Colts Neck had just torn through Toms River South with a bonus-point binge that featured five pins and two technical falls on Wednesday night.
In the hallway behind South’s Doc Dougherty Gymnasium, the message from head coach Brett Jankos was plain and simple: “Not good enough.”
Colts Neck (6-0) won eight bouts and notched its first Shore Conference Class D victory, 43-31, over slightly undermanned Toms River South (6-1).
Jankos rained on the victory parade because Toms River South was as effective at scoring bonus points as his team was.
The Indians, who were without 106-pounder Logan Maestrey (illness) and 126-pounder Alex Park, who is out for the season with an injury, had four pins and a technical fall.
Adding to Jankos’ frustration was the fact Colts Neck won only one bout between 157 and 285 pounds.
“I don’t know if we’re going to win the division but I do know we won’t win it wrestling like we did tonight,” Jankos said. “It was the best we have wrestled or will wrestle. There were just a lot of little things we did not do well.
“We need to be better at securing bonus points and limiting them. I like to get them (bonus point) and not give them up. It just seemed like we were rolling over a little bit.
“They’re going to know how I feel,” Jankos added. “If I let them know they wrestled well today I’d feel like I was lying to them and doing them a disservice as a coach.”
With the match starting at 215, South won the first two bouts and opened up a 12-0 lead on falls by once-beaten Brett Rankin and Austin Reed at 285.
Colts Neck responded by stringing together straight victories, the biggest of which was Tyler Gold’s 6-5 decision over Vincent Pedalino, a 10-bout winner thus far.
Pedalino led the bout 5-0 with 33 seconds left in the second period.
Gold closed the second period with a reversal and opened the third period with an escape, closing to 5-3.
With 1:22 left in the bout Gold worked Pedalino into a three point headlock with 1:10 to go. Gold closed the bout with a ferocious ride full of cross faces and arm wraps that kept Pedalino bellied down on the mat.
Julian Fortunato (106) and Griffin Walsh (120) scored falls in 40 seconds or less.
Christopher Fischer (126), state-ranked Ethan Michaels (132) and Zaid Carno-Sticatto (138) also scored pins. Nicholas Zecchino (144) finished off the run with a 17-2 technical fall.
“It’s not the whole team,” Jankos said. “Some of our kids wrestled great. Our 113-pounder (Gold) went out, wrestled a good kid and grinded out a tough win.
“Those are the kinds of wins I like to see. Griffin Walsh bumped up (from 113 to 120) and picked up a win. Fortunately we secured things down low because we gave up too many points at the top.”
After the 144-pound bout, Colts Neck had a 38-12 lead and the match was all but over.
Nevertheless, South rallied to the chagrin of Jankos and the appreciation of Toms River South head coach Ron Laycock.
Owen Beneciuk was a 10-0 winner at 150 and Jeffrey Hare scored a first-period pin at 157. When South’s Jake Gallagher held on for an 8-6 win over Matthew Anderson at 165, the Indians closed to 38-25 with two bouts to go.
Colts Neck closed out its scoring with a 20-5 technical fall by Dean Natale at 175.
The final bout of the match saw South’s Finn Devrous, down 7-0, use a headlock for a second-period pin.
“We don’t have our full compliment of guys and we’re not healthy right now,” Laycock said.
“They have a little more balance. We have bigger holes than they do. They have guys who for the most part are wrestling six minutes and our holes are getting pinned.”
