BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY staff Shore Regional’s Jim Fradenberg tries to break the hold of Point. Borough’s Kyle Coleman during their 189-pound match at the District 23 Tournament at Long Branch on Saturday. MIDDLETOWN — The Ocean Township Spartans have faced more than their share of adversity this season.

From injuries to illness, the Spartans have suffered one obstacle after another this winter — a season in which they were predicted to emerge as the Shore’s top team and one of the elite squads in the state.

But despite some disappointing losses this year, Ocean remained the team to beat in last weekend’s District 22 tournament at Middletown South, and proved it on the mats with a convincing team championship, outscoring second-place Christian Brothers Academy, 212-182.

The Spartans were led by six individual champions and will send seven grapplers into this week’s Region VI tournament at the Ritacco Center in Toms River.

The quarterfinals are Friday night, and the semifinal, consolations and finals are Saturday. Tuesday night, the wrestlers who finished second and third in their District tournaments competed in the preliminaries. Anyone who lost Tuesday night is done for the season.

Leading the way for the Spartans was sophomore Mike Berardesco, who won the 103-pound title with a dominating 17-1 technical fall over CBA’s Mike Cioffi. That win was followed by Zac Coulas’ pin of Keansburg’s Adam Boyle in the 112-pound weight class in 1:08.

After freshman J.P. Palandrano dropped his 119-pound title match to defending champion T.J. Mitchell of Raritan, 21-8, Dan Lopes was the next Spartan wrestler to take to the mats, cruising to a 130-pound title with an 8-4 win over Raritan’s Bill Voutsinas.

Andrew Van Dyk then claimed the 135-pound title with a 10-4 win over Raritan’s Dave Seidenbeg, before Joey Falco made it four out of five for Ocean with a 6-3 win over CBA senior Dave Chirichello at 145.

Senior Gaetjens Lezin dropped his 152-pound title to CBA’s Anthony DeLeo, 6-2, before Kyle Kiss became the fifth champion for the Spartans, beating CBA’s Anthony Chirichello, 15-4, in the 171-pound final.

CBA actually had a slight lead over Ocean (101.5-98.5) entering Saturday’s action, but could not match the Spartans’ success in the late rounds.

Monmouth Regional finished fourth in the team standings with 86.5 points, and sent three grapplers on to the Region VI tournament. Senior Kyle Christiansen finished second at 125, losing a thrilling final to CBA’s James Beshada, 8-7, when Beshada scored a takedown with just two seconds on the clock.

Junior Anthony Bongarzone also advanced after taking second at 140, where he lost a 5-3 overtime bout to Raritan’s Dan Seidenberg. They are being joined this week by junior Paul Scweighardt, who lost another overtime bout, 2-1 to Raritan’s Jeff King in the heavyweight final.

The only other local grapplers to advance out of District 22 are Red Bank senior Brooks Saible, who took third at 152, and his teammate senior Jeff Kulat, who took third at heavyweight, as well as Rumson-Fair Haven senior J.C. Clark, who took third at 140 pounds.

Brick Memorial resumed its spot atop the District 23 podium, running away with the team title with 232 points, well ahead of second-place Wall Township, the defending champs, who tallied 157.5 points.

Host Long Branch had a strong showing, taking fourth place with 132 points, and advanced six grapplers to the regional tourney.

The Green Wave had a pair of individual champions — junior Sean Sims at 145 and senior John Jasio at 215. Sims beat Brick Memorial’s Cody Oliverio, 20-6, in their final bout, while Jasio scored an 8-5 win over Brick Township’s Craig Battista in the finals.

Also advancing for Long Branch were senior Matt Coccurello (second at 160), freshman Justin Clarke (third at 112), senior Sergio Chaparro (third at 152) and senior Gennaro Feliciano (third at 189).

Shore Regional finished in ninth place as a team, led by senior Jed Fister’s third-place finish at 130 pounds.