Indians Fall Short in Final

Any season that ends at 17-4 is generally regarded as successful, but it is getting harder and harder for members of the Toms River High School South wrestling program to look at the bright side of losing in an NJSIAA sectional final.

For the third straight year, the Indians lost in the NJSIAA South Jersey Group III final, this time to Timber Creek, 35-18,  on Friday.

Timber Creek entered the match as the No. 3 seed in the section, but as the Star Ledger’s No. 4 team. Toms River South also lost to Timber Creek in last year’s final, 37-24, and lost to the Chargers in the 2008 sectional semifinals.

“We’re getting better, we’re getting closer, we think,” Toms River South coach Ron Laycock said. “But you look at all the great teams, they had some defining moment in their history where somebody won a match that they weren’t supposed to or their team pulled off and upset that they weren’t supposed to and we just haven’t done that yet.

“Our effort is always great, I can never complain about our effort because our guys always wrestle hard. But we need to learn how to win the close ones.”

Sophomore B.J. Clagon improved to 27-0 with his 13th pin of the season, a fall against Timber Creek’s 59 seconds into the 135-pound bout, but those were only bonus points Toms River South scored against the Chargers on Friday night.

Seniors Kyle Kenny and Evan Tarver, as well as sophomores Kevin Corrigan, Zach Maikisch, all won by decision. Corrigan picked up the biggest win for the Indians, a 6-4 victory over defending state place-winner Rickey Carter at 112 pounds. Corrigan, who improved to 26-2, went into the third period tied with Carter 2-2 and escaped twice to go with a takedown to win and cut Timber Creek’s overall lead to 20-9.

“I was just thinking about getting my team points,” Corrigan said. “If I could get any extra points, that was a bonus, but wrestling against a state place-winner, a really good wrestler, I just wanted to battle and get us points.”

Maikisch followed by beating Brandon Virgilio 3-1 at 119 to pull Toms River South within 20-12 with five bouts to go.

Toms River South stayed the course at 125 when Garrett Applegate rode out Chargers sophomore standout Brandon Keller, who won 7-1, but failed to score any bonus parts against the stingy Indians sophomore. With four bouts to go, Toms River South trailed by 11 points with Clagon still looming, but Timber Creek’s Dom Ruggerio edged Indians senior Allan Manzano 4-2 to get the Chargers back on track.

Manzano entered the bout with a 22-4 record and took an early lead with a takedown of Ruggerio, but Ruggerio escaped twice to tie the  bout and secured a takedown in the second quarter to take the 4-2 lead. He then rode Manzano for the final two minutes.

After Clagon’s pin gave Toms River South a fighting chance, Timber Creek’s Matt Maroukis answered by pinning Kevin Birmingham in 1:27 to clinch the match for the Chargers.

Toms River South’s troubles started with several near misses early in the match, starting with a last-second technical fall loss at 160. Timber Creek’s Robert Shade dominated the match, but Indians junior Anthony Ravallo scored a key takedown in the fourth to momentarily ward off the technical fall. Ravallo nearly made it out of the bout with a major-decision loss, but Shade got the takedown as time expired to pick up the extra point.

The Indians suffered another setback in the next bout, which went to Timber Creek in double overtime. The Chargers’ Caleb Shockley beat Toms River South junior Nick Osborn 2-1 by riding him out after Shockley escaped in the first 30-second overtime period.

Things got worse at 189, which saw Toms River South’s Ed Baum and Timber Creek’s A.J. Lear go into the third period tied at 2, but Lear took the lead and turned three points into six by pinning Baum 56 seconds in the final period.

After Evan Tarver’s win at 215, senior Anthony Piccoli and freshman Brandon Murray battled until the final buzzer, but both lost by a point each. Piccoli could not escape Salvatore DaSilvio in a 1-0 loss at heavyweight, while Murray led 4-3 late against Alan Nguyen at 103 before Nguyen scored a takedown in the final seconds to win 5-4.

Tarver won 7-4 over Bryheim Muse to end a three-bout losing streak, which began after Kenny opened the match with a victory for Toms River South. Kenny was in control through his 9-4 decision over Keith Bauberger, but the early 3-0 advantage was the only lead Toms River South held all night.

“The only thing I can say is that all the close matches we had, all the toss-up bouts, they just didn’t go our way,” Kenny said. “We had pins we should have kept to decisions, techs we should have kept to majors bouts we could have won by lost in the last five seconds.

“The only thing we can look to is the individual season with districts and regions. Hopefully, our guys will step up and come up with something this next week.”