Wrestling: 'Liners driven to win 5 straight in Group 4

TOMS RIVER -- Phillipsburg's wrestling team sets its goals shortly after the team portion of the season concludes, hopefully with another state championship trophy in tow.

Mission accomplished. The Stateliners finished off their "Drive for five" with a 35-21 victory over Long Branch in the Group 4 title match -- their fifth in a row -- on Sunday at RWJBarnabas Health Arena.

Phillipsburg celebrates a fifth straight Group 4 title. (Courtesy of Dave Post)

P'burg (17-2), which now has 22 state championships in its storied history, will aim for something that's been done just once in program history -- six consecutive state titles from 1995 to 2000 -- next season. 'Liners coach Dave Post, as he does after each season, will get to work shortly on a team e-mail that ends with a message for next year at the bottom.

"It will say 23 on it for sure," said Post, who is now one behind Rick Thompson for the most state titles won by a P'burg coach with his sixth. Mike Rossetti (four from 1996-99) is the only other who won more than two championships.

The fifth straight in Group 4 on Sunday started off strong with back-to-back pins from juniors Cody Harrison (138) and Jayson Zinsmeister (145).

"We had an amazing start. Harrison came out and got a fall after getting three takedowns in the first period. Zinny pancaked his kid. That was huge being up, 12-0, the first  two bouts. We told the kids that [Long Branch] is not built for this environment. We got off to a big start and rode the momentum.

Seniors Josh Ramos (152), Brian Meyer (160) and Lance Wissing (170) also aided a five-match run to open the match.

After Ramos' major, Meyer dominated region placewinner Luke Arnold in a 15-5 major before Wissing's technical fall gave the Stateliners a commanding 25-0 lead.

Long Branch (24-4) finally got on the board at 182 with Dan Santos-Silva's tight 3-2 win over Austin Roth. That started a run of four in a row for the Green Wave, who closed the gap to 25-15 through nine bouts.

The 'Liners added a 22nd trophy to their collection.

P'burg freshman Logan Maczko stopped the bleeding with a clutch 4-0 win at 106 pounds and juniors Travis Jones (126) and Kyle Tino (132) closed it out with wins in the final two bouts.

"This is surreal," said Maczko, whose father, John, and uncle, Pat, were members on championship teams for the 'Liners in the late 1980s. "This is great. To be a part of this team, there are really no words for it. I had to do my job and didn't get in bad positions to get a win for the team."

Maczko never went underneath on Dylan Kelleher and racked up nearly three full periods of riding time.

Senior Patrick Sharpe, who went 1-1 on the day, including a 4-2 win at 285 in Phillipsburg's 50-12 rout of Roxbury in the semifinals, was glad he opted to come back out for his final season after sitting out the previous two and watching from the stands.

"It was fun to come back and win a state title," Sharpe said. "Coach K [Bryan Kopesky] has helped me a lot. It was different [wrestling here]. I was more nervous watching than I was wrestling because I have so much trust in these guys."

PHILLIPSBURG 35, LONG BRANCH 21

138 -- Jr. Cody Harrison (26-3), P, p. So. Ryan Carey (16-13), 2:21.
145 -- Jr. Jayson Zinsmeister (16-11), P, p. Sr. Isaac Shohet (18-12), 1:17.
152 -- Sr. Josh Ramos (18-8), P, md. Sr. Louie Saez (12-9), 14-5.
160 -- Sr. Brian Meyer (29-2), P, md. Jr. Luke Arnold (21-4), 15-5.
170 -- Sr. Lance Wissing (32-3), P, tf. So. Edgar Padilla (13-16), 17-2, 5:31.
182 -- Sr. Dan Santos-Silva (26-6), LB, d. Jr. Austin Roth (17-10), 3-2.
195 -- Sr. Peter Wersinger (29-3), LB, p. Jr. Khyree Wallace (0-1), 3:36.
220 -- Jr. La'Qym Morris (13-1), LB, d. Sr. Shamyr Brodders (14-13), 6-5.
285 -- Jr. Kevin Cerruti (28-3), LB, d. Sr. Patrick Sharpe (19-14), 2-0.
106 -- Fr. Logan Maczko (15-13), P, d. So. Dylan Kelleher (10-8), 4-0.
113 -- So. Ryan Zimmerman (31-3), LB, d. Sr. Cullen Day (24-9), 5-2.
120 -- Sr. Chris Dean (23-9), LB, d. Jr. Bryce Parenti (2-1), 8-3.
126 -- Jr. Travis Jones (31-4), P, md. Jr. Steve Pabone (10-8), 10-2.
132 -- Jr. Kyle Tino (19-8), P, d. Jr. Stivni Silva (13-12), 12-5.
Records -- Phillipsburg 17-2, Long Branch 24-4.
Officials -- Bob Henig and John Reese.

Semifinals

PHILLIPSBURG 50, ROXBURY 12

132 -- Kyle Tino, P, p. Kevin Rosado, 1:04.
138 -- Cody Harrison, P, p. Scott Jarosz, 3:28.
145 -- Dominick LaRusso, R, d. Ryan Mitzak, 4-0.
152 -- Brian Meyer, P, p. Evan Vazquez, 4:58.
160 -- Michael Roumes, R, d. Josh Ramos, 5-4.
170 -- Lance Wissing, P, tf. Anthony Rallo, 18-2, 3:41.
182 -- Austin Roth, P, d. Talha Khan, 5-2.
195 -- Shamyr Brodders, P, d. Ben Temples, 15-9.
220 -- Cody Cruts, P, d. Stephen Fowler, 4-2.
285 -- Patrick Sharpe, P, d. Jose Diaz, 4-2.
106 -- Franco Mazza, R, forfeit.
113 -- Cullen Day, P, forfeit.
120 -- Travis Jones, P, p. John Tesoriero, 1:28.
126 -- Luke Hardin, P, d. Lawrence Hopkins, 6-3.
Records -- Phillipsburg 16-2, Roxbury 14-9.

LONG BRANCH 49, HIGHLAND 21

132 -- Stivini Silva, LB, d. Jeremiah Clark, 3-1 SV.

138 -- Justin Cariss, H, md. Ryan Carey, 9-1.

145 -- Isaac Shohet, LB, md. Ronan Nark, 11-2.

152 -- Luke Arnold, LB, p. Mark Hurst, 3:38.

160 -- Louie Saez, LB, p. Noah Shaffer, 4:57.

170 -- Dan Santos-Silva, LB, p. Jason Evans :47.

182 -- Jared Colbert, H, md. Edgar Padilla, 11-3.
195 -- Peter Wersinger, LB, forfeit.

220 -- Devon Starks, H, md. Jael Cordero, 17-7.

285 -- Kevin Cerruti, LB, p. Joshua Ortiz, 1:43.

106 -- Matt Hoelke, H, p. Joseph Conlon, 2:28.

113 -- Ryan Zimmerman, LB, p. Adam Aquilino, 3:13.

120 -- Brody Colbert, H, d. Rey Guzman, 7-5.

126 -- Chris Dean, LB, p. Emidio Mariani, 2:53.

Records -- Long Branch 24-3, Highland 13-8.