Jan 31, 2010
Long Branch wins SCT title

By STEVEN FALK STAFF WRITER January 30, 2010

STAFFORD  Doug Cornell had been here before. Just 15 days ago, the Long Branch High School senior 152-pounder could have clinched a win for the Green Wave at High Point.

However, Cornell dropped a tough 3-1 overtime decision to High Point's Joe Gaccione in the next-to-last bout. High Point then won the match by a point with a win in the final bout, hurting Long Branch's hopes of finishing as the consensus No. 1 ranked team in New Jersey for a second straight season.

On Saturday night, in a classic Shore Conference Tournament championship match against Jackson Memorial at Southern Regional, Cornell was once again in a huge spot. He was wrestling against Doug Hamann, who had been sidelined since Jan. 19 with a bout of mononucleosis.

"It's rough letting the team down at the end like that," Cornell said. "It's happened to me a couple of times and I couldn't just do it again."

Cornell did not let his team down. He scored a key reversal in the second period and then recorded the go-ahead takedown with 20.9 seconds remaining to record a 4-3 win.

Then, Nick Visicaro (160), the defending NJSIAA 160-pound champion, pinned Jonathan Gaboff and Omar Akel (171), the NJSIAA sixth-place finisher at 171 last season, handed Dallas Winston his first loss of the season as Long Branch recorded a hard-fought 29-23 victory.

It is the third straight SCT title for Long Branch (18-3). It is the first Monmouth County team to win three consecutive SCTs and just the fourth team in the 34-year history of the tournament to win three straight SCTs. Toms River South from 1975-78, Brick Memorial, which won 10 straight from 1985-96, and Jackson Memorial (2004-2007) are the others to have won three straight SCTs.

Cornell's win pulled Long Branch within 23-20 and took away the Jaguars' last, best chance.

"It's special for Dougie Cornell," said Long Branch coach Dan George.

Cornell said there was thought of weighing him at 145 on Saturday because everyone in the Long Branch camp was convinced Hamann, the Region VI fourth-place finisher at 140 last season, was going to wrestle. "Coach G (George) said, "Let's go for it,' " Cornell said.

Jackson Memorial coach Doug Withstandley said Hamann was still not 100 percent.

"We had no other choices," Withstandley said. "Even though he's sick, he still gives us the best chance to win."

Even though Hamann recorded the first takedown in the first period, Cornell was thinking the longer it went, the better chance he would have because Hamann had not actually wrestled since Jan. 16.

"I was telling myself to keep pushing it," Cornell said.

George said, "I'm glad (Hamann is) OK and I'm glad he wrestled. That was the only way we wanted it, and I'm sure that's the way they wanted it, too."

Two bouts before Cornell, senior Scott Festejo, the NJSIAA third-place finisher at 125 last season, recorded a dramatic 5-3 win over Devin Biscaha, the Region VI fourth-place finisher at 152 last season, in the 140-pound bout on a five-point move in the final 20 seconds.

Biscaha led 3-0 on a takedown late in the first period and an escape in the second period. Biscaha's strength is riding his opponent. Festejo's strength is wrestling on the mat.

Biscaha rode Festejo the entire third period before Festejo reversed him off a restart with 30.7 seconds remaining. He put Biscaha to his back, setting off a jubilant celebration on the Long Branch bench.

"I was thinking escape, takedown," Festejo said. "We somehow rolled, and I was right there. I saw an opportunity, so I took it. I just reached over and just hipped into him."

George said, "Scotty just pushes the tempo and it's almost impossible to keep up with him. He never lost his sense or his training. He just banged, banged, banged."

If Jackson Memorial had won at both 140 and 152, it would have won 29-23. Withstandley thought the Jaguars would need to win eight bouts to win the match. Long Branch won eight bouts. The Green Wave also saved some points from 103-119 as Luke Balina (103), Thomas Ging (112) and Nick George (119) all avoided getting pinned.

"That was a great duel. I was proud to be a part of it," Withstandley said. "The kids gave their best effort. All 14 wrestlers wearing a Jackson Memorial uniform gave 110 percent. It just didn't fall our way."

And Long Branch now feels it has completed its dominant three-year run in the SCT because it finally got the chance to wrestle and beat Jackson Memorial.

"We took their blueprint from the recreational wrestling, to the middle school wrestling to the high school wrestling," George said. "It (finally beating Jackson Memorial) makes it extra special because it's Jackson and what Jackson means to high school wrestling in New Jersey."

Photo
Long Branch's Scott Festejo goes for last-minute points against Devin Biscaha in their 140-pound bout Saturday. (STAFF PHOTO: PETER ACKERMAN)