Raider wrestling team looking at long season
BY GEORGE ALBANO
Staff Writer

FARRAH MAFFAI staff North Brunswick’s Nick Gambino tries to escape the grasps of South River’s Kevin Pereria during a 119-pound bout on Saturday in Sayreville.

Mark Salge has been coaching long enough to know how to read the handwriting on the wall. And the veteran North Brunswick High School wrestling coach doesn’t like what he sees.

All indications point to a very lo-o-o-o-ng year for the Raiders.

In fact, they opened the 2003-04 season by dropping both ends of a tri-meet last Saturday at Sayreville, losing to the host school 69-9 and getting edged by South River 38-34.

The Raiders will have a week to regroup before competing in their own annual Raider Invitational, a 10-team holiday tournament this Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.

North Brunswick went 4-18 last season, but Salge thinks this year’s team will be hard pressed to match even that mark.

"We don’t have a full team," he said. "Last year, we forfeited six weight classes, and we’re going to average six or seven forfeits a match this year. We have a lot of problems."

Not the least of which is the loss of senior Tommy Milazzo, the Raiders’ top returnee from a year ago. As a junior, Milazzo was the District 20 champion at 145 pounds and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. He went on to place fourth in the Region 5 tourney, and finished the season with over 30 wins and only four losses. And the best part was, he was planning to return at the same weight class.

"He probably would’ve placed in states this year," Salge said.

But Milazzo’s final season ended before it even began, when he suffered a shoulder injury during a wrestling tournament at Penn State back in June.

"The doctors kept saying it was just a sore shoulder," Salge said. "We finally had an orthopedic [doctor] look at it, which we probably should have done right away, and he said Tommy would need surgery to correct it.

"It was misdiagnosed originally," he added. "If he had it operated on in June, he would’ve been okay for the season. It was just one of those things."

Salge also expected three other starters to return, but lost them for the season to what he termed "very serious disciplinary reasons."

All of which has left the Raiders with a young and very inexperienced squad with no seniors.

"We have 17 kids and seven of them have never wrestled before," Salge, now in his 17th season at North Brunswick, pointed out. "The numbers are down, and there’s no excuse for that with a school our size. We’re going to be a Group IV school next year.

"I tried to get kids who wrestled in the junior high, but they didn’t come out. I told them if they come out, we could have a good team in two years. I have to question why we’re not getting a lot of kids coming out.

"The kids we have are getting better, but they’re going to take their lumps," he continued.

Salge has also been impressed with how fast some of them are picking up the new sport.

"Even one of our former wrestlers, Danny Rubenstein, who finished fourth in the state for us, and is now a senior and starts for Oklahoma (last year’s NCAA champion), is on his Christmas break and has come to our practices. He’s showing the kids some techniques and they’re picking it up."

Not all of the Raiders lack experience, however. Junior captain Ryan Post, who wrestled 152 and 160 last season even though he weighed only 149, is now a solid 152 and recorded two pins in the opening meet.

"He’s looked real good so far," Salge said.

James Charneco, another junior, transferred to North Brunswick from North Bergen High School, where he wrestled for JV last season. He’ll be at 130 pounds for the Raiders and also began the season with a pair of victories.

Another key wrestler expected back is junior Jon Horning, a 20-match winner last season when he finished third in the district at 112 pounds. He’s moved up to 125 this season, but had to sit out the opening match and will miss this weekend’s tournament because of a thumb injury.

"He jammed it playing volleyball in gym class," Salge said. "He still has to get X-rays, and we’re hoping it’s not broken. I think he just strained the ligament."

It’s been that kind of a season for the Raiders.

"If we had him against South River, we would have won the match," the NBHS coach said. "If we had any one of the wrestlers who’s missing, we could’ve won. That’s what’s hard to swallow."

Some good news might be one the way, however. Sophomore Josh Burgos, a 20-match winner as a freshman at 103 pounds, had to miss the opening tri-meet because of "personal reasons," but Salge hopes to have him back in the lineup soon.

"If we get him back, he’ll be at 112 and should do very well," Salge said.

One person the Raiders will lose after this season is their coach, who is expected to retire‚ again. Salge, who has been coaching wrestling since 1980, became head coach at North Brunswick in 1986. After 15 years guiding the Raiders, he stepped down following the 2000 season.

But when his replacement, Mike Vanilla, left after only two years and the Raiders had no one to coach them, Salge returned to the bench last season. Next season, his assistant coach, Bob Januska, will take over.

"He wanted me to stick around one more year," Salge said. "But he’s ready now. He’ll make a good head coach."

Meanwhile, Salge can only wonder what might have been had everyone re­turned that was supposed to.

"We would’ve had a competitive team, probably gone about .500," he said. "Now, if we win a match, it would be unbeliev­able."

Apparently, the handwriting on the wall doesn’t lie.