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2004-2005 Phillipsburg Stateliners In The News | |
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
By NICK FIERRO
The Express-Times
PHILLIPSBURG -- Blink and you might have missed it.
With four freshmen in the lineup, including two competing in their first varsity match, Phillipsburg quickly disposed of Skyland Conference rival Watchung Hills, 48-25, in the opening night of NJSIAA North 2 Group 4 wrestling Tuesday night at The Pit.
The Stateliners recorded five first-period pins -- with only one going longer than the 37 seconds senior Brandon Stillo needed to deck Robert Scriffiano at 135 pounds -- and needed barely over an hour to advance to the sectional final Thursday against Bridgewater.
Stillo moved to within four wins of 100 for his career but it was freshman Brian Gruhler who drew the biggest noise from the crowd with the cradle that flattened John Recenello with two seconds remaining in the first period of their bout at 189. Gruhler was wrestling in his first varsity match and had weighed in at 156.
"I actually tried out for basketball first and didn't make it," he said. "So I had to do a sport and it was wrestling. It was hard (at first) because I never really wrestled before at all. It feels great This was my first match ever. I was as nervous as could be."
Too nervous to lose.
Gruhler's win also proved to be the turning point of the match, erasing the 25-23 advantage Watchung Hills had worked to achieve with just five bouts remaining.
The Warriors trailed 23-10 but sandwiched pins by Alex Caruso over Pete Gitto at 152 and Mark Kearsing over freshman Jeff Hager at 171 around a 2-0 decision by Cary Aldrich over Bob Coyle at 160 to forge into the lead and set the stage for Gruhler to be the hero.
Recenello earlier in the evening bumped up to 215 and pinned Frank Sokalski to help the Warriors eliminate Piscataway, 42-24, in the first round. They were counting on six more points from him against the Stateliners.
While it would not have been enough to affect the final outcome, it might have made the heavyweight bout between Phillipsburg's Bryan Kopesky and Watchung Hills' Steve Reif even more exciting and pivotal.
Kopesky, who weighed in at 191.8, won an 8-1 decision over the 274-pound Reif but had to work for every point. One false move against Reif, who also was coming off a pin against Piscataway, and the complexion of the match could have been changed.
Kopesky bumped up to replace injured heavyweight Walt Pierson, who is not expected to wrestle until Phillipsburg competes for the state Group 4 crown on Sunday, providing it gets that far.
The Stateliners on Thursday will be going for their 14th straight sectional crown and 25th overall since 1980. Getting his team to that match as fresh as possible was in coach Rick Thompson's mind long before the Watchung Hills match and influenced the lineup moves he made Tuesday.
"I knew I was going to wrestle four freshmen tonight," Thompson said, "and it was a good chance for those guys to get an opportunity to prepare for next year. But that was good experience for (Gruhler) because he has no fear. And that's the thing. I think some of our seniors are thinking way too much.
"We did what we had to do. Some of our guys had some illness. (Anthony) Cronce is sick and (Zach) Crouse is sick and there was no sense sending them out there."
Phillipsburg's other first-period pins came from John Todd at 119, Chris Norrell at 145 and Jon Gregory, who needed just 18 seconds to deck Chris Valerio at 103.
Thompson's message to the team: Keep 'em coming.
"Unfortunately, we've got some guys out there that are doing other stuff that I don't really like," Thompson said. "Our legs are fine our tilts are fine but they're still not going to be good enough to get you the bonus points you need. We're the type of team that needs bonus points and cradles."
NOTES: The Warriors trailed Piscataway most of the way in the opener but pins by John Recenello at 215 and Steve Reif at heavyweight and a 6-4 decision by Chris Valerio over C.J. Adams at 103 helped put them over the top. The teams had split in their previous two meetings. Stateliners coach Rick Thompson, on freshman Brian Gruhler: "One of the hardest workers on the team and always has a smile, always smiling. Total gentleman. Has no fear. Has a good takedown and a good cradle. When you get those two moves, guess what? You're going to win a lot more than you lose."