Rebels Make Short Work of Montgomery To Advance In States

So far this season the Howell wrestling team has had very little to be disappointed about. 

Inside the Shore Conference, their only two losses came against eventual champion Southern Regional. And outside their only loss was what was described as an "eye opening" defeat to South Brunswick. On Monday night the Rebels earned themselves a rematch with the South Brunswick squad after pummeling Montgomery in the first round of the Central Jersey Group IV Tournament.

The final score had the Howell team winning 51-9, with the visitors picking up just three wins on the night. In the lower weights Jimmy Slendorn picked up a pin in the third period over Jake Yu. After Montgomery won at 112 Mat Lindemann pinned Abdalla Abouhaib early in the second period at 119.

Montgomery won at 125 and 130, but those were the last times the visitors had their hands raised on the Rebel mats. Wins for the Rebels included a pin by Cole Cameron over Marty Farricker at 135 while Howell won from 140 to 160 by decision. 

Frank Lino and Matthew Sulkowski both got second period pins at 171 and 189 respectively. Bryan Sherlotti got the fastest pin of the night as he put Anthony Jones on the mat in just 55 seconds at the heavyweight bout. 

Coach John Gagliano said he was proud of the way his team performed in what will likely be their last home match of the tournament. "I think the team wrestled well," he said. "There were a few toss up matches that we won and that set the tone early in the match."

The coach said the team is looking forward to the match tomorrow. "The team learned a lot from that loss and have been working extremely hard and looking forward to wrestling them again."

On the other side of the semifinals a pair of Shore Conference rivals will be squaring off on Wednesday night. The top seeded Jaguars from Jackson Memorial will host the Mustangs from Brick Memorial. The winners of the two matches will meet later in the week in the sectional finals.