Spotlight: GL Wrestling Team Edges Brearley

Coming off one of their best seasons in program history, the Gov. Livingston wrestling team came into the new season cautiously optimistic, knowing they had tons of potential, but also knowing they lost several key members of last year's team to graduation.

None of that seemed to matter Thursday night when the Highlanders delivered a performance to remember in defeating perennial Union County power David Brearley High School of Kenilworth.

The victory moved GL's record to 4-1 on the season, while pushing their confidence level even higher.

"It was the most important match this year," said junior Jeremy Klein, who won a key match at 145 pounds. "We havn't beaten them in a very long time. Having such a great team last year and not having been able to beat them the last two times, and this year having six less seniors is pretty amazing."

It took a team effort to get the job done and highlights were numerous.

After being down 6-0, Shane Haddad got GL into high gear with an aggressive major decision, winning his bout 17-5.

Senior Zach Heissler continued the mini-run with an impressive 4-3 win over highly touted freshman Velez from Brearley, who had won the Mustang classic a week earlier, to put the Highlanders ahead 7-6.

But GL quickly lost their momentum, dropping the next four bouts and putting their potential victory in jeopardy. 

Trailing 27-7, and showing fire and tenacity, the match turned around quickly with impressive first period pins by junior Jon Mele and senior Ryne Morrison to pull GL within three points.

Senior John Michael Bohrer then ignited the GL crowd with an impressive third period pin to put the Highlanders up by three points.

Following Bohrer, sophomore Ryan Hoy wrestled confidently and controlled his entire match over Mike Disco, a tough Brearley upperclassman.

After losing a hard fought match at 138 pounds, GL received a much needed three points from second-year wrestler Jeremy Klein at 145. Klein, while clinging to a 1-0 lead late in the match, hit an impressive five-point move to seal the win 6-0.

"Most of the entire match was in neutral" said Klein. "I knew that if I could get to the third period I'd win because I had more endurance than my opponent. It was a very close match until the end."

Heading into the final match of the night, Victor Orozco knew all he needed to do was stay off his back against senior and State-ranked wrestler Nick Lospinosa. Wrestling wisely and conservatively, Orozco ensured the win by successfully not getting pinned.

"We knew we could pull it off. It was amazing. It came down to the last couple of matches and to Victor not getting pinned and he came through. It was a whole team effort. It was pretty awesome."

Heading into the season, the idea was to reload, not rebuild.

"We wanted to see if we could keep our team just as strong as last year's," said Klein. "Last year we had a very strong team, so beating Brearley this year gave us a lot of confidence. We know we have a lot more to get done. We just want to keep progressing and getting better."

Head coach Rick Iacono has built a powerhouse in his own right and has earned the respect of his wrestlers year after year.

"Coach I is the backbone of our team," added Klein. "We have great kids and Coach I manages to make us all into great wrestlers. Without him, we really wouldn't have as much success as we've had. It's really a team effort having the more experienced wrestlers in the room helping the younger and less experienced kids."

GL will be back in action Wednesday when they host Union at 7:00 pm.

Bout by Bout

160 Dobbs (GL) vs. Balboni - Balboni pins Brearley 6-0

170 Haddad (GL) vs. Scorese  - Haddad wins 17-5 Brearley 6-4

183 Heissler (GL) vs. Velez - Heissler wins 4-3 GL 7-6

195 Bennett (GL) vs. Tancs - Tancs wins 13-2 Brearley 10-7

220 Luciani (GL) vs. Yablasky - Yablasky wins 5-1 Brearley 13-7

285 Manganiello vs. Christian - Christian pins Brearley 19-7

106 Colder (GL) vs. DeMarco -  DeMarco wins 8-1 Brearley 22-7

113 Mele (GL) vs. Chessa - Mele pins Brearley 22-13

120 Morrison (GL) vs. Oliva - Morrison pins Brearley 22-19

126 Bohrer (GL) vs. Samansky - Bohrer pins GL 25-22

132 Hoy (GL) vs. Disko - Hoy wins 8-4 GL 28-22

138 O'Sullivan (GL) vs. Savana -  Savana wins 8-3 GL 28-25

145 Klein (GL) vs. Sigarroa - Klein wins 6-0 GL 31-25

152 Orozco (GL) vs. Lospinoso - Lospinoso wins 17-5 GL 31-29

(Robyn Hoy and Pat Eichner contributed to this story)