Old Bridge wrestling team reloading with fresh talent

CHRIS KELLY Old Bridge’s Vin Iodaci drives in for a single-leg takedown against West Deptford’s Kyle Mancuso during Saturday’s Southern Invitational in Manahawkin. Iodaci defeated the top-seeded Mancuso, 7-2, in the final.

Four competitors with 20 or more wins last season lead the Old Bridge High School wrestling team as it seeks to defend its NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV title.

Coach Ken Scott’s team has several new faces, but the Knights also have a solid nucleus from a team that went 16-2 last winter, were Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division tri-champs (along with South Plainfield and South Brunswick), finished second in the GMC Tournament to South Plainfield, and won another District 20 title.

Lost to graduation are top-caliber wrestlers such as Justin Smigelsky (28-3 last season at 103 pounds), Mike Carro (27-12 at 119), Rob Cook (26-6 at heavyweight), Tony Rispoli (10-15 at 135), Kevin Quinlan (27-5 at 152), Sal Iodaci (27-6 at 189) and Aaron Suozzo (25-8 at 215). The combined record of the starters lost to graduation was an impressive 191-75.

But when you have a program as successful as Old Bridge’s, you don’t rebuild, you reload.

Vinnie Iodaci is the top returnee. The 130-pound sophomore went 32-4 a year ago and won his weight class at the District 20 competition. Iodaci was also the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament champion, and placed third in Region V.

Seniors Ian Gorham (119), Wilhelm Keinhofer (145) and Mike Wojcik (171) are all coming off strong seasons.

Gorham was 23-6 at 112 pounds, and captured the District 20 title for a second time. He also placed second in the GMCT, but had to withdraw as the top seed in the Region V tournament due to injury. For his career, he has a stellar 44-15 record.

Keinhofer also won a District 20 crown and finished the campaign at 22-9. He placed third at the GMCT, fourth in Region V, and has a career record of 35-21.

Wojcik, who competed at 160 pounds last season, was 25-8 with a third-place finish in District 20, as well as third in the GMCT and fourth in the Region.

Iodaci and Gorham took first place in their respective weight classes this weekend at a tourney at Southern Regional High School.

The Knights have two other grapplers who showed much promise a year ago. Mike Mazur went 10-1 at 103 pounds, but was the backup for Smigelsky, who won the District 20 and Region V tournaments.

Alex Batlle returns at 140 pounds, where after struggling in the early going he rebounded to end the year at 10-9.

Other members of the team include seniors Andrew Orak (160) and Francis Barnett (189); juniors Dan Rispoli (135), Mike Walsh (152) and Matt Lamella (HW); sophomores Justin Obruzniak and John Pagnatta (both 112), Mike Caruso (125) and Charlie Fradella (215).

Scott said that his team is a bit of a work in progress, but is confident that they’ll be one of the GMC’s better teams as the season progresses.

"Our lineup is not quite settled, but I’m confident that we have plenty of talent," Scott said. "We have a lot of great kids and our success will depend on how the newer varsity wrestlers improve as the season goes on."

The coach also reported that the Knights’ future looks bright since Old Bridge had a strong turnout this year, including more than 30 freshmen.

Last year’s JV team finished the year at 12-1-1, and won the JV county tournament. In addition, last season’s freshman team finished up at 12-0.

So it seems that Scott’s program is set to continue the high level of competition that we’ve come to expect of the 25-year coach’s teams. And Scott seems to be getting better with experience, coming off a year when he was named District 20, Region V and GMC Wrestling Coach of the Year. He also recorded his 300th career win last February, and entered this season with a career mark of 304-59-2.

And the accolades carry on down to his assistant coaches as well. JV coach Bryan Garnett (entering his 16th year at Old Bridge) was selected as the GMC Assistant Coach of the Year, and led his team to titles in the Icebreaker, Woodbridge Holiday and Middlesex County tournaments.

And with another solid team in place, look for the Knights to continue to rack up wins. They are expected to battle with many of the same schools as last year for conference supremacy, and will have several wrestlers competing well into the post season.

Old Bridge was scheduled to open the season on Tuesday at Piscataway and will travel back to Southern for a dual meet on Saturday.