Vikings look to recapture their former glory
South Brunswick team showing signs of improvement
BY GEORGE ALBANO
Staff Writer

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff South Brunswick High School's Anthony Delpiano (top) tries to pin Ocean's J.J. Bradford during their bout at the Mustang Classic at Brick Memorial on Dec. 28.

The wrestling program at South Brunswick High School appears to be going through a resurgence.

The Vikings, once a perennial GMC and district power, have fallen upon tough times lately, including a disappointing 4-17 record last season.

But South Brunswick already had three wins before 2006 was over and took a 3-1 record into yesterday's home match against Elizabeth. By this weekend, the Vikings could surpass last year's total win output when they travel to JFK-Iselin for a quad meet against Piscataway, Franklin and the host school.

It will be the Vikings' first dual-meet action in nearly two weeks, since Dec. 22 when they beat Montgomery, 48-33. In the interim, however, South Brunswick competed in the prestigious Mustang Classic last Thursday at Brick Memorial.

"That's generally regarded as one of the best tournaments in the state of New Jersey," veteran coach Joe Dougherty said of the 13-team individual tourney.

Once upon a time, the Vikings were regarded as one of the best teams in the GMC and in the district, and some seasons even in the state. They have five GMC division titles to their credit, and prior to last season had won three district crowns in seven years.

"The last few years we've been pretty lean," Dougherty, now in his 18th season at SBHS, said. "We're hoping to get back to the level when we won district and GMC division titles, and were ranked in the state."

The Vikings may not be quite ready to reclaim all those lofty laurels this season, but they certainly appear to be on their way back.

"It's a good start," Dougherty said. "Our one loss was to Warren Hills and they recently beat Hunterdon Central, who's always a state powerhouse. We didn't know how good they were when we lost to them because it was the first weekend of the season. But we were competitive against them and we've beaten the other three teams we wrestled."

But while South Brunswick is off to a good start this season, the future looks even brighter with only one senior in a starting lineup that includes two freshmen and three sophomores.

In fact, most of last year's team returns intact.

"Only three kids graduated; three very good kids," Dougherty pointed out. "But I'm encouraged by what our young kids are doing. We have 14 freshmen in the room and our seventh and eighth grade program is in good shape. My former assistant coach, Tim Schnorbus, currently coaches the middle school team. That's always a plus."

Longtime assistant Dan Gavin, who's been with Dougherty all 18 seasons, is back again, while former North Brunswick head wrestling coach Bobby Januska has joined the Vikings' coaching staff this season.

Not everyone is returning, however. Among the graduated was Derek Shelcusky, last year's regional champ at 189 pounds. Prior to him, his brother, Brady Shelcusky, wrestled at South Brunswick and placed third at regionals to also qualify for the state tournament.

The good news, however, is the Vikings return three regional qualifiers from last season. Among them is junior Ryan Smith, who finished fourth in the region at 135 pounds and has moved up to 140.

"He's our most accomplished wrestler," Dougherty said. "We're hoping he sets the tone and develops into a leadership type role."

Meanwhile, Anthony DelPiano, another junior, qualified for the regional tournament at 140 pounds and has bumped up to 152 this season.

"Anthony is an integral part of our team," Dougherty said. "It's important for him to wrestle well for us to do well."

David Amrhein is a third returning junior who qualified for regionals, finishing runner-up in District 20 and reaching the regional semifinals at 215 pounds. This season he's moved down to 189 pounds.

"That's his natural weight," Dougherty noted. "He wrestled at 215 last year because Derek was at 189."

The drop down in weight class should benefit Amrhein and he showed it last week by taking second at the Mustang Classic.

Another runner-up finisher at that tournament was 160-pounder Rodney Dixon, the lone senior in the lineup.

"He wrestled as a sophomore, but didn't come out last year," Dougherty said.

The Vikings also return experience at 125 pounds with Joe Biondo, who Dougherty calls "one of our team leaders."

Another junior being counted on is Malcolm McQueen at 171 pounds after starting part of last season as a sophomore. Evan Nathanson, also a junior, is at 215 after seeing a little varsity action last year, while yet another junior, Brett Griffin, will see action at 152 and 160.

And South Brunswick hasn't run out of Shelcusky's yet. Sophomore Cody Shelcusky, the younger brother of Brady and Derek, is starting at 145 pounds.

"He's looking real good," Dougherty said. "He's a Shelcusky. They're all bruisers."

Two more sophomores in the lineup are Colin Preacher at 119 pounds and Edmond Jasabe at 135.

"We're looking for Colin to progress. He works hard all the time," Dougherty said. "Edmond is a first-year varsity wrestler who was JV last year."

Two more first-year varsity wrestlers are freshmen Sarah Dorsay at 112 pounds and Michael MacMurray at 130. Dougherty has had female wrestlers before, "but none like Sarah," he said. "She has an extensive background. She's been wrestling in youth programs for a long time and has entered girls national tournaments. She's actually won several of them, and, if I'm not mistaken, last year she was named the outstanding wrestler at the girls nationals.

"She's doing pretty well for us so far, too," he added. "Right now she's 2-1, so she's doing okay."

MacMurray also has a lot of promise according to his coach.

"Michael came to us with a lot of wrestling experience, too," Dougherty said. "We look for him to get to the next level."

So the future looks bright and the present doesn't look too bad, either. But Dougherty knows there's still a long way to go.

"We still have to get into our GMC schedule and there are a lot of good teams in the GMC. We'll see how we fare there," he said. "We're just going to try and get better every week."