Southern's Anthony Mason escaped from Brick Memorial's Sonny DiMatteo with 1 secondsremaining in the ultimate tie-breaker to record a 2-1 win
BRICK - Traditional Shore Conference powers Southern and Brick Memorial wrestled each other Thursday night in an early-season divisional match like they have for years.
However, most of three remaining divisional matches for both teams will be against teams they have not been in the same division with.
Southern, which rolled to a 52-16 win before a loud crowd at Brick Memorial's gymnasium, and Brick Memorial are two of the five teams in the power-packed Class A.
The Shore Conference, after years of setting up its wrestling divisions by group size and geography, has gone to a setup it has used in football in recent seasons - aligning them by strength of program.
Joining two-time defending NJSIAA Group 5 champion Southern and nine-time group champion Brick Memorial in Class A are non-public powers St. John Vianney and Christian Brothers Academy and defending Group 2 champion Rumson-Fair Haven.
Before this season, Southern and Brick Memorial were always in Class A South with Jackson Memorial, Toms River East, Toms River North, Toms River South, Brick and Central.
"A South there was a lot of tradition. For a very long time, you were seeing those teams every year,'' Southern coach Dan Roy said. "This is making for the better teams a better schedule. We always suffered a bit with power points (for the NJSIAA Team Tournament) because A South had been a little bit down the last few years.
"I think there's mixed things with it, but I'm OK with it. It helps our level. I don't have to look as much to get good power point matches out of conference.
When you have a division that consists of what appears to be the five best teams in the Shore, there is a chance one team could be up against it, but still be a very good team. Brick Memorial could be that team in this division even though it will be a major contender for the Group 3 championship.
"Something good will come from it,'' Brick Memorial coach Mike Kiley said. "I think it will be tough sledding, but I think we'll be battle-tested come the end of the year. Our goal is to win the Group 3 title and those matches are going to help us.''
The good and the bad of the divisional alignment
The Shore Conference, for the most part, did a solid job in alignining its eight divisions based on the strength of program formula.
The idea of the alignment is to create more competitive matches in all of the divisions even though travel was increased for most teams with the geographical part taken away.
Southern at St. John Vianney on Jan. 8; St. John Vianney at CBA on Jan. 15 and CBA at Southern on Jan. 22, will be matches most Shore Conference fans will look forward with great anticipation.
"It's good matches for the fans, and its good for the teams at the higher level,'' Roy said.
But, as Roy pointed out, it may not be ideal for all the wrestlers.
"I guess when you down the level of the divisions, and a team that isn't as good at wrestling, may have a good kid who will never get a good match,'' Roy said.
A good wrestler on a struggling team who does not get good bouts during the regular season could lack a win over a wrestler who has past state and region competition, which could affect his seeding.
Meanwhile, with Southern, Brick Memorial, St. John Vianney, CBA and Rumson-Fair Haven all wrestlling each other plus most of those teams entering wrestlers in power-packed tournaments like the Beast of the East, Powerade and Escape the Rock tournaments, it could become overkill.
"They might as well not even wrestle the Shore Conference Tournament,'' said Roy, whose team will not compete in the Shore Conference Tournament again this season and has not been in the SCT since 2011. "All the top teams are wrestling each other anyway. Why even do the Shore Conference Tournament? It makes no sense in my opinion.''
Southern showed its power
The Rams (2-0), ranked No. 7 in the New Jersey Wrestling Writers Association Top 20 and No. 2 in the Asbury Park Press Top 15, stormed out to a 33-0 lead after six bout, won 11 of the 14 bouts and collected five pins, a technical fall and two major decisions
Southern also recorded wins in three of the most signficant bouts.
Junior Anthony Mason (113), the state runner-up at 106 last season, escaped in the final second of the ultimate tie-breaker to defeat sophomore Sonny DiMatteo 2-1. DiMatteo was one win shy of a state medal last season.
Both wrestlers had ridden the other out in tiebreaker period No. 1. Mason, who scored the first point of the bout, had choice in the ultimate tie-breaker and chose down. DiMatteo had fought off Mason's attempts to reverse him before Mason was awarded the escape.
A second stalling call on Mason with 13 seconds left in the third period, while Mason was riding DiMatteo, tied the bout. .
Sophomore Levi Foote bumped up to 215 and away from two-time state champion Harvey Ludington and recorded a 10-2 major decision over two-time state qualifier Trey Tallmadge. A takedown in the final seconds gave Foote the major decision.
Southern's Cash McVey (126) defeated Gavin Martin 4-2 in a matchup of returning state qualifiers.
113: Anthony Mason (S) d. Sonny DiMatteo 2-1 (ultimate tiebreaker).