Jackson holds off Manalapan for District 21 title
Six straight for Jags,
Cunliffe, Gaeta
win fourth crowns
By tim morris
Staff Writer

JERRY WOLKOWITZ Howell’s Zac Cunliffe has control of St. John Vianney’s Anthony Castro during the 125-pound final in Manalapan on Saturday.

The rematch was everything it was built up to be. Manalapan and Jackson turned the NJSIAA District Wrestling 21 Tournament into a dual meet last weekend with the Jaguars able to hold on to their championship, their sixth straight, 233-219.5 over the Manalapan team that had up-ended them three weeks early in the Shore Conference Tournament championship final.

"This is the sweetest one," said Jackson head coach Scott Goodale, who has been there for all six, either as an assistant or head coach. "They (Manalapan) are one heck of a team. They have seven or eight state-caliber wrestlers.

"Our team balance has been our strength all year, with the exception of one bad day when they (Manalapan) beat us up in the lower weights," he added. "We had a great semifinal and that was the key."

The Jaguars pushed nine wrestlers through to the finals from the semis to grab a lead over Manalapan, which put eight into the final, and that lead held up through the finals as the Jags held off the Braves once again.

To the Braves’ frustration, they would win the majority of the head-to-head clashes with the Jaguars, but they couldn’t overcome the top-to-bottom depth of the Jaguars, nor the fact that this is a tournament.

"We won six of the 11 matches we had against Jackson and tied them for the most champions," said Brave head coach John Verderosa. "Go figure. A tournament is a lot different than a dual meet.

"I’m happy for all of our wrestlers who advanced," he added. "Now, it’s their turn to wrestle individually. I want them to fulfill their goals. They went above and beyond for the team this year."

While Jackson and Manalapan were waging their duel, Howell’s Zac Cunliffe and Manalapan’s Mike Gaeta made history, joining the select few wrestlers who can call themselves four-time champions. Manalapan’s Joe DiMario (now an assistant at Howell) is the only other Freehold District wrestler to claim for district titles (1986-89).

Cunliffe defeated a familiar face in the 125 final, Anthony Castro of St. John Vianney, and prevailed 5-1. Cunliffe jumped out to a 5-0 in the first period on a takedown and near fall.

The magnificent Rebel had beaten Castro when they were sophomores for the 112 title.

Cunliffe is now 30-0 this year and with 132 career wins, has tied the Shore Conference mark for wins held by Jackson’s Doug Withstandley, the last wrestler to win four district titles.

Gaeta had a workman-like 7-1 decision over Jackson’s Adam Berking in the final.

Nick Manochio (103) and Dan Hilt (119) were their usual machine-like selves in their finals.

Manochio improved to 23-0, pinning Jackson’s Matt Bradley in the 103 final. It is the second district title for the Brave junior.

Hilt, ranked first in the state in his weight class, claimed his third district title with a 20-5 technical win over Marlboro’s Brett Bzura.

The Braves other champions were Sean Burns (135) and Brenden Provow (152).

Burns picked up his first district title with a 9-2 decision over the Jags’ Preston Brown while Provow is a two-time champion following his 12-6 win over Joe Parisi of Marlboro.

Jackson also had five individual champions led by three-time winners Jeremy Edwards and John Loff.

Edwards dominated the Braves’ Dominick Lipariti in the 171 final, scoring a technical fall 19-4 win.

John Loff did likewise, pinning Freehold Borough’s Jamie Giovinazzo at 5:27 in his match.

Giro Borgia (130) needed some late heroics to win his second straight 130 title. He was trailing Manalapan’s Scott Beckerman 6-5 when he got a reversal in the final 10 seconds to score a 7-6 decision.

Jeff Pascarella won at 112 for Jackson with a 9-6 decision over Marlboro’s Brett Frimer and the Jackson heavyweight tradition continued with sophomore Joe Slisky getting a 5-3 decision over Manalapan’s Dan Brown (who had beaten the top-seed Mike Savoye of Howell, 3-1 in overtime).

In addition to the five champions, Goodale cited Brown and Berking for picked-up upset wins in the semifinals to give the Jaguars unexpected points.

"I think our schedule played to our advantage for the first time this season," said Goodale. "We got some wins over wrestlers with much better records because of schedule and the tough competition."

Two motivating forces drove Jackson last weekend. First, was the revenge factor for the 34-31 loss to Manalapan in the Shore Conference Tournament final. This would be the last chance for Jaguars to get redemption.

"We learned from our loss to Manalapan," said three-time champion Edwards. "It helped us a lot this week. Everyone went out and wrestled their hardest and did a great job. This one feels even better."

Fear was the second force driving the Jaguars. This senior class did not want to be the one that lost the district championship.

"Credit has to go to our seniors," said Goodale. "They didn’t want to be the ones to lose."

Jackson, Manalapan and Howell are the only team to win the district since 1992, and although they were one-two-three again this year (Howell scored 169.5), there were some nice surprises along the way as Marlboro produced four finalists and a champion. Colts Neck crowned its first champion and then a few minutes later another. SJV didn’t have an individual champion, but had four wrestlers place. Freehold Borough produced a finalist.

Eric Nomikos was a district runner-up as a Howell Rebel last year and is now wrestling for Colts Neck. The senior captured his first title in dramatic style, surviving in overtime against Kevin Shelly of Jackson, 2-1, by riding the Jaguar out in the second 30-second overtime period to win the 160 title.

"I wanted this title," said Nomikos. "To be the first one to do it is special.

"I felt I could hold him down in the overtime," the Cougar added. "He was tough."

Two weight classes after Nomikos became the first Cougar district champion, he was joined by one of the surprises of the tournament, Clint Newman.

Newman carried a 14-12 record into the tournament and was seeded fourth. However, in the semifinal he shocked top-seeded Tori Gibbs of Matawan, 7-4, and then, out-classed Howell’s Chris Baliatico, 8-0 in the final.

It was ironic on a day in which four-time champions Cunliffe and Gaeta made history, Marlboro freshman Nick Parisi prevailed at 145 pounds to take a step towards joining them.

Parisi didn’t come out of nowhere, as he carried a 20-4 mark into the tournament and was seeded third. He up-ended No. 2 seed Dom DiMeola of Jackson in the semifinals, 1-0, and then beat Howell’s Danny Sabba (a 5-4 winner over No. 1 seed Joe Anastasio of Manalapan) in the final 4-1.

"I have to thank my brother so much," said the new district champion. "He’s done so much for me."

Parisi said he took the advice of his mother Maria, who tells him to never look ahead, to take it one match at a time.

The only time the frosh thought about winning the district title was when he advance to the final. There, he faced an opponent he had already beaten in Sabba.

Big brother Joe, denied his title by the Braves’ Provow in the 152 final, said his younger brother earned it.

"He’s worked hard for it," Joe noted. "I knew he was a good wrestler, but I didn’t know he could win a district title."

SJV’s Castro is glad that he won’t have a Cunliffe to face anymore. He’s a three-time runner-up in the district, having lost to Zac his freshman year and to Zac’s brother Rod Cunliffe last year in overtime. The good news for Castro is that he’s a junior.

Cunliffe was voted the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the 2003 District 21 Tournament. He dominated a very strong 125-pound weight class. Verderosa was selected by his peers at the District 21 Coach of the Year for leading Manalapan to the A North Division title and the SCT crown.

Runners-up and third place finishers were winners this week as they moved on to the Region VI championships at Southern Regional along with the champions. This weekend’s Region tournament (quarterfinals Friday night and semifinals, consolations and finals Saturday afternoon) is the final step to Atlantic City and the state championships March 14-16. The top three finishers from each weight class will move on to AC.