Point Beach beats Manville to win Central Jersey Group 1 title

Point Beach’s seniors are the reason it was in position to win another sectional title on Friday night, so it was only fitting it was that group who finished the job in their final home match.

Senior heavyweight Liam Buday began the match with a 30-second pin, senior Jesse Bowers won by major decision, senior Jared Kerr won by decision and seniors George Kaiafas and Jason Sherlock accepted forfeits as the top-seeded Garnet Gulls defeated Manville, 43-25, to capture the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 1 championship. It is Point Beach’s fourth sectional title in program history, all of which have come in the last five years.

Point Beach will wrestle Delaware Valley in the NJSIAA Group 1 semifinals at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday at RWJBarnabas Health Arena on the campus of Toms River North. Paulsboro and Emerson/Park Ridge will meet in the other semifinal with the winners to meet in the Group 1 state final at 5 p.m.

“It means a lot, especially after losing last year,” said Point Beach head coach Jeff Bower. “It means a lot to these seniors, being resilient and coming back and getting another.”

Buday hadn’t wrestled in two weeks because of an injury but returned with authority to give Beach a quick 6-0 lead.

“To be honest, if I could have picked a weight to start it would have been him,” Bower said. “He was fired up to wrestle.”

Sophomore Teddy Jarahian followed with a fall at 106, a huge result considering the usual results down low.

“Teddy did a great job getting a fall at 106,” Bower said. “If we can get a win out of those first three guys we like our chances against anyone.”

Manville won the next two weights to tie the match at 12 but junior Riley Simon won by technical fall at 126 to put Point Beach ahead for good. Manville won by major decision at 132 to cut Beach’s lead to 17-16, but from there the Garnet Gulls won the next four bouts. Consecutive decision victories from junior Kip Lovgren at 138 and Kerr at 145 pushed the lead to 23-16 and back-to-back major decisions from Bowers and junior Jason Schulz stretched the advantage 31-16.

Manville won by decision at 170 pounds in the final contested bout. Point Beach bumped Kaiafas to 195 and forfeited to Manville’s top wrestler, Alex Abarca, at 182 pounds to make the score 31-25 with two bouts left. Manville forfeited to both Kaiafas at 195 and Sherlock at 220 to account for the final score.

“I put a lot of emphasis on being a senior and just wrestling like a senior and stepping up, and our seniors did a great job doing that across the board,” Bower said. “I’m just happy for them that they could go out with a win at home and get another state title.”

Box Score

1-Point Beach 43, 3-Manville 25

Managing editor Bob Badders can be reached at bob.badders@townsquaremedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Bob_Badders. Like Shore Sports Network on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel for all the latest video highlights.