Howell's Mike Shaughnessy Qualifies for a Trip to Atlantic City

When the NJSIAA State Wrestling Finals begin  on Friday night in Atlantic City, the Howell Rebels will have one strong representative on the mats. 

Senior Mike Shaughnessy, who earlier in the year picked up his 100th career win,  punched his ticket to Boardwalk Hall with a second-place finish at 140 pounds.

And while he will be the only Howell High School wrestler competing, several of his teammates came within a match of joining him.Three Rebels, Ben Esposito at 112, Cole Cameron at 135 and Ashanti Maurice at 145, all finished in fourth place in their respective weight classes at the Region VI tournament at Poland Spring Arena at Toms River North.

For Shaughnessy, his tournament started as the top seed at 140. He lost only three bouts during the year.

After defeating Danny Moore of Lacey in the quarterfinals, Shaughnessy was involved in a much more competitive match against Matthew Eggie of Long Branch in the semifinals. Despite the challenge, Shaughnessy prevailed as he beat the Green Wave opponent, 3-2. The win set up a trip to the finals against PJ Parrino of Ocean Township. The two met on Jan. 22, when Shaughnessy won, 5-3, in overtime.

On Saturday, it was Parrino emerging victorious. This time the final score had the Ocean wrestler winning 3-1 in overtime. 

Esposito, as the sixth seed, defeated third-seeded Zach Wilhelm of Southern Regional.Wilhelm had previously beaten Esposito, 6-0, but a week later in the Shore Conference Tournament, Esposito also lost, 5-4.

The two met again in the quarterfinals with Wilhelm winning ,7-0. As it turned out, that was not the last the two would see of each other. After being dropped to the consolation bracket, Esposito got back on track with a 3-1 win over Christian Casselli of Christian Brothers Academy.

That was followed by a 6-5 win over Sean Stephenson of Brick Memorial, setting up  a rematch with Wilhelm in the consolation finals.

The Southern Regional wrestler lost, 7-0, to eventual Region VI champion Kevin Corrigan of Toms River South.In their second meeting of the day, Wilhelm again got the upper hand, while Esposito got on the board in a 7-3 loss. For Cameron, he was the fifth seed in his bracket and got his tournament started with a pin of Nick Cioffi from St. John Vianney in the quarterfinals. Needing just 1:30 to end the first match, Cameron found himself going face-to- face with top seeded Luis Filipe of Long Branch.

The senior Filipe has lost only once this season.When the two met on Saturday, Filipe adanced to the final with a 15-3 major decision.

That dropped Cameron into the consolation semifinals where he squared off with Dave Santos of Brick Memorial. Moving up to the third-place bout Cameron faced Joe Bartolini of Jackson Memorial, the third seed. Bartolini recorded a third-period pin of Cameron. Maurice also earned the fifth seed in his weight class and started his tournament with a quarterfinal bout against Southern Regional's Anthony Mesler, the fourth seed, winning 11-7.  That put him against Nick Herring of Middletown South who, like Filipe, had lost just one match all year. Maurice put up a good fight before losing to the eventual champion by a 7-4 decision.

In the consolation semifinals Maurice took on Brick Memorial's Nicholas Costa. The two had one of the highest scoring matches of the tournament with Maurice pulling off a 14-10 decision. Facing Luke Bush of Shore Regional with a trip to Atlantic City on the line, the consolation finals match was nothing like his previous bout. In the end it was Bush prevailing by a 3-1 decision.Bohm, the fourth seed, began his tournament with a hard fought win over Jacob George, the fifth seed, from Long Branch.

That set up a semifinal bout with Conor Brennan of Brick Township, another top seed with just one loss. Brennan won,  3-1, en route to the Region VI title. Bohm's season ended in his next bout when he lost, 4-3, to Kyle Kenny of Toms River South. 

The good news for the Rebels, beyond Shaughnessy advancing, is that the wrestlers who did not move on will still have a chance to go to Boardwalk Hall next year. Esposito and Maurice after all are just sophomores, while Cameron and Bohm are juniors.