WRESTLING

Region 4 Wrestling Preview: Middlesex's Johnson breaks school record for wins

Andy Mendlowitz
Courier News and Home News Tribune
GMC Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 27 at Piscataway High School.

There were balloons, pictures and smiles during last Saturday’s district wrestling tournament.

But for Middlesex/Dunellen’s Jeff Johnson, the celebration went beyond just winning a championship. The Middlesex High School senior broke the program’s career record for wins, and he surpassed 150 for his career en route to capturing the District 14 title at 145 pounds.

READ: Convenient link to access complete brackets and seeds for all regions

READ: Official Region 4 wrestling tournament pairings

READ: Printable Region 4 wrestling tournament brackets 

READ: Official Region 5 wrestling tournament pairings and seeds

READ: Printable brackets for the Region 5 wrestling tournament

Now, he hopes they’ll be more celebrating as the Region 4 Tournament kicks off Wednesday with the first round at Union High School. It continues with Friday’s quarterfinals and concludes with Saturday’s finals and consolation finals. The top four finishers in each of the 14 weight classes advance to the NJSIAA Individual Championships at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall on March 2-4.

Johnson is now 151-18 in his career and is the second seed in a loaded 145-pound class. Other storylines for MyCentralJersey.com area wrestlers include Westfield’s C.J. Composto (106), Rahway’s  Rhise Royster (145), Scotch Plains-Fanwood’s Sam Wustefeld (195) and South Plainfield’s Zach Delvecchio (220), each looking to repeat as champions.

Johnson looks for region title 

Johnson surpassed the Middlesex school record of 148 wins held by Mike Dessino, a two-time state placewinner in the late 2000s. He went on to become an NCAA qualifier at Bloomsburg University. Johnson broke the record with a win in the district quarterfinals. In the final, he edged South Plainfield’s Joe Sacco for the second time this season with a 3-1 sudden victory.

“He was a talented freshman when he came in,” Middlesex coach Pat Appello said. “His freshman year he took fourth in the region, just missed going down to A.C. He just continues to grow as a wrestler and his work ethic continues to get better. … He rarely puts himself in a bad position. He’s got awesome mat sense, just knowing where he is on the mat. Knowing the score of the match, stuff like that.

"Then as far as technique goes, technique-wise he’s definitely the best kid I’ve coached over at Middlesex, and we’ve had a couple of pretty good ones.”

The last two seasons, Johnson was a region runner-up, including losing in sudden victory to St. Peter’s Prep’s Nicholas Santos, 4-2.

That 145-pound weight class is perhaps the region’s toughest. Johnson (34-2) drew the second seed. Rahway’s Royster (28-1), last season’s region champ at 126, claimed the top seed. Watchung Hills’ Jake Stastil (30-1) is the third seed followed by South Plainfield’s Joe Sacco (31-6), a returning state qualifier after finishing fourth in the region at 138 last season. Fifth-seeded Luke Pero (23-9) of Colonia has more than 100 career wins and was a district champ in 2017.

At last Saturday’s District 13 final, Royster pinned sixth-seeded Seton Hall freshman Jack Wilt (21-12) in 55 seconds. Wilt lost to Sacco twice by scores of 7-2 and 4-3, and to Stasil, 10-4.

The possible semifinal matchup of Johnson and Stasil is intriguing. The Watchung Hills senior is one of the area’s most improved wrestlers after not qualifying for the regions last season with a fourth-place district finish at 138.

Stasil, a key part of the Watchung Hills team that won North 2 Group V, was the Somerset County Tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler this winter and has a 3-2 win over Sacco in the finals of the Morris Knolls Tournament on Dec. 16. He also defeated Pero 9-2 in the District 16 final Saturday.

Sacco, part of South Plainfield’s Group III state championship team, has a notable 6-2 overtime win over Ocean Township’s Jake Benner, the defending 138-pound state champion, on Feb. 9. Sacco also has a 5-4 win over Pero in the GMC semifinals on Jan. 27.

“It’s a pretty loaded weight class, so it will be interesting to see what happens,” said Appello, who summed up everyone’s thoughts. “Anything can happen at this point, everybody’s good… . Once you get to this level, you got a bunch of talented kids. All matches are close, and one move here or there is going to determine it. So, hopefully you land on top.”

Tough weight classes, intriguing possible finals

Another loaded bracket is at 138. You know a weight class is tough when J.F. Kennedy’s Aaron Coleman (29-2) drew the fourth seed. Coleman, who has committed Bloomsburg (Pa.), is a three-time district champion and placed third in last season’s region at 132. Wrestling Full Circle ranks Coleman No. 8 in the state, and his only New Jersey loss was to Monroe’s Andy Lombard.

North Hunterdon’s Gapas (31-1) is the top seed, having finished fourth in the region last season and taking eighth in the state at 132. In the 2017 region third-place match, Coleman defeated Gapas 14-10.

This season, Gapas’ only loss was to junior JoJo Aragona of Pope John Xxiii (fall in 3:37), the sixth-ranked wrestler in the country according to InterMat. Bridgewater-Raritan’s Matt Sacco (29-6) looms as the fifth-seed. The junior is a returning state qualifier having placed fourth in last year’s region at 126. In last weekend’s District 16 final, Coleman beat Sacco by injury default.

On the other side of the bracket, Christophe Fuschetto (19­1) of A.J. Johnson is the second seed and Seton Hall Prep’s Maguire Pecci (17­3) is the third seed. In last week’s District 13 final, Fuschetto beat Pecci 4-2. Fuschetto’s only loss this season is by injury default. Last season, he placed second in the region at 132 and pinned Coleman in the semifinals in 6:48. Pecci, meanwhile, placed fourth in last year’s region at 120 and won this winter’s Essex County Tournament.

At 120, an intriguing possible final is a rematch between top-seeded Joe Heilmann (37-0) and No. 2 seeded Michael Kelly (30-3) of St. Peter’s Prep. In the 2017 final at 120, Kelly beat Heilmann 3-0. Heilmann went on to take third in the state and Kelly placed eighth. Kelly might have to meet third-seeded Mark Montgomery (36­-0) in the semifinals.

Region 4 Wrestling Tournament

When/Where: Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at Union High School, 2350 N. Third St. , Union.

Wednesday: First round, 6 p.m.

Friday: Quarterfinals, Friday, 6 p.m.

Saturday: Semifinals, 9 a.m.; Consolation finals, 2 p.m.; Finals, 3 p.m.