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At 138 pounds Matthew Munson (top) of Long Branch scored a 16-1 technical fall victory over Shamus Dodd of Lacey.
Out of the 16 wrestling matches this season for the Green Wave of Long Branch, they have only four matches at home. Wednesday night, January 15, Long Branch hosted the powerful Lions of Lacey High School in a non-divisional match-up. Of the 14 contested weight matches, Lacey won nine, beating Long Branch 51-22.
“This year our team has a really tough schedule. We opened the season against one of the best programs, Rumson-Fair Haven,” said Billy George, who is in his fourth season as head coach. The RFH match was the first of their four home meets, with Long Branch losing 54-24. “And now were facing Lacey, which has only one loss on 10 matches this season.”
George stated that his team is young with a bunch of new faces and not a tremendous amount of experience. Wrestling has changed the way they rank teams. They are now using the Power Point system, where the previous season record and amount of wrestlers that return gives you points. “When teams have a mediocre record, they don’t get a lot of points. There is no benefit for teams with higher power points to wrestle a

Long Branch High School 2025 varsity wrestling coaching staff includes, left-right, assistants Luke Balina, Louis De Angelis, Sean Brown and head coach Billy George.
team with lower standings,” said George. However, he pointed out that the opposite end of that power standings also has issues as nobody wants to wrestle the teams on top. “Catholic and private schools will wrestle anyone. So we try and pick up Red Bank Catholic, St. John Vianney, Christian Brothers, and Donovan Catholic.”
Since COVID some schools have experienced a decrease in athletic participation. “Many of the top programs have their wrestlers starting in elementary school, and by the time they are at middle and high school they have experience and skills. We use to have that here in Long Branch, but since the pandemic it has dropped off,” George said. Recreational wrestling programs in Long Branch are starting to see an uptick in wrestlers, but George said it will take time to develop those athletes.
“With this new system, we graduate our best wrestlers so we are not getting those power points for them returning. But my staff and I are extremely pleased with the performance our team is putting out every day and we know that it is just a matter of time,” said George. He also isn’t putting a tremendous amount of pressure on the athletes to win.
“After matches we recognize someone. But it always doesn’t have to be someone who won. Sometimes we honor someone who lost a match, because they didn’t get pinned and didn’t give up team points. Wrestling is an individual and team sport combined,” added George. He also tells his athletes it is not about highlight reels or standings. “It is about fundamentals, everything follows after that.”
After the loss to Lacey, George and his staff recognized Evan Tracey. He is the 175-pound wrestler for the Green Wave who scored a pin over his Lions opponent at 1:54 of their match. “His season is like ours, were both struggling. Evan is a four-year wrestler and is much better than his record shows this season. He wasn’t expected to pin his opponent, but did it in the first round.
Also getting recognition from the coach was Danielle Silva De Jesus, a female who has been on varsity for two years. She is the smallest and lightest Green Wave athlete at 106-pounds. “She is very skilled and never backs down, but against males she lacks the strength. But we tell her not to worry about these matches, as when the tournaments start she only competes against females,” George said.
With the loss to Lacey, the Green Wave drop to 3-7 overall and are 0-1 in the Shore Conference D division. The Lions improve to 11-1 and are 2-0 in the C division. Long Branch has two home matches left, January 29 against Donovan Catholic and a big match on February 5, with Jackson Memorial.
Individual results of January 15, 2025 vs. Lacey
106 pounds: Luke Miller (L) pin at 1:44 over Danielle Silva De Jesus (LB)
113 pounds: Killian Coluccio (L) pin at 1:33 over Jordan Vieira (LB)
120 pounds: Brendan Cchuler (L) pin at 1:38 over Dominic Lugo (LB)
126 pounds: Ryan Leonard (L) 14-11 decision over Aidan McVey (LB)
132 pounds: Aidan Flynn (L) pin at 3:43 over Tristen Hepburn (LB)
138 pounds: Matthew Munson (LB) technical Fall 16-1 over Shamus Dodd (L)
144 pounds: Riley Gutierrez (L) pin at 2:43 over Pedro De Souza (LB)
150 pounds: Kyle Leonard (L) pin at 2:26 over Nehemiah Lambert (LB)
157 pounds: Devon Smith (LB) 6-3 decision over Christian Speck (L)
165 pounds Brody Kountouris (L) pin at 1:06 over Diego Moto (LB)
175 pounds: Evan Tracey (LB) pin at 1:54 over Marc Ward (L)
190 pounds: Tornick Kajaia (LB) technical fall 17-1 win over Jake Mott (L)
215 pounds: Tyler Taylor (LB) 8-1 decision over Dylan Trinidad (L)
285 pounds: Mike Seeley (L) pin at 1:30 over Nickolas Soria (LB)
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- Devon Smith of Long Branch won his 157-pound match 6-3 over Christian Speck of Lacey.
- Long Branch sophomore Danielle Silva De Jesus wrestles at 106 pounds and competes aganist males and females. Here she is wrestling Luke Miller of Lacey.