Feb 22, 2017

Michael Todisco rolled into Shore Regional High School last night with a 15-0  Jersey Shore Junior Wrestling League (JSJWL) record at 56 lbs along with the ‘B’ Division crown. He was on a mission to win on the biggest stage of the JSWJL season, the ‘Civil War’.

The Civil War match pits the ‘A’  bracket winners against  the ‘B’ bracket winners from last weekend’s individual JSJWL tournaments.   It is an intense night of competition where making mistakes is not an option.  At the end of the night the winners of each match at the Civil War form a team that practices together and represents the JSJWL in state wide matches against other grade school All Star teams.

The ‘A’ Division has some stiff competition but Michael did not let that stop him from believing he could win. Michael faced a strong opponent in AJ Falcone from Howell’s ‘A’ Team and they wrestled within a point of each other the entire match. Michael was behind by one point late in the third and it was not looking good, Falcone rode him out of bounds a few times and the clock was ticking down. With two seconds left, Michael scored a two point reversal to win the match. It was one of the most exciting matches of the night and the large Holmdel contingent roared when the referee raised his hand.

Michael is now part of the Jersey Shore All Star team. The Jersey Shore All Star team is consistently strong every year and wins the state championship frequently.  With Michael on the team we have a feeling this trend will continue.

Good luck Moose from the entire Holmdel Wrestling Family!

Thomas Ilvento also was part of the ‘B’ team. Thomas entered the tournament undefeated and wrestled Portella from Shore. He wrestled tough throughout the match but lost the decision. Congratulations to Thomas on a great season!