Brick Memorial Wrestlers Top Howell for Shore Conference Championship

For not wanting to be a part of the 2012 Shore Conference Tournament, DanO'Cone was about as pleased as he possibly could be.

With Southern Regional not participating and Jackson Memorial dropping out on Friday, fourth-seeded Brick Memorial recieved a bye to the finals, where they topped third-seeded Howell, 34-24, winning their 13th tournament title and first since 2001.

"I thought we wrestled good against the people that were out in front of us," Mustangs head coach O'Cone said. "Southern Regional and Jackson Memorial are teams that have been in this for the last decade and are always in the finals, but we did good against the wrestlers that we faced."

Freshman Cliff Ruggiero ignited Brick Memorial to four straight wins after trailing early to the Rebels, 15-6, putting the 'Stangs on top and gaining a lead they would never relinquish.

After Howell got back-to-back pins at the 132 and 138-pound bouts from Matt Lindemann and Cole Cameron, respectively, Ruggiero answered, pinning the Rebels' Ashanti Maurice in the 145-pound bout.

"Cliff is such a dangerous wrestler," O'Cone said. "He's just a freshman. He doesn't realize that he's going up against great wrestlers and he just goes out and does it."

Brick Memorial won three straight matches after Ruggiero, taking a 21-15 lead.

Evan Berti beat Howell's Joey Schultz in the 152-pound bout, 9-2, Nick Costa held off Cody Kirk in the 160-pound bout and Tyler Richardson topped Zach Bohm in the 170-pound bout, forcing Howell into a position where they needed back-to-back wins.

"Those were tough matches," Howell head coach John Gagliano said, "They could have gone either way."

Nate Litowsky beat Brick Memorial's Jared Eccles, 2-1, in double-overtime of the 182-pound bout -- the Rebels' second double-overtime win of the match -- to draw Howell within three points, but the Mustangs answered for three straight wins to seal the victory.

Anthony Miller topped Matt Sulkowski, 3-1, in the 195-pound-bout, Matt Moore won by major decision over George McCoy in the 220-pound bout, 11-2, and Erza Figueroa pinned Vincent Martino in the first period of the heavyweight bout.

"My coach told me to go out and do what you need to do," Figueroa said of his pin. "I went out there and delivered. I think I did pretty good."

With the Rebels trailing 28-18 heading into the heavyweight bout, Martino needed a pin to keep Howell's chances alive, but Figueroa took Martino's challenge and turned it into a pin of his own.

"I just shifted my weight and went forward and kind of caught him," Figueroa said.

Brick Memorial didn't find out that they were taking on the Rebels in the final until a half-hour before the match, with Howell's semi-final match with Ocean Township coming down to the final bout.

"It was tough, because we thought we would face Ocean, then a match later, then Ocean again," O'Cone said. "It was tough to weigh in because we didn't know who we were going to weight in against.

"We didn't know if bumping up [Tyler] Richardson was going to hurt us or help us."

Richardson matched up with Bohm at 170-pounds, working in the favor of the Mustangs.

Brick Memorial jumped out to a 6-0 lead when Joe Ghione won the opening bout over Howell's Anthony Piazza, 7-1, at the 113-pound-bout and Connor Maliff topped Jack Rada, 7-2, in the 120-pound-bout.

Howell's Ben Esposito beat the Mustangs' Sean Stephensen, 2-1, in double-overtime of the 126-pound-bout, escaping with 11 seconds left in his defensive half of the second overtime.

Lindemann pinned Alec Donovan in the first period, followed by Cameron's first-period pin of Griffin Carney.

"It was tough to play two matches," Gagliano said, "But that's no excuse, we were just out-wrestled in the second match."

Semi-finals

(3)Howell 26, (2)Ocean Township 25

Cody Kirk lead the Rebels back, after trailing throughout the match, when he pinned Ocean Township's Mike Andre late in the third period. Howell took the 16-15 lead and never relinquished it, winning four straight matches on their way to a 26-25 win.

Senior Zach Bohm bumped up a weight class to 170-pounds, where he beat Chris Pappayliou, 6-3, and Nate Litowsky followed suit, topping the Spartans' Jacob Bell, 11-4, in the 182-pound-bout.

Matt Sulkowski won by major decision for the Rebels in the 195-pound-bout over Sam Sottile, 10-1, giving Howell the 11-point lead with two matches remaining.

George McCoy lost by major decision, 14-4 in the 220-pound-bout, but it was a successful loss. Had he lost by technical fall or pin, the Spartans would have had a chance for the tie or lead in the heavyweight bout.

Jimmy Slendorn won the opening bout for the Rebels, topping Ocean Township's Max Rallo, 8-6, in the 106-pound bout, but the Spartans won the next three bouts, taking the 9-3 lead.

Ben Esposito lost to freshman Zach Hertling, 5-1, for the second time in a week in the 126-pound bout, accouting for his only two losses on the season.

Matt Lindemann and Cole Cameron put the Rebels on top, 10-9, after Lindemann's 7-2 decision over Jason DaCruz and Cameron's major decision, 14-0, over Orion Rovegno.

Jack Rada and Ashanti Maurice each lost their bouts by one point, with Rada falling 5-4 in the 120-pound-bout, and Maurice losing, 7-6, in the 145-pound-bout.

Andre was awarded one point in the first period of his loss to Kirk after Kirk slammed him on his head. The Spartans had the option of winning by forefit after the injury, but head coach Cippy Apicelli encouraged Andre to finish the match.

Howell and Ocean Township faced off in the only semi-finals match after top-seeded Jackson Memorial took themselves out of the tournament on Friday, citing a team skin issue. With the Jaguars out, Brick Memorial was awarded a bye into the finals.

Point Boro athletic director Dave Kirk, who played a role in setting up the tournament, said Jackson Memorial dropping out left tournament officials in a tough place.

"Trying to find an available facility and getting people mobilized [this late in the tournament] is tough," he said, "This was an unforseen circumstance, with Jackson Memorial dropping out in the 12th hour. Trying to move the finals to another day at the last minute is tough."

Bout-by-bout results

Brick Memorial 34, Howell 24

113: Joe Ghione (BM) d. Anthony Piazza,  7-1
120: Connor Maliff (BM) d. Jack Rada,  7-2
126: Ben Esposito (H) d. Sean Stephenson,  2-1 (2OT)
132: Matt Lindemann (H) p. Alec Donovan,  :37
138: Cole Cameron (H) p. Griffin Carney,  1:32
145: Cliff Ruggiero (BM) p. Ashanti Maurice,  2:53
152: Evan Berti (BM) d. Joey Schultz,  9-2
160: Nick Costa (BM) d. Cody Kirk,  5-3
170: Tyler Richardson (BM) d. Zach Bohm,  3-1
182: Nathan Litowsky (H) d. Jarred Eccles,  2-1 (2OT)
195: Anthony Miller (BM) d. Matt Sulkowski,  3-1
220: Matt Moore (BM) md. George McCoy,  11-2
Hwt: Ezra Figueroa (BM) p. Vincent Martino,  1:07
106: Jimmy Slendorn (H) by forfeit

SEMIFINALS

Howell 26, Ocean Twp. 25
106: Jimmy Slendorn (H) d. Max Rallo,  8-6
113: Jordan Eugenis (OT) d. Anthony Piazza,  8-3
120: Andrew MacNeille (OT) d. Jack Rada,  5-4
126: Zach Hertling (OT) d. Ben Esposito,  5-1
132: Matt Lindemann (H) d. Jason DaCruz,  7-2
138: Cole Cameron (H) md. Orion Rovegno,  14-0
145: Withler Marcelin (OT) d. Ashanti Maurice,  7-6
152: Nick Pappayliou (OT) d. Joey Schultz,  3-1
160: Cody Kirk (H) p. Mike Andre, 5:21
170: Zach Bohm (H) d. Chris Pappayliou,  6-3
182: Nathan Litowsky (H) d. Jacob Bell,  11-4
195: Matt Sulkowski (H) md. Sam Sottile,  10-1
220: Colton Bigelow (OT) md. George McCoy,  14-4
Hwt: Kyle Gora (OT) by forfeit