Sayreville wrestles its way to the top of GMC standings

When the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) Tournament concluded on Saturday there was a new champion: the Sayreville High School wrestling team.

ERIC SUCAR staff Sayreville's Pat Ronan (bottom) tries to escape out of the hold of Carteret's Donald Smith during their 125-pound bout at the annual Greater Middlesex Conference Wrestling Tournament held at Piscataway High School on Feb. 2. Sayreville won the 22-team event with 185 points, while South Plainfield finished second (181) and Old Bridge finished third (154). The Bombers return to the mat on Saturday as part of a tri-meet with Old Bridge and John F. Kennedy (Iselin). Nine Bombers grapplers placed in the top five of their respective weight classes, andMike Knight (189 pounds) and Ramon Santiago (145) took first place in their divisions to help Sayreville to a 185-181 edge over second-place South Plainfield. The Bombers' victory ends the recent domination of South Plainfield, which had won the GMC each of the past four seasons and 10 of the past 12.

Knight, who missed the early part of the campaign while recovering from ACL surgery, scored a pin over South River's Bryan Fodor to put Sayreville over the top. While Knight made it look easy, taking just 34 seconds, the senior, who weighs in at 160 pounds, moved up in the lineup by two weight classes and was hampered by a knee brace.

"Mike [Knight] was fantastic, he was so focused on getting the job done," Sayreville coach John Denuto said. "He moved up to 189 pounds for the betterment of the team and that enabled another wrestler to get a better seed."

That other wrestler turned out to be Rhett Fischer, who provided the Bombers with several valuable points by finishing fifth at 160 pounds.

Knight has been on fire since returning to the lineup in early January. He is 12-1 with the lone loss coming in the New Jersey Coaches All-Star Meet.

"This was a total team effort," the coach said. "Our guys picked up a lot of important points in the wrestle-back rounds and we seemed to be getting tougher and stronger while everyone else was getting tired. That's really a tribute to how hard our guys have worked and all the time they put in during the offseason. They earned it."

Santiago meanwhile snatched a victory out of the jaws of defeat, by dropping Bishop Ahr's Jon McCauley with seconds remaining to turn a one-point deficit into a 10-6 success. In the process, Santiago upped his team-leading record to 23-1.

Meanwhile, Mike DeLuco (152) finished second, while Nick Boulton (130) took third and heavyweight Manny Santiago finished fourth. Pat Ronan (125), John Boulton (135) and freshman Noel Santiago (119) all finished fifth in their respective weight classes.

In addition to Santiago, DeLuco (20-3) and John Boulton (20-4) have reached the 20-victory plateau. Noel Santiago is 19-6, Manny Santiago is 18-7, freshman Kyle Anderson (103) is 18-6 and Ronan is 17-5. Denuto also noted that all of Sayreville's wrestlers have winning records.

"This was an important win for our program, and our guys had to work for every point they scored," Denuto said. "This is not an easy tournament to win, and it gives you a whole new respect for what South Plainfield has accomplished over the years."

The Bombers will head in the NJSIAA North 2Group III tourney,which begins Feb. 13 at Sayreville. In themeantime, Sayreville was slated to host Voorhees yesterday and willwelcomeOldBridge and JFKto the borough on Saturday for a tri-match. Denuto said he would push his team hard to ensure it doesn't have a letdown.

"We're going to keep the pressure on," he said. "We always set our goals high, so winning the GMC is just a step on our goal sheet. Our ultimate goal is to bring home a state championship."

Denuto also credited his assistant coaches for keeping the team moving forward and for stepping in as he spends time helping his dad fight cancer. The Bombers' assistants include Griffin Banos, Tom Martinez, Wayne VanDerhoff and Lenny Zaleski.