WRESTLING

No. 25 seed Coghan advances to NJSIAA wrestling tournament quarterfinals

Greg Tufaro
Courier News and Home News Tribune
South Plainfield's Joe Heilmann defeats Shore Regional's Al Desantis. Opening round of NJSIAA State Wrestling Tournament in Atlantic City, NJ on Friday afternoon March 2, 2018.

Frank Coghan’s first order of business upon arriving at his hotel in Atlantic City was to find an ice machine.

After the way the Carteret High School senior wrestled during his first trip to the NJSIAA Individual Championships at Boardwalk Hall, his mission started to make a little sense, for it appeared as though Coghan had ice pulsing through his veins.

Coghan coolly established himself as one of the tournament’s six Cinderella stories, pinning his way into the quarterfinals with upsets of a pair of region champions from the 25th-seeded position in the 220-pound bracket.

READ: Our complete coverage including Friday's results and pairings for Saturday's rounds

“From the second we got down here, they went to try to find the ice machine in the hotel,” Carteret head coach Donald Smith said with a smile of the mission upon which Coghan and teammate Jacob Vega embarked upon arriving at the Rodeway Inn. “That was their main priority. They were not even focusing on wrestling. They are having fun down here, not letting the pressure get to them.”

South Plainfield's Joe Heilmann vs Sparta's Garrett Stewart.  Opening round of NJSIAA State Wrestling Tournament in Atlantic City, NJ on Friday afternoon March 2, 2018.

Coghan was one of five No. 25 seeds to advance to the quarterfinals, illustrating the potential lower-seeded competitors have for upsets when they open up and wrestle loose.

West Morris Central’s Justin LeMay, who was seeded 26th, was the lowest seed to win two bouts on Friday night.

The sextet collectively proved that the NJSIAA’s decision two years ago to advance the top four finishers from each region to Atlantic City may not have been a bad idea.

“That gives these kids a chance,” Smith said of region fourth-place finishers such as Coghan qualifying for the state tournament. “We can have these fourth-place kids come down here and be able to make things happen. I think it’s great for the sport as a whole.”

Coghan was one of nine wrestlers from the Greater Middlesex Conference to advance to the quarterfinals, which will be contested Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

Fifteen other wrestlers from the league remain alive in the first wrestleback round, which gets underway Saturday at 9:30 a.m.

Delaware Valley's AJ DeRosa suffers a tough defeat to top seeded Patrick Glory from Delbarton. Opening round of NJSIAA State Wrestling Tournament in Atlantic City, NJ on Friday afternoon March 2, 2018.

Saturday’s marathon day of wrestling concludes with the semifinals at 6 p.m. and the fourth and fifth rounds of wrestlebacks immediately following the semifinals.

The three-day tournament, which is expected to draw approximately 40,000 spectators, concludes with Sunday’s championship bouts at 3 p.m.

As expected, a quintet of GMC wrestlers who were seeded among the top four in their respective weight classes advanced to the quarterfinals. They included East Brunswick’s Mitch Polito (120), South Plainfield’s Joe Hielmann (126), J.F. Kennedy’s Aaron Coleman (138), Piscataway’s Michael Petite (160) and Colonia’s John Poznanski (160).

Middlesex-Dunellen’s Jeff Johnson (145) and South Plainfield’s Luke Niemeyer (195) also reached the quarterfinals.

Perth Amboy’s James Rodriguez, who was seeded 11th at 132 pounds, advanced to the quarterfinals with an impressive 6-5 decision over Bergen Catholic’s sixth-seeded Carmen Ferrante. Rodriguez trailed 2-0 before reversing Ferrante to his back, a four-point move that gave him a lead he did not relinquish. Rodriguez scored another takedown to build a 6-3 advantage and hung on for the victory after allowing an escape point and being hit with a stalling call. Rodriguez will meet incumbent state finalist Kyle Slendorn of Howell in the quarterfinals.

“Bergen Catholic is always in the paper,” Perth Amboy coach Rob Morales said, referring to the nation’s top-ranked high school program, which advanced 13 wrestlers to Atlantic City. “(Ferrante) is a tough competitor. He’s one of the best around. We kept it close (trailing by two points) when James hit that switch and put (Ferrante) on his back. (Ferrante) wasn’t expecting it. After that he just went out there and started wrestling.”

Coghan, who recorded a 2:21 fall of eighth-seeded Jajuan Hayes of Bordentown-Florence in the preliminary round and a 34-second fall of ninth-seeded Salvatore DiSalvo of Donovan Catholic in the prequarterfinals, stole the limelight from his GMC brethren. He will wrestle top-seeded Peter Acciardi of Don Bosco Prep in the quarterfinals.

“I was kind of upset being the 25th seed,” Coghan said after walking off the mat without hardly breaking a sweat against DiSalvo. “The region I wrestled in was real tough. I feel like I didn’t wrestle to my full potential there. I’m taking those losses at the region and using it as motivation coming into the tournament.”

The two opponents to whom Coghan lost in the regions dropped their preliminary round bouts including Voorhees’ Sam Huff, who recorded a first-period pin of Coghan in the third-place region bout. Coghan punched his ticket to Atlantic City with a 2-1 ultimate tiebreaker victory over Rahway’s Joshua Darisme in the region blood round. Had South Plainfield’s Zach DelVecchio, ranked 13th nationally at 220 pounds, not withdrawn from the Region 4 Tournament, Coghan may not have made an appearance at Boardwalk Hall without paying admission.

“I’m excited to be here,” said Coghan, who improved his record to 39-5. “This is my first time. I’m just really relaxed and ready to wrestle. In fact, if I had another (bout Friday night) I’d go out there and wrestle right now.”

The Carteret coaching staff spent the days leading up to the state tournament working on the mindset of Coghan, who missed almost his entire sophomore campaign with a broken ankle and a concussion.

“We’ve been working all week building his mental toughness,” Smith explained, telling Coghan, “anyone can win once you are down there. He went out there and wrestled tough.

“Hopefully we can keep that momentum going and make some magic happen this weekend. Frank’s got nothing to lose.”