Green Wave powers past Jaguars

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

At 175 pounds Tornick Kajaia (left/top) of Long Branch High School took a 20-5 technical fall win over Ryan Wolf of Jackson Memorial.

With only four regular season home wrestling matches, the Green Wave of Long Branch hosted Jackson Memorial on Wednesday night, February 5, in their last match of the season before the tournaments start. It was a Shore Conference D battle, which Long Branch dominated 53-18 and improved to 11-8 overall and 3-1 in the division.

Billy George, head coach, has been looking forward to this battle all season. The D division has Raritan on top at 10-8 overall and undefeated at 4-0 against divisional opponents. Long Branch is now in second and Jackson Memorial is in third at 8-13 and 2-2 in division action. They are followed by Matawan and Donovan Catholic.

Of the 14 weight divisions contested on Wednesday night, Long Branch won 10. The opening weight contested was 150 pounds. That match set the entire mood of the evening as Javier Guzman of Long Branch just out powered, out muscled and completely controlled Dominic DeLello of Jackson getting a 20-4 technical fall victory at 3:40 of the match.

Up next was Devon Smith of Long Branch at 157 pounds. He also skillfully defeated Luis Hernandez getting the second consecutive technical fall victory, 19-2, at 3:55 of his match.

This takedown resulted in Evan Tracey of Long Branch being disqualified and giving Foad Suleiman of Jackson Memorial an injury default victory. Tracey does have control of the head and neck as he was taking Suleiman.

At 165 pounds Evan Tracey was up next for Long Branch. He was picking up and putting his Jackson Memorial opponent on his back several times during the first period. One of those takedowns apparently caused Foad Suleiman of Jackson Memorial an injury. The official determined that Tracey was guilty of an aggressive move which caused Suleiman unable to finish the match. Jackson Memorial was awarded an injury default win. This decision upset many in the Green Wave section of the gym, as it appeared that as Tracey was taking Suleiman down, he was protecting the wrestlers neck and head.

Long Branch came right back with Tornick Kajaia at 175 pounds. Kajaiais a very deceptive wrestler, as he possesses tremendous strength and speed, but looks as if he is taking his time. During his match with Ryan Wolf, it had to be stopped several times as Kajaia had a cut over his left eye that needed attention. Once he was cleaned up, he went out and secured the third technical fall win for Long Branch with a 20-5 victory.

Jackson Memorial forfeited the 190 pound match to Jesus Marino Quionones of Long Branch. Then Tyler Taylor came out for the Green Wave at 215 pounds. And like his three previous teammates who competed and won, he scored the fourth technical fall victory with a 1903 win over Joseph Piazza.

The only win for Long Branch that resulted in a pin, occurred at 285 pounds. That is when Nikolas Soria, sophomore for the Wave, went out and took only 1:12 to put Andrew Chitacapa of Jackson Memorial flat on his back.

At the lightest weight contested, 106 pounds, Jordan Vieira of Long Branch recorded the fifth technical fall win. He beat Mason Reis 20-5 at the 5:11 mark of their match.

Jackson Memorial won the following two matches. At 113 pounds Noah Kovacs scored at pin at 3:54 over Dominic Lugo. At 120 pounds, it was a battle up to the last second of the match. However, Khye Arellano took the 2-1 win over Justin Ramos of Long Branch.

With four matches remaining in the contest, Jackson Memorial forfeited two of them. Aidan McVey of Long Branch took a win at 126 pounds and Matthew Munson won at 138 pounds.

Jackson Memorial won the 132 pound bout with Rocco Gaudious getting a 9-7 decision over Tristen Hepburn.

The last match of the night had Pedro De Souza of Long Branch getting the only major decision of the night. He scored an 11-2 win over Ismael Pancheco at 144 pounds.

However, the story is not over! Jackson Memorial will be back at Long Branch High School on Monday night, February 10, for a rematch. It is the opening night of the NJSIAA Team Tournament. Long Branch is the top seed in the Central Jersey, Group 4 bracket. They will host the quarter and semifinals that night.

Opening round has Long Branch taking on the number eight seed Jaguars of Jackson Memorial. While the other side of the gym will have fifth seed Manalapan taking on fourth seed Steinert. The winners will face off that night in the simifinals.

Over at Colts Neck High School, the Cougars are the second seed in the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 4 tournament. They will host seventh seed Freehold Boro, while third seed Hightstown faces sixth seed West Windsor, Plainsboro North. The winners will face off in the semifinals later that night.

The finals will be held on February 12, at the school with the higher seed. It is anticipated that Colts Neck will be in Long Branch.

More photos can be viewed at www.Facebook.com/TheLinkSports