Winston, Jaguars flex their muscles early on
BY MIKE WHITE
Staff Writer

NEPTUNE — A late season injury last year left Jackson High School freshman sensation Scott Winston sidelined for the postseason. Winston broke his wrist and was unable to compete in the district, sectional and state tournaments.

“No doubt it was a huge disappointment for him,” Jackson High School wrestling coach Scott Goodale said. “He had a great season up to that point, but the injury prevented him from making any noise at the end of the year.”

Winston rehabbed the injury, was a member of the Jaguars state championship football team, and recently showcased his prowess on the mats by capturing the 152-pound weight division at the 31st annual Neptune Classic last weekend to kick off the 2005-06 wrestling campaign.

“He had quite a tournament,” said Goodale, whose squad easily captured the team title with a total of 243.5 points. “He is an extremely talented wrestler. He works very hard at improving on a daily basis. He is one of the best wrestlers in his weight class in the country. He certainly showed his dominance at this event.”

Winston scored a 26-11 technical fall victory over an overwhelmed Wayne Hampton of Bridgewater-Raritan in the championship match. Winston’s dominance during the two-day event resulted in the sophomore being named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.

“He did what we expected him to do at this event,” Goodale said.

“He has worked very, very hard since the injury. As the season goes on he knows that some of his matches are going to get tougher. But he is ready and looking forward to the competition.”

Jackson captured six different weight class titles en route to winning the team title. Sean Byrnes won at 130 pounds, while teammate Matt Bradley captured the 135-pound weight class. Ken Carney was the 160-pound champion and Dan Hopkins won at 170.

The biggest surprise, however, came at 125 pounds. Junior Corey Biscaha knocked off three-seeded wrestlers en route to winning the title. Biscaha posted a 5-3 overtime win over Monmouth Regional’s top-seeded Kyle Christensen to take the crown.

Biscaha defeated second-seeded Mat Frank of Toms River East in the semifinals.

“This kid was the surprise of the entire tournament,” Goodale said. “He won a couple of real close matches to win that title. He grinded it out and came up big in key spots. He has really worked hard on improving as a wrestler.”

Rob Swann (119) and Dave Concepcion (145) finished runner-up in their respective divisions. Sean Cook (103), Kyle Kinchen (112) and Rob Wood (189) all finished in third place.

Jackson opened its regular season Tuesday with a match against rival Southern Regional.

“We get tested right away,” Goodale said. “We know every year that this match is a dogfight. We need to be mentally prepared to take on this squad. We may have a little bit more experience, but in a match like this anything can happen.”

The Jags plan on competing against some of the best teams from around the country in a tournament in Minnesota during the Christmas Holiday.

The Jags will spend three-days in the Midwest grappling in the 32-team field.

Jackson earned the top seed in one of the four eight-team brackets.

“We’re really excited about going there,” Goodale said. “We’ll be going up against some of the best nationally ranked teams out there. We want to expand our horizons a little bit and see how well we stack up.”