By Jeff Appelblatt
Coach Matt Shepherd felt it essential to gather his coaching staff right away when Freehold High School’s wrestling team got back to Freehold the night of Jan. 26. The team had been bounced from the Shore Conference Wrestling Tournament, and the coaches needed to make plans for the next day and the rest of the season.
The 11-year coach understand things weren’t too urgent, as the club was dominated by the powerhouse from Howell High School, 58-12. On Jan. 28, Howell (21-1) finished off the Shore Conference Tournament with a win over Raritan High School (21-2), 36-24, but Howell or similar competition wouldn’t be on the mats with the Colonials regularly.
Shepherd still wanted his wrestlers to rebound and get back to where they had been before matching up with the Rebels two days in a row, having also met them in a dual meet Jan. 25.
“Howell is elite. We want to get to that level one day,” the coach said. “They’re good. … [We have] to come back after something like that. We wrestled a top-10 team in the state two days in a row.
“We got together as a staff and said this is what we need to do to get better.”
Shepherd admitted that he doesn’t see his team reaching Howell’s level too soon, but everyone should have goals.
“There’s got to be steps to it,” he said before recognizing the positives his team could take away from the matchup his team found itself in vs. the top team in the bracket. “We won some weights.”
The Colonials found some success Jan. 26 in Howell, starting with one of the team’s strongest wrestlers all season, Nico Messina. The 106-pound freshman hasn’t lost in a dual meet yet this year, and he didn’t let that change against Howell. He defeated Jesse Liptzin, 6-4.
Dominic Theodosatos (5-6) and Liam Tibbett (12-4) also earned Freehold some points in the tournament loss to the Rebels, defeating Howell’s Nick Sulkowski and Sean McGuire in the 145-pound and 195-pound weight classes.
Shepherd didn’t want anyone to bask in it, but he knows his wrestlers should be proud just getting to the meet with Howell. His squad, which was seeded 17th, defeated the 16-seed from Holmdel High School, 38-23, two days before the meet with the eventual champions.
While Howell was wrapping up the Shore Conference title Jan. 28, Freehold had another meet on its schedule. The team went to Marlboro High School for a meet also attended by Lacey Township High School and Point Pleasant Beach High School.
The Colonials had one more win and one more loss, defeating the host team, 55-14, and losing to Point Pleasant Beach, 45-16.
Daniel Giovinazzo (4-3) was the only one who could get some air against Point Pleasant Beach. The 220-pound senior pinned Nick Kenmure in less than one minute. Giovinazzo also pinned Elijah Azaraev of Marlboro in his other match of the day.
The senior received a lot more help from his team against Marlboro. Overall, Freehold won 11 of the 14 matches with the Mustangs.
Freehold (9-7) has another quad meet Feb. 4 at Toms River High School East. Central Regional High School (1-14) and Middletown High School South (13-8) will be the other teams in attendance at the 9 a.m. competition, along with Freehold and Toms River East (0-12).
Before that meet, Shepherd plans on knowing details about the NJSIAA Tournament.
“Back to the practice room,” Freehold’s coach said about the team’s plans. “Then we’re going to go compete [and] let the chips fall where they may for the state tournament.”
