The Shore Daily, 3/6/15
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While the weather wreaks havoc with the basketball NJSIAA Tournament schedule, one thing is for sure - there will be big-time wrestling tonight at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
The NJSIAA Individual Championships begin tonight for one of the great championship events held in New Jersey of any season. Three days of wall-to-wall action that culminate in Sunday's state finals at 3 p.m.
Bob Badders has the full schedule and a breakdown of each weight class, his picks for the titles and his handicapping of the Shore's chances to medal. The Shore Conference did not produce a state champion last season for the first time since 2003, but there are several wrestlers capable of making that look like a one-year aberration.
The Cliff's Notes version is that Christian Brothers Academy's Sebastian Rivera (113), Jackson Liberty's Mike Russo (126), Wall's Brett Donner (170) and Keansburg's Tyree Sutton (195) look like the Shore's best bets to take home a title. Brick Memorial's Alec Donovan (145) also has a good shot in a wide-open weight class, and then there's always a few wrestlers who surprise all the experts and make a run to the podium.
Rivera is trying to become just the second CBA state champ in history and the first since 1969, while Sutton is looking to continue to make history for the Titans. He became their first state place-winner ever last season and won the program's first Region VI title last weekend, so now he is bidding to be Keansburg's first state champion. Russo is also trying to become Jackson Liberty's first state champ after placing in the top four in each of the past two years.
There is almost no better test of physical and mental endurance than this weekend in AC. I'm always impressed by the wrestlers who suffer disappointing losses early on and fight their way back through the wrestleback rounds to get a medal. It's so easy to give up when your dream of a state title goes out the window early on. Also, it's hard to finish the job and win it all as the pressure ratchets up with each day. Add in about 12,000 fans roaring and it's a great event overall.
BASKETBALL
Almost all of today's scheduled state playoff games have been moved to tomorrow, which stinks because I'm going down to Atlantic City for wrestling, so I won't be at any basketball games tomorrow. No one's winning anything anyway because it's just quarterfinals and semifinals, so I'll be back in the basketball fold on Monday. It's not that bad out today, so I don't know why these games had to be moved. I guess it's the whole busing aspect that forces school to be cancelled. You can find the latest updates to the schedule here.
It looks like the only games on for tonight out of the 11 that were scheduled are Gloucester Catholic at CBA, Bordentown at Rumson, and home games for Shore and Point Beach in Central Jersey Group I. Shore senior Dan Largey enters the fourth-seeded Blue Devils' game against fifth-seeded Florence 33 points shy of 1,000 for his career. All four of those Shore Conference teams are favored to pick up wins and move on. For Rumson, it would be the Bulldogs' second straight trip to the Central Jersey Group II final, and they would play the winner of tomorrow's Manasquan-Matawan game either at Rumson if Matawan wins or at Manasquan if the Warriors win.
More on Friday:
- CBA grad Matt McMullen had a big night to put Colgate into the Patriot League Tournament semifinals, two wins away from making the NCAA Tournament.
- Sad to hear what's happened to Mookie Blaylock, who was one of my favorites growing up, plus as every Pearl Jam fan knows, the name of the band before they changed it.
- Powerful story on Iona star Isaiah Williams, who is from Newark and has had 24 friends die from his neighborhood because of violence.
- Two high school ice hockey teams in Denver played a six-overtime playoff game.
- One way to avoid being caught for a crime is to not post on the local police department's Facebook page when they are looking for you.
- Brandon Marshall to the Jets. Sounds good to me. That has to mean they are either taking Marcus Mariota at No. 6 or trading that pick for a more competent quarterback than the awful Geno Smith. The clock is ticking because Marshall is usually only good for about two seasons before he become a complete pain in the butt and ends up being traded.
On tap for tonight: As mentioned above, there are still four boys basketball state playoff games scheduled, three of which are sectional quarterfinals along with the Central Jersey Group II semifinal between Bordentown and Rumson.
Down in Atlantic City, the wrestling gets started with the preliminary round at 5 p.m., followed by the pre-quarterfinals at 7 p.m.
I'll end with this heartwarmer of a video. Good job Blackhawks.
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