, 130), Rich Gebert (Delaware Valley, 135), Nick LaFevre (Delaware Valley, 140), Matt Ellery (Middlesex, 145), Trevor Cannon (Scotch Plains-Fanwood, 152), Luke Dawson (Hillsborough, 152), Wayne Hampton (Bridgewater-Raritan, 160), Mark Wagner (South Plainfield, 160), Kent Woolf (Hunterdon Central, 171), Colin Curzi (North Hunterdon, 285)...

10 from Somerset County
9 from Hunterdon County
9 from Middlesex County (South Plainfield, Piscataway and Middlesex)
5 from Union County (New Providence, Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Westfield)

The qualifiers

Area qualifiers and their first matches

103
Erik Biago (Montgomery) vs. Darryl Albonico (St. Joseph Montvale), preliminary
Vinny Zaccardi (Middlesex) vs. Dan Miller (Haddon Heights), preliminary

112
Bobby Stevely (Del Val) vs. Joey Langel (Howell), pre-quarterfinal
Pete Terrezza (New Providence) vs. winner of James Higgins (Washington Township)-Nick Adamo (Demarest). Terrezza will wrestle the winner in the prequarterfinals
Brian Bistis (Hunterdon Central) vs. Mike Beradesco (Ocean Township), preliminary

119
Tom Reynolds (Montgomery) vs. Chris Rankin (Bergenfield), preliminary
Nick Heilmann (South Plainfield) vs. Rick Dellanno (Passaic Valley), preliminary

125
John Barnes (Westfield) vs. Tyler Forbeck (High Point), preliminary
Jim Kirchner (Somerville) vs. Colton Chalkley (Lakeland), pre-quarterfinal

130
KEVIN Catullo (North Hunterdon) vs. Glenn Ulrich (Garfield), preliminary
Gabe Gleason (Bound Brook) vs. Zach Kane (Livingston), preliminary

135
Eric Norgard (Middlesex) vs. Joe Gaccione (High Point), preliminary
Colin Hewitt (Franklin) vs. Matt Spataro (Bergen Catholic), pre-quarterfinal
Rich Gebert (Delaware Valley) vs. Nick Digablo (St. Augustine, preliminary
Nestor Taffur (Bound Brook) vs. Dan Butcher (Westwood), preliminary

140
Nick LaFevre (Delaware Valley) vs. Mike Trasso (Queen of Peace), pre-quarterfinal
Jerry Somma (Hunterdon Central)vs. Troy Hernandez (Kittatinny), preliminary

145
Nick Vallone (South Plainfield) vs. Sean Byrnes (Jackson), pre-quarterfinals
Mike Hafke (Voorhees) vs. Gavin Tarsa (High Point), pre-quarterfinals
Matt Ellery (Middlesex) vs. Mike Digalbo (St. Augustine), preliminary

152
Dawud Hicks (Plainfield) vs. Brian Dack (Don Bosco Prep), preliminary
Trevor Cannon (Scotch Plains-Fanwood) vs. Bobby Moat (Dumont), preliminary
Luke Dawson (Hillsborough) vs. Brian Broderick (Southern), preliiminary
Mike Dessino (Middlesex) vs. Jon Rizzitello (Paramus)

160
Wayne Hampton (Bridgewater-Raritan) vs. Scott Kelly (Sacred Heart), pre-quarterfinals
Mark Wagner (South Plainfield) vs. Joe Favia (Christian Brothers), preliminary

171
Brendan Ard (Watchung Hills) will face winner of Justin Persico (Middletown North) and Dan Lasso (North Warren) in a pre-quarterfinal
John Lorio (Ridge) vs. Skylar Engelken (Point Pleasant Borough), preliminary
Kent Woolf (Hunterdon Central) vs. Baret Preuninger (Montclair), preliminary

189
Andrew Campolattano (Bound Brook) vs. Hany Elshiekh (Brearley), pre-quarterfinal
Jon Conroy (South Plainfield) vs. Joe Donahue (High Point), preliminary

215
Nobody

285
Jeramie Powell (Piscataway) will face Dan Suarez (New Milford)-Kyle Hopler (Mount Olive) winner in pre-quarterfinal
Colin Curzi (North Hunterdon) vs. Dan Walker (Delsea), preliminary

CAMP AND SMITH IN TOP BRACKET

Just got a copy of the NJSIAA State Wrestling Tournament brackets and I noticed that Bound Brook freshman Andrew Campolattano and Belvidere senior Tyler Smith are in the top bracket at 189. Smith, beaten 7-1 in last year's state final at 189 by Holy Spirit's Mac Mancuso, will face the winner of the Billy George (Long Branch)-Nick Zurla (Rutherford) bout in the pre-quarterfinal round.

Campolattano, 39-0, will face Brearley senior Hany Elshiekh (36-3) in the pre-quarterfinals. If Campolattano and Smith win, we'll get Smith-Campolattano in the state quarterfinals.

Smith and Camp missed each other when Belvidere wrestled a dual meet at Bound Brook last month.

LaFevre,Hafke,Hampton, Kirchner..

Most unheralded Region 5 champs Saturday?

Voorhees second-seeded 145-pound sophomore Mike Hafke, second last year at 130, beat Bishop Ahr's top seeded Joe McAuley 6-2. Bridgewater-Raritan second-seeded senior Wayne Hampton, second last year at 152, won the 160-pound title by beating Perth Amboy top seed Craig Battista. Battista had two first period falls to advance to the final, while Hampton beat Old Bridge junior Trevor Haughney 2-1 in the semifinal.

McAuley, a Dunellen resident, placed seventh in the state last year after having been the Region 5 outstanding wrestler.

""I saw Joe at states last year and I was impressed with him, he's really good, but I watched his style more and more and I picked out some flaws,'' Hafke said. ""I've had so much support. My whole family and friends never stopped supporting me."

Hafke had some shoulder injuries early on. He said last year's experience in the region final helped me.

"It gave me a lot of confidence and experience, going into the regions last year and being in the finals, I was kind of nervous, but this year I was more relaxed and used to the surroundings,'' Hafke said.

By the way, Hafke joins an esteemed group of Voorhees wrestlers who won region titles as sophomores. Only four have done it. The others were Dan Moody, Glenn Hall and Eric Hall. Moody and Glenn Hall were state champs and Eric was a runnerup.

The top seeded Kirchner, whose uncle Jim Lopa was formidable wrestler at Bound Brook, placed third two times at the region before winning the 125-pound title Saturday. He blanked South River junior Adam Mongelli 5-0.

"I'm escatic right now, I'm just so happy. I feel like a million bucks. I had so much fun. It's the best time in my life,'' Kirchner said. "In the beginning (of the match) I was feeling the kid out, once you get that first shot, once you get those first points -- that was big.

Kirchner had a takedown at the edge to seal the win in the third period.

"Right when I had that single, I stepped back at first to see if he'd come back in,'' he said. "He wouldn't come back in, so I dove for that and I got it. I wasn't sure at first if I got it, but I did. I had his one leg and brought him back in to see if he wanted to come back in. He wouldn't come back in, so I just dove."

Like Hafke, Kirchner relied on the experience of having been here before.

"Being somewhere before and coming here three straight years makes it like like second nature,'' Kirchner said.

LaFevre, a top seed at 140, was beasten in the region semifnals last year, then didn't qualify as he placed fourth. This year, he made it by beating Sayreville's Ramon Santiago 4-1.

""Whoever I have to wrestle it doesn't matter, when I go in there I'm going to give it all I have,'' LeFevre said. "I'm feeling extremely confident in what I'm doing right now. I'm feeling better and better.''

(a whole bunch) of Region 5 leftovers (your name might be here!)

So many stories happen at region tournaments, it's hard to fit them into one story Sunday, so here's some leftovers...

Franklin freshman 135-pounder Colin Hewitt is not only winning championships, but he's also notching outstanding wrestler awards as he goes along. He won the District 18 title and OW by beating Bound Brook's Nestor Taffur 13-2 last week, then he won the Region 5 title with a 6-2 win over Delaware Valley's Rich Gebert. Hewitt doesn't look like a wrestler. He's tall and rangy. He looks more like a basketball player, but the kid is solid and smart wrestler. He also has a sense of humor.

"Some of the kids (he has wrestled) look at me, laugh at me and then I just go out and kill em,'' said Hewitt, who estimates that he has wrestled 200 bouts in a season.

Hewitt went through a very difficult weight class. Gebert was a third-place finisher last year. Taffur rebounded to place third by beating Notre Dame's Dave Decamp, who came into the tournament with a 37-0 record and a second seed. DeCamp was also the District 17 Outstanding Wrestler. Taffur pinned Greater Middlesex Conference champ Dan Keiser to place third.

Montgomery's Erik Biago (103) and Tom Reynolds (119) became the Cougars first-ever state tournament qualifiers in back-to-back bouts on the same mat. Both were third. Biago hit a switch with 30 seconds left in regulation to beat Hunterdon Central sophomore Spencer Parcel 6-4. Reynolds, the sixth seed, beat Tony Fusco, the third-seed from North Hunterdon, to take third. Reynolds won 7-3 and also beat Fusco 4-2 in a quarterfinal round match.

Ridge senior 171-pounder John Lorio hit two milestones Saturday afternoon. By taking third, he became the first Red Devil to qualify for the state tournament since 1996 when Bruce Kim and Hosh Ishikawa did it. He also won his 37th bout of the season, which is a Red Devil record. He broke the former record of 36 set by two-time state champion John Welch.
Lorio scored a takedown 27 seconds into sudden death to beat North Hunterdon's Dan Shust to place third.

Mercer County schools had seven champions in the District 17 Tournament a week ago Saturday. Region 5 was an entirely different story. Hopewell Valley's 189-pounder George Saliba was the only Mercer County wrestler to place, taking third. Amazing.

Andrew Camp's birthdate is here for inspection

Bound Brook freshman 189-pounder ANDREW CAMPOLATTANO was born Jan. 9, 1992. He will turn 19 his senior year -- he will be eligible all four years. I've been asked that question 13 times this season. So everybody knows. I've suggested to Andrew that he wear a t-shirt with his birthdate written across it at Atlantic City this weekend....

Bound Brook assistant coach Marty Gleason has Andrew's birth certificate for inspection..

As for Campolattano's match with Sayreville's Mike Knight in the Region 5 final. Campolottano, 39-0, was taken down and trailed 2-1 after one period, but pinned Knight at 3:19.

""I came out sloppy at the beginning of the match and got taken down, I got my escape -- but then as soon as he started to lay there I knew I was going to turn him,'' Campolattano said. "I got a leg in and stuck a half in deep real quick. He bridged up and I stepped over and pinned him. That's what I needed.''

REGION 5 TIDBITS

District 20 leads with nine finalists at Region 5, followed by eight from District 17, six from 19 and five from 18. Two freshman have made the region finals -- Franklin's Colin Hewitt at 135 and Bound Brook's Andrew C ampolattano at 189.

There will be two district rematches in the region final -- Hunterdon Central's Brian Bistis will wrestle Delaware Valley's Bobby Stevely at 112 in a District 17 rematch and South Brunswick's Dave Armheim and Monroe's Jake Nale at 215 will present a District 20 rematch. Bistis and Armheim were district champs.

North Hunterdon's 119-pounder Tony Fusco, pinned by Voorhees' Mike Moriarty in the District 17 final, beat Moriarty 8-6 in a region wrestleback semifinal.

Region 5 Saturday

Semifnals
103
Quintana (Perth Amboy) d. S. Parcel (Hunterdon Central) 7-2; Conor Hayes (Old Bridge) d. Erik Biago (Montgomery) 8-4
wrestlebacks
Peterson (Edison) d. Jensen (Monroe) 7-3; Anderson (Sayreville) p. Buttitta (Kennedy) 5:00
112
Bistis (Hunterdon Central) d.Delacruz (Bishop Ahr) 4-3; Stevely (Delaware Valley) md. DeLaNuez (Edison) 15-5
wrestlebacks
Guidice (Hillsborough) won by disqualification over Jairo Bernal (Perth Amboy), 2:58; Levandowski (North Hunterdon) md. Brendan Hodel (Monroe) 15-5
119
FrancoBandiero (Edison) d. Moriarty (Voorhees) 11-7; Emburgia (Monroe) md. Reynolds (Montgomery) 12-0;
wrestlebacks
Schaeffer (Old Bridge) d. Shapiro (Bound Brook) 10-4; Fusco (North Hunterdon) md. Santiago (Sayreville) 12-4
125
Jim Kirchner (Somerville) d. Andrew Roberto (Notre Dame) 5-3; Adam Mongelli (South River) d. Chris Kane (North Hunterdon) 10-7
wrestlebacks
Rosocha (Delaware Valley) d. Doerr (Bound Brook) 8-3; Peterson (Edison) d. Ronan (Sayreville) 14-10
130
KEVIN Catullo (North Hunterdon) d. Gleason (Bound Brook) 6-4; Giusti (Old Bridge) d. D. Powell (Piscataway) 8-2
wrestlebacks
Steinbeiser (Delaware Valley) d. Leva (Notre Dame) 3-1; Buttita (Kenney) p. Thiele (Bishop Ahr) 2:21
135
Gebert (Delaware Valley) d. Keiser (Stevens) 3-2; Hewitt (Franklin) d. DeCamp (Notre Dame) 6-3
Wrestlebacks
Taffur (Bound Brook) p. Martinez (Perth Amboy) 5:36; Boulton (Sayreville0 d. Saley (Monroe) 4-3;
140
LaFevre (Delaware Valley) d. Somma (Hunterdon Central); Santiago (Sayreville0 p. Jachim (Metuchen) 3:23
wrestlebacks
Blair (Somerville) d. Dunn (Old Bridge) 5-1; Raspa (Bishop Ahr) d. Rielly (Ridge) 10-3
145
Hafke (Voorhees) d. Sanquini (Hunterdon Central) 6-2; McCauley (Bishop Ahr) d. W. Goddiess (Hillsborough) 11-8
wrestlebacks
Kitchen (Old Bridge) d. Foor (Delaware Valley) 10-4; Deluco (Sayreville) d. Sattler (J.P. Stevens) 9-4
152
Zannetti (J.P. Stevens) d. Loftus (North Hunterdon) 5-0; Smith (South Brunswick) d. Soffer (Somerville) 7-0
Wrestlebacks
Dawson (Hillsborough) d. Sottile (Montgomery) 3-2; Adams (Piscataway) d. Matlack (Ewing) 7-4
160
Batista (Perth Amboy) p. G. Goddiess (Hillsborough) 1:58; W. Hampton (Bridgewater-Raritan) d. Haughney (Old Bridge) 2-1
Pearson (Lawrence) p. Lewis (Hunterdon Central); Jordan (Kennedy) d. Youngblood (Bernards) 3-1
171
Chris Suozzo (Old Bridge) d. Shust (North Hunterdon) 7-3; Woolf (Hunterdon Central) d. Lorio (Ridge) 1-0
Wrestlebacks
Morales (Perth Amboy) d. Fischer (Sayreville) 9-6; Leon (Hillsborough) md. Newman (J.P. Stevens) 14-5
189
Campolattano (Bound Brook) md. Lockwood (Perth Amboy) 9-1; Knight (Sayreville) d. Saliba (Hopewell Valley) 3-1;
wrestlebacks
Ryder (East Brunswick) d. A. Hampton (Bridgewater-Raritan) 7-2; Campanale (Hillsborough) won by injury dissqualification over Fodor (South River)
215
Armhein (South Bruswick) p. Szwast (Metuchen) 4:52; Nale (Monroe) d. Zafrani (Old Bridge) 1-0
wrestlebacks
Borisenko (Hillsborough) p. Farrell (Kennedy) 2:13; O'Connor (Notre Dame) d. Huff (Delaware Valley)2-0
285
J. Powell (Piscataway) d. Mackey (Somerville) 10-6; Curzi (North Hunterdon) d. Santiago (Sayreville) 4-1
wrestlebacks
Olexson (Monroe) d. Stiefken (Delaware Valley) 8-5; Perez (Perth Amboy) p. Baicher (Franklin) :34

Friday night....

Breakdown of teams at Region 5 and the number of wrestlers they have left in quarterfinals


Hunterdon Central (6) -- 103 (S. Parcel), 112 (B. Bistis), 140 (J. Somma) 145 (M. Sanquini), 160 (C. Lewis), 171 (K. Woolf)
Montgomery (3) -- 103 (E. Biago), 119 (T. Reynolds), 152 (A. Sottile)
Delaware Valley (8) -- 112 (B. Stevely), 125 (J. Rosocha), 130 (P.J. Steinbeiser), 135 (R. Gebert), 140 (N. LaFevre), 145 (R. Foor), 215 (R. Huff), 285 (C. Steifken)
Hillsborough (7) -- 112 (TJ Guidice), 145 (W. Goddiess), 152 (L. Dawson), 160 (G. Goddiess), 171 (J. Leon), 189 (K. Campanale), 215 (M. Borisenko)
North Hunterdon (7) -- 112 (P. Levandowski), 119 (T. Fusco), 125 (C. Kane), 130 (K. Catullo), 152 (B. Loftus), 171 (D. Shust), 285 (C. Curzi)
Bound Brook (5) -- 119 (H. Shapiro), 125 (K. Doerr), 130 (N. Taffur), 135 (G. Gleason), 189 (A. Campolattano)
Somerville (4) -- 125 (J. Kirchner), 140 (M. Blair), 152 (D. Soffer), 285 (C. Mackey)
Piscataway (3) -- 130 (D. Powell), 152 (T. Adams), 285 (J. Powell)
Bridgewater-Raritan (2) -- 160 (W. Hampton), 189 (A. Hampton)
Voorhees (2) -- 119 (M. Moriarty), 145 (M. Hafke)
Ridge (2) -- 140 (C. Reilly), 171 (J. Lorio)
Franklin (2) -- 135 (C. Hewitt), 285 (R. Baicher)
Bernards (1) - 160 (B. Youngblood)

REGION 3 PAIRINGS

Region 3
103--1. Steve Godine (Whippany Park, 33-1) vs. 8. Jabari Shults (Rahway,13-13); 5. Nick Giordano (Hanover Park, 23-8) vs. 4. Vinny Zaccardi(Middlesex, 34-2); 3. Mike Stepien (Gov. Livingston, 33-3) vs. 6. Joe Giacio(Cranford, 24-3); 7. Rick Szeiliga (South Plainfield, 18-12) vs. 2. LouMascola (Seton Hall Prep, 32-2).
112--1. Peter Terrezza (New Providence, 27-0) vs. 8. Kyle Markovitch(Cranford, 15-6); 5. Danny Reis (Brearley, 29-7) vs. 4. Dave Standridge(Parsippany, 33-4); 3. Eric Fajardo (Boonton, 31-2) vs. 6. Sam Waters(Millburn, 31-5); 7. Brandon Santos (Johnson, 21-10) vs. 2. Jeff Canfora(Delbarton, 29-7).
119--1. Kenny Knapp (Brearley, 30-5) vs. 8. Danny Gallego (Morristown,17-15); 5. Jordan Toma (Hanover Park, 25-9) vs. 4. Tristan Bundy (ScotchPlains, 25-10); 3. Greg Pollock (Millburn, 31-5) vs. 6. Erik Gobbo(Delbarton, 24-10); 7. Joe Hoy (Gov. Livingston, 29-9) vs. 2. Nick Heilmann(South Plainfield, 30-1).
125--1. Anthony Mariano (Parsippany, 28-6) vs. 8. Charles Savino (HanoverPark, 23-7); 5. John Barnes (Westfield, 16-12) vs. 4. Chris Puorro (SetonHall Prep, 27-4); 3. Craig Montgomery (Roselle Park, 34-1) vs. 6. Ryan Sacco(South Plainfield, 24-9); 7. Allen Phillips (Brearley, 19-16) vs. 2. BenMcNeil (Parsippany Hills, 27-5).
130--1. Kyle Hussey (Parsippany, 33-1) vs. 8. Kenneth Williams (Plainfield,15-10); 5. Tommy Ross (Watchung Hills, 30-4) vs. 4. Christian Mazzocchi(Madison, 28-5); 3. Andrew Regan (Boonton, 24-10) vs. 6. Christian Barber(Westfield, 16-7); 7. Mesut Ozcan (Cranford, 17-10) vs. 2. Russell Benner(Roselle Park, 29-4).
135--1. Joe Lospinoso (Brearley, 31-5) vs. 8. Dan euben (Mountain Lakes,23-9); 5. Sam Reichbach (Westfield, 15-11) vs. 4. Matt Krynicki (RosellePark, 28-7); 3. Jimmy Huff (Watchung Hills, 28-8) vs. 6. John Wylam (SouthPlainfield, 14-13); 7. Eric Norgard (Middlesex, 28-10) vs. 2. AaronVelasquez (Morristown, 26-9).
140--1. Nick Bach (Parsippany, 35-1) vs. 8. Dillon Geoghan (Brearley,13-15); 5. Mike Egan (Parsippany Hills, 16-11) vs. 4. Octavio Bent (Rahway,18-6); 3. Ryan Colwell (Madison, 31-6) vs. 6. Joel Santos (South Plainfield,22-12); 7. Ralph Eastman (Colonia, 24-6) vs. 2. Jorge Branco (Roselle Park,35-0).
145--1. Dennis Carroll (Roselle Park, 21-6) vs. 8. Josue Eliscar (Linden,8-7); 5. Mike Ridge (Scotch Plains, 22-12) vs. 4. Rob Hernandez (WhippanyPark, 28-6); 3. Matt Ellery (Middlesex, 34-4) vs. 6. Nick Vallone (SouthPlainfield, 26-8); 7. Chris Tracy (Hanover Park, 22-12) vs. 2. Dan Coppolla(Seton Hall Prep, 27-7).
152--1. Mike Dessino (Middlesex, 35-2) vs. 8. Frank Colder (Gov. Livingston,27-11); 5. Dawud Hicks (Plainfield, 24-4) vs. 4. Tyler Selby (Seton HallPrep, 23-12); 3. Jake Gruebert (Hanover Park, 24-6) vs. 6. Rich Weslock(Roselle Park, 26-8); 7. Steve Margolin (Brearley, 20-15) vs. 2. TrevorCannon, Scotch Plains, 29-4).
160--1. Dustin Brooks (Boonton, 32-3) vs. 8. Rob Eckert (Parsippany, 13-17);5. Frank Yuro, Roselle Park, 25-8) vs. 4. Umar Taramov, Brearley, 26-6); 3.Mark Wagner (South Plainfield, 23-4) vs. 6. Jeff Fricke, (Chatham, 25-6); 7.James Caldwell (Rahway, 10-7) vs. 2. Mike Lomio (Hanover Park, 28-6).
171--1. Brendan Ard (Watchung Hills, 28-1) vs. 8. Joe Sebolao (ScotchPlains, 15-20); 5. Danny Smith (Chatham, 18-2) vs. 4. Dan Pompilio (SouthPlainfield, 26-6); 3. Kyle Kaufmann (Madison, 35-3) vs. 6. Joe Lombardo(Seton Hall Prep, 21-10); 7. Khusen Taramov (Brearley, 5-6) vs. 2. MattFullowan (Gov. Livingston, 33-3).
189--1. Chris Lloyd (Morristown, 26-3) vs. 8. Derrick Flitcroft (Delbarton,11-10); 5. Brendan Ward (Chatham, 24-5) vs. 4. Billy Jacobs (Scotch Plains,17-7); 3. Jon Conroy (South Plainfield, 29-3) vs. 6. Sean Prince (Columbia,27-4); 7. Adler Thompson (Colonia, 17-9) vs. 2. Hany Elshiekh (Brearley,33-3).
215--1. Jesse Boyden (Brearley, 32-2) vs. 8. Seth Yocum (South Plainfield,9-15); 5. Bob Grogan (Delbarton, 27-9) vs. 4. Casey Flynn (Morristown,27-10); 3. Mark Wroblewski (Watchung Hills, 27-5) vs. 6. Anthony Corigliano(Parsippany Hills, 22-4); 7. Julian Campo (Cranford, 20-8) vs. 2. MikeLefano (Roselle Park, 27-6).
275-1. Mike Hall (Madison, 11-0) vs. 8. Paul Garrett (Colonia, 14-10); 5.Joe Kania (Westfield, 12-4) vs. 4. Spencer Williams (Parsippany Hills,24-6); 3. Joe Serrao (Parsippany, 33-3) vs. 6. Joe Brady (Cranford, 18-6);7. Fabrice Emogene (Columbia, 26-2) vs. 2. Joe Blaes, Scotch Plains, 29-8).

If freshman Colin Hewitt....

Franklin's 135-pounder wins the Region 5 title, he would be the first Warrior to win a region title since Mimnaugh Hill won in 1994. Other Franklin region champs have been Kevin Arline (1988) and Chris Marino (1983). This dates back to 1980.

Region 5 quarterfinal pairings

REGION 5 QUARTERFINAL PAIRINGS
(Wrestling begins at 5:30 Friday at Hunterdon Central)


1st Match Listed is 1 vs. 8 (1st seed is listed first)
2nd Match Listed is 5 vs. 4 (5th seed is listed first)
3rd Match Listed is 3 vs. 6 (3rd seed is listed first)
4th Match Listed is 7 vs. 2 (7th seed is listed first)

103 Lbs: Heriberto Quintana, Perth Amboy (10) 30-2 vs. Kyle Jensen, Monroe Twp. (9) 27-12; Spencer Parcel, Hunterdon Central (10) 24-8 vs. Anthony Peterson, Edison (11) 30-5; Erik Biago, Montgomery (10) 33-0 vs. Kyle Anderson, Sayreville (9) 24-11; Mike Buttita, JF Kennedy (10) 24-11 vs. Conor Hayes, Old Bridge (10) 23-5
112 Lbs: Brian Bistis, Hunterdon Central (10) 29-6 vs. TJ Guidice, Hillsborough (9) 28-6; Jairo Bernal, Perth Amboy (12) 24-11 vs. Derek Delacruz, Bishop Ahr (10) 34-2; Pat Levandowski, North Hunterdon (10) 27-3 vs. Ray DeLaNuez, Edison (10) 31-5; Brendan Hodel, Monroe Twp. (12) 28-10 vs. Bobby Stevely, Del Val (10) 25-5
119 Lbs: Mike FrancoBandiero, Edison (11) 29-4 vs. Tom Reynolds, Montgomery (11) 26-8; Henry Shapiro, Bound Brook (11) 26-10 vs. Mike Moriarty, Voorhees (12) 27-5; Tony Fusco, North Hunterdon (12) 24-9 vs. Noel Santiago, Sayreville (9) 25-9;Andrew Schaeffer, Old Bridge (12) 15-20 vs. Sam Emburgia, Monroe Twp. (10) 34-4
125 Lbs:Jimmy Kirchner, Somerville (12) 33-2 vs. Jake Rosocha, Del Val (12) 23-11; Kyle Doerr, Bound Brook (10) 4-1 vs. Andrew Roberto, Notre Dame (12) 32-5; Jeff Peterson, Edison (11) 32-3 vs. Chris Kane, North Hunterdon (12) 26-5; Pat Ronan, Sayreville (11) 24-9 vs. Adam Mongelli, South River (11) 31-3
130 Lbs:Gabe Gleason, Bound Brook (11) 32-4 vs. PJ Steinbeiser, Del Val (12) 27-9; Kevin Catullo, North Hunterdon (12) 26-7 vs. Chris Leva, Notre Dame (12) 36-1;Pete Buttita, JF Kennedy (12) 30-5 vs. David Powell, Piscataway (10) 27-7 ;Justin Thiele, Bishop Ahr (10) 27-10 vs, John Giusti, Old Bridge (12) 34-11
135 Lbs: Dan Keiser, JP Stevens (12) 34-2 vs. Jimmy Martinez, Perth Amboy (11) 19-16; Rich Gebert, Del Val (12) 32-4 vs. Nestor Taffur, Bound Brook (11) 33-4; Colin Hewitt, Franklin (9) 31-3 vs. David Saley, Monroe Twp. (10) 27-11 John Boulton, Sayreville (12) 28-7 vs. Dave DeCamp, Notre Dame (12) 37-0
140 Lbs: Nick LaFevre, Del Val (12) 32-1 vs. Joey Dunn, Old Bridge (12) 19-17; Jerry Somma, Hunterdon Central (10) 27-6 vs. Micah Blair, Somerville (10) 26-7; Ramon Santiago, Sayreville (11) 31-3 vs. Chris Rielly, Ridge (11) 25-13 ;Anthony Raspa, Bishop Ahr (12) 23-14 vs. Mike Jachim, Metuchen (12) 29-6
145 Lbs: Joe McAuley, Bishop Ahr (11) 31-4 vs. Justin Kitchen, Old Bridge (12) 23-12 ;Will Goddiess, Hillsborough (11) 26-10 vs. Rich Foor, Del Val (12) 16-11; Matt Sanquini, Hunterdon Central (12) 19-7 vs. Mike Deluco, Sayreville (12) 27-6; Jesse Sattler, JP Stevens (11) 27-10 vs. Mike Hafke, Voorhees (10) 23-8
152 Lbs:Greg Zannetti, JP Stevens (12) 35-1 vs. Alex Sottile, Montgomery (11) 29-7; Bill Loftus, North Hunterdon (11) 21-7 vs. Luke Dawson, Hillsborough (12) 31-4; Dan Soffer, Somerville (11) 30-5 vs. Tyler Adams, Piscataway (11) 25-11; James Matlack, Ewing (11) 29-6 vs. Ryan Smith, South Brunswick (12) 33-3
160 Lbs:Craig Batista, Perth Amboy (12) 20-8 vs. Cody Lewis, Hunterdon Central (10) 18-10; George Goddiess, Hillsborough (11) 21-12 vs. Sean Pearson, Lawrence (11) 27-9; Trevor Haughney, Old Bridge (11) 28-8 vs. Billy Youngblood, Bernards (11) 25-6; Derrick Jordan, JF Kennedy (12) 22-12 vs. Wayne Hampton, Bridgewater-Raritan (12) 28-1
171 Lbs:Chris Suozzo, Old Bridge (12) 32-2 vs. Rhett Fischer, Sayreville (12) 19-12; Sammy Morales, Perth Amboy (11) 26-8 vs. Dan Shust, North Hunterdon (11) 25-7; Kent Woolf, Hunterdon Central (12) 24-4 vs. Brad Newman, JP Stevens (12) 24-13; Jared Leon, Hillsborough (10) 27-9 vs. John Lorio, Ridge (12) 34-3
189 Lbs:Andrew Campolattano, Bound Brook (9) 36-0 vs. Andrew Hampton, Bridgewater-Raritan (11) 25-9; James Ryder, East Brunswick (12) 26-8 vs. Shaun Lockwood, Perth Amboy (12) 27-10; George Saliba, Hopewell Valley (12) 32-2 vs. Bryan Fodor, South River (12) 18-3; Kevin Campanale, Hillsborough (12) 24-7 vs. Michael Knight, Sayreville (12) 22-1
215 Lbs: Dave Amrhein, South Brunswick (12) 34-3 vs. Tom Farrell, JF Kennedy (11) 23-12; Max Borisenko, Hillsborough (11) 27-8 vs. Marek Szwast, Metuchen (12) 30-3; David Zafrani, Old Bridge (12) 30-6 vs. Jack OConnor, Notre Dame (11) 30-7; Ryan Huff, Del Val (12) 25-10 vs. Jake Nale, Monroe Twp. (12) 32-4
285 Lbs: Jeramie Powell, Piscataway (11) 33-2 vs. Ryan Baicher, Franklin (12) 24-8; Joel Perez, Perth Amboy (10) 21-8 vs. Christian Mackey, Somerville (11) 30-4; Colin Curzi, North Hunterdon (12) 29-3 vs. Frank Olexson, Monroe Twp. (12) 28-8; Manny Santiago, Sayreville (12) 27-9 vs. Conor Stiefken, Del Val (12) 16-10

Mattes approved

The North Hunterdon/Voorhees Board of Education approved John Mattes as the new North Hunterdon High head football coach Tuesday night. Mattes had been offensive coordinator the last two years for former coach Dennis Haughey.

He is a social studies teacher at North. Mattes is a graduate of Bethlehem Catholic High (Pa.) where he was quarterback for a state title team. His coach was current Phillipsburg head coach Bob Stem. Mattes later played at Moravian College.

A little football news....

I've been told that we'll have a new football coach at North Hunterdon High late Tuesday night. The approval will come at a meeting of the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Board of Education. We'll try to get that posted as quickly as possible. Former longtime coach Dennis Haughey stepped down after last season.

District review

Bound Brook assistant coach Marty Gleason is the historian and keeper of the Crusader archives. But he is now a color coordinator.

Those folks in the brown, red and white singlets at the District 18 Tournament were the Bound Brook Crusaders. The Crusaders' throwbacks were a nod to the program's 75th anniversary. Gleason needed approval from school administrators to do it. Bound Brook's original colors were brown and white before Mike Schibanoff -- a future National Wrestling Hall of Famer -- changed the colors to red and white in the mid 1940s. Schibanoff, a legendary wrestling figure in these parts, was an athletic director and coach for the Crusaders for many years.

There was some grumblings Saturday about the NJSIAA policy of having two separate entrances into the district tournament. Fans had to pay $6 for the first round of wrestling, then leave the gym before semifinals, re-enter, then pay another $6 in a separate admission. That was caused by Friday's cancellations. Most folks would have paid $12 at the first entrance rather than havng to wander around their various sites before re-entering.

Somerville had four district champions -- one more than champion Hillsborough and third-place Bound Brook. Junior 285-pounder Christian Mackey, who was beaten in the county tournament semifinals and didn't place, was one of the Pioneer winners. Mackey hasn't lost since a setback in the county tournament consolation semifinals to Bridgewater-Raritan's Padraic Czekaj. Mackey, who pinned Czekaj in the district semifinals, is 30-4. Mackey lost to Czekaj twice and to Hunterdon Central's Brad Bormann (Caldwell Tournament, fall 1:16) and Watchung Hills' Mark Wroblewski (county semifinals 9-4). Wroblewski, the county champ at 275, won the District 12 title at 215.
Mackey beat Bormann in a dual meet last week.
""Christian has avenged every loss he's had (at his weight),'' said Somerville coach Brent McGuinness, who will have seven wrestlers in the regions. ""He's quietly had a great season.''
Mackey was joined by three-time district champ Jimmy Kirchner (125), sophomore Micah Blair (140) and junior Dan Soffer (152). Soffer, third in the county, beat Hillsborough senior Luke Dawson. Dawson beat Soffer 7-2 in the county semifinals, but Soffer got the top seed at the districts by beating Soffer in a dual meet two weeks ago. Blair was second to Bound Brook junior Gabe Gleason at 140 in the county. Gleason won the 130-pound district title. Bound Brook junior Henry Shapiro, fourth at 119 in the county, won the district title at the same weight.
Bound Brook freshman 189-pounder Andrew Campolattano didn't seem to be bothered by a kidney stone. He raised his record to 36-0 with falls of 18 seconds, 1:44 and 37 seconds.
""I have to drink more water,'' he said.
Nine of Hillsborough's 11 region qualifiers are underclassmen. Dawson (second at 152) and Kevin Campanale (third at 189) are the seniors. Freshman T.J. Guidice (112), junior Will Goddiess (145) and junior Max Borisenko (215) were district champions.