Raiders’ Billy Belfi wins GMC crown at 112
BY GEORGE ALBANO
Staff Writer

SCOTT PILLING staff Bret Griffin, shown here controlling Edison’s Kevin Lenti in a recent bout, and the SouthBrunswick Vikings are looking to build on a solid showing in this past weekend’s GMC Tournament, as they prepare for the District 20 Tournament in a couple of weeks.

Billy Belfi is a perfect example of what hard work, determination and a lot of practice can do in a sport like wrestling.

Belfi, a sophomore at North Brunswick High School, captured the 112-pound championship at the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament on Saturday before 800 fans at South Brunswick.

The 16-year-old Belfi has been wrestling since he was in fourth grade and has enjoyed modest success along the way, even finishing seventh at l03 pounds at last year’s GMC tourney.

But he made a quantum leap to the next level this season as the rest of the conference found out over the weekend. Belfi, the top seed in his weight class, won all four of his matches, including a 15-9 decision over No. 3 seed Tony Colon of Edison in the final.

The four wins upped Belfi’s season record to a sparkling 25-2 and he’s not done yet as he looks ahead to the district tournament Feb. 24-25, and if he finishes in the top three, the regional tournament. If he finishes among the top three there, Belfi will head to the NJSIAA state tournament in Atlantic City.

“My goal is to win districts and go to states,” Belfi said.

Last year, he finished second in the district and fourth at regionals to just miss making it to states. This year he’s determined to make it.

“I already beat everyone in my district this season,” he said.

Belfi has been working on his goals for nearly a year now, ever since last year’s postseason tournaments ended.

“I did a lot of tournaments in the summer and I joined the CJA wrestling club, which wrestles four days a week year-round.” Belfi said. “The rest of the time I just practice real hard.”

All that practice and hard work is paying off now.

In Saturday’s GMC final, Belfi went up against a wrestler he had pinned three weeks ago when North Brunswick and Edison met in a dual meet. But the rematch went the distance and turned out to be a high-scoring affair.

“We kept reversing each other this time,” Belfi said. “I had him on his back three or four times, but I couldn’t get the pin.”

He got that win, though, and the championship, and that’s all that mattered to him.

“It was exciting,” he said. “It was one of my goals to win the county championship. I finished first at the East Brunswick Holiday Tournament early in the season, but this is the first really big tournament I’ve ever won.”

Probably the first of many.

Belfi was one of the few bright spots for a North Brunswick wrestling team that finished tied with East Brunswick for 16th place, both with 30 points, in the 22-team field.

The only other Raider to do anything significant was Tino Travlos, who placed seventh at 189 pounds.

But Belfi wasn’t the only local wrestler to make it to the GMC finals. A pair of South Brunswick grapplers also made it as Derek Shelcusky at 215 pounds and Kyle Wadiak at 160 both finished runner-up.

Shelcusky, the No. 1 seed at 215, lost to Preston Johnson of South Plainfield 15-10 in the final, while Wadiak, the second seed at 160, was decisioned 5-1 by Pete Simon of J.F. Kennedy.

Meanwhile, Justin DelPiano at 152 and sophomore Ryan Smith at 135 both finished in third place.

As a team, the Vikings finished a respectable ninth place out of 22 teams with 79 points, only two behind eighth-place Woodbridge. Not bad for a South Brunswick team that’s won only three dual meets so far this season.

But one person not surprised by the Vikings’ high finish is head coach Joe Dougherty.

“We have some good individual wrestlers,” the veteran head coach said. “So we pretty much finished where I expected.”

South Plainfield, which placed nine wrestlers in the finals and won titles in seven weight classes, ran away with its third straight GMC championship and 11th in 14 years, finishing 130 points ahead of runner-up Old Bridge.

With a better tournament team than dual-meet team, South Brunswick should also score well at the District 20 tournament, which the Vikings are hosting.

In fact, Shelcusky and DelPiano both won district championships a year ago, while Wadiak was a district runner-up.

“We think Derek (Shelcusky) might go down and wrestle at 189,” Dougherty said. “He probably weighs 195, and they give you two pounds for a growth allowance so it’s 191. He wrestled there three times during the season so he’s decided he wants to wrestle there.”

Dave Amrhine has alternated with Shelcusky at 215 and 189 during the season.

“He wrestles at whatever weight class Derek doesn’t wrestle,” Dougherty said. “He wrestled at 189 at the GMC tournament and was doing well when he hurt his knee and ankle. He finished the match and lost 5-4 to the kid who eventually finished second. But Dave will be back for districts and wrestle 215.

“I’m sure Derek (Shelcusky ) and Kyle (Wadiak) both have a very good shot in the districts and regionals, and the other two guys, (Ryan) Smith and (Justin) DelPiano, are both very confident. I’m sure they’ll do well at districts, too.

“We have some other kids in there as well,” Dougherty, who’s led SBHS to three district titles in his 18 years, said.

He listed Joey Biondo, a sophomore, who “looks pretty good,” at 119 pounds.

Then there’s Cody Shelcusky, Derek’s younger brother who’s a freshman, at 130, sophomore Anthony DelPiano, Justin’s cousin, at 140, and Greg Griffin, another sophomore, at 145.

“We’re not necessarily looking to win it,” Dougherty concluded. “But we’re looking for a good, solid showing.”