Sunday, January 18, 2009
By MICHAEL BLOUSE
The Express-Times
FORKS
TWP. | In an intense, entertaining and at times disorderly battle between two
of New Jersey's top four wrestling programs, John Horak did his part to whip a
1,000 or so Phillipsburg Stateliners fans into a frenzy.
And, propel Phillipsburg
High School to an upset win.
Horak's 12-4 major decision
at 125 pounds set off the decisive chain of events in the No. 4-ranked
Stateliners' 28-21 triumph over No. 2 Long Branch during Saturday's NHSCA Final
Four at Easton Middle School.
While Phillipsburg was
celebrating, archrival Easton Area High School was licking its wounds from an
0-3 day. The Red Rovers lost to Long Branch, Lake Stevens (Wash.) and Blair
Academy by a combined score of 125-54.
The possibility of a
signature P'burg victory seemed somewhat remote after Dan Brockerhoff's 2-1
loss to Jamie Quijano at 119 pounds.
Long Branch led 20-15 with
four bouts remaining.
Enter Horak.
"I knew we'd lost some
tossups in the lower weights," Horak, a junior, said, "and I knew
they were counting on me for a spark."
He delivered. Horak overcame
a 4-1 deficit against Scott Festejo to not only pull Phillipsburg within 20-19
but also energize the Garnet and Grey. With his teammates high-fiving on the
edge of the mat and the fans waving white towels, an angered Festejo fired a
rolled up wad of gauze at one of the cheering Stateliners.
Long Branch was deducted one
team point -- and the suddenly the score was tied at 19 with three bouts to
wrestle.
Adam Lane then captured a
5-0 decision at 130 pounds over Andrew Cornell and Adam Simon secured
Phillipsburg's upset by registering a 57-second fall over Ryan Festejo at 135.
"It was a rush. This is
why you wrestle, for nights like tonight," Horak said.
"Definitely, I could
tell in the first bout their kid was acting like a clown. They almost all acted
like that. And that really gets our crowd riled up. Once (the official) took
away that team point, I was like keep 'em coming. Thanks."
Horak, Lane and Simon were
late-match heroes, but Oliver Brukardt started the dual at 145 pounds with a
key 3-1 overtime decision over Doug Cornell and Nick Pare followed with a 7-2
win over John Robinson.
Matt Santini at 215 pounds
and Rylan Watson at 112 were other Stateliners winners.
Long Branch initially
refused to take part in the customary post-match hand shake, but the Shore
Conference team eventually complied -- although several Green Wave wrestlers
made obscene gestures toward the Stateliner fans. There was also a brief
skirmish behind Long Branch's bench area near the end of the match.
Phillipsburg improved to
12-0 overall with a three-win Saturday. The 'Liners also defeated Lenape Valley
and Hunterdon Central.
Long Branch dropped to 12-1.
"I'm 100 percent
proud," Stateliners coach Jason Magditch said. "We wrestled a great
match, I thought. We were ready from the start, and even though we lost a
couple at 03, 12 and 19 where we were trying to sweep, we bounced right
back."
P'burg's performance
Saturday ensures the Stateliners' status as a solid favorite against Easton in
next Saturday's dual meet.
Coach Steve Powell's Red
Rovers suffered three losses against one of the best -- if not the best --
Final Four fields assembled.
Blair Academy, the No. 1
team in the nation; High Point, No. 1 in New Jersey according to the Star
Ledger; No. 2 Long Branch; No. 4 P'burg; Burrell, the defending PIAA Class AA
champions; and Lake Stevens, the No. 1 team in the state of Washington, all
competed in Saturday's event.
Junior Mark Hartenstine was
the only Easton wrestler to finish the day 3-0.
"If you're talking wins
and losses, this might be one of Easton's ugliest days ever," Powell
admitted. "I don't ever remember losing three matches in one day before.
"But I think we
wrestled two tough matches, then anytime you wrestle Blair Academy you're going
to come out of it with something positive. That's why we keep Blair on our
schedule; to help us out in March. The kids are still improving."
Michael Blouse can be
reached at 800-360-3601 or by e-mail at mblouse@express-times.com.