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South Plainfield wrestling reigns supreme with win over Monroe

Greg Tufaro
@GregTufaro

The South Plainfield High School wrestling team, ranked No. 1 in the Home News Tribune Top 10, eliminated any doubt that it remains a juggernaut in the Greater Middlesex Conference with a resounding 40-19 victory over second-ranked Monroe.

The Tigers (14-3) won nine bouts including two key tossups and owned a 13-4 advantage in bonus points while steamrolling to their 40th consecutive Red Division victory before what appeared to be a sparse crowd in the cavernous Rutgers Athletics Center on Friday.

GMC WRESTLING OFFICIAL RECORD BOOK: box scores for every dual meet contested through Jan. 15

South Plainfield can clinch its seventh consecutive division title and 11th in the past 12 years with a victory over Edison on Wednesday.

South Plainfield coach Kevin McCann said his team, competing without 170-pound standout Jordan Handwerger (hand injury), used Friday's dual against Monroe as a springboard to Saturday's tri-meet and not to cement itself as a dominant GMC team.

"In the back of their mind, could it be something like (establishing conference supremacy)?" McCann said of his wrestlers' disposition entering the Monroe dual. "It might. But we didn't preach that. We preached that we are getting ready for a big weekend, so let's get out there and wrestle our way and let it get settled on the mat."

South Plainfield won the first three bouts with Jake Giordano (113) and Ryan DuHamel scoring decisions before Ryan Walsh pinned for a 12-0 lead.

Sal Profaci, arguably the state's top 132-pounder, improved his record to 17-0 and cut South Plainfield's lead in half with a much-needed first-period pin of Kyle Bythell (13-3), who has been wrestling exceptionally well against some tough competition.

Only eight of South Plainfield's starters entered Friday's dual with winning records, a deceptive statistic that is a byproduct of wrestling a challenging schedule including the top teams from West Virginia, Colorado and one of the best in Virginia at last weekend's Virginia Duals.

South Plainfield also has wins over Hunterdon Central and Delaware Valley, which are both on the precipice of cracking the statewide Top 20. The Tigers only in-state defeat came to fourth-ranked Howell, which Monroe will see Saturday as part of a quad meet.

"We are bumping heads with some of the best competition and I think it prepares our guys," McCann said. "Our (individual) records are deceptive. They see (some wrestlers) 6-9. At South Plainfield, it (6-9) is not a hole. It's the quality of competition we are wrestling and these guys are ready to go."

McCann made a move in the middle of his lineup, sending Ben Lundy out at 152 pounds, where he won by decision, and bumping up Chris Masczcak to 160 pounds, where he pinned Chris Turchio.

Nicholas DiFrancesco followed with a 6-4 decision over Kevin Creech, winning a key tossup bout that gave the Tigers a comfortable 30-9 lead with five bouts remaining, two of which South Plainfield was favored to win.

Masczcak and DiFrancesco were two of the 6-9 wrestlers to whom McCann was referring.

Pat Dressel (195), Nick Goff (220) and Nick Fromhold (285) reeled off consecutive wins for Monroe, closing the gap to 34-19 before freshman Joe Heilmann, the younger brother of former South Plainfield star and current University of North Carolina standout Nick, closed the dual with the Tigers' fourth pin.

"Overall," Monroe head coach Billy Jacoutot said, "I'd say we were a little outclassed. They are a very good program. They are solid from the way they wrestle to their depth. They are the whole total package and they have been that way for many years."

The dual began three hours before the start of Rutgers University's showdown with Penn State, during which the arena was filled, unlike the high school dual, which was comparatively sparsely attended.

"I don't feel like the atmosphere was a factor at all," said Jacoutot, who was incredibly grateful for the opportunity to compete at the RAC. "The principle of the event is great. It's just that when you are wrestling at 4 o'clock on a Friday and the whole county is competing and you are in a (nearly 8,000) seat arena … it's hard to create an environment."

Monroe (8-3), which has made incredible strides over the last few years, used the meeting with South Plainfield as a measuring stick.

"We've grown in leaps and bounds and now we are trying to grow in inches and that's the hardest part sometimes," Jacoutot said of becoming a Top 20-caliber program. "Sometimes to move an inch it could take two, three years. Literally, it could take that long."

Despite faring better at the Virginia Duals against common opponents than Don Bosco Prep and St. Augustine, South Plainfield found itself ranked behind both of those schools in the latest statewide Top 20 poll.

Jacoutot, whose team's other losses were by smaller margins to state-ranked Christian Brothers Academy and Brick Township, said he had a sense entering Friday's dual that the Tigers may be better than their No. 19 ranking.

"They are who we thought they were," he said, noting that performing well on the big stage was more important than upsetting South Plainfield, even though his team wanted to win.

"A good showing would just be representing our abilities, and some of our abilities aren't as good as them in some spots. It's always good to dream, but you've got to be realistic."