A Good Day for Southern Regional Wrestlers and Snow Plow Operators

A good Monday for many students and teachers in Ocean County who got to sleep a little later because of delayed openings following an overnight snowfall.

That was also a welcome sight for many snow-starved operators of plows who have had a very quiet winter.

It was a good Sunday for the Southern Regional wrestling program and those that root for the Rams as they captured their third overall group title at the RWJBarnabas Health Arena in Toms River.   After polishing off Passaic Tech in the Group 5 semifinals in the afternoon the Rams came back at night and beat Hunterdon Central to claim the championship and cap off a season that started a bit slow but ended with a flurry.

The Rams trailed after eight bouts in the final before winning four in-a-row including pins by John Stout, Ben LoParo & 220-pounder JT Cornelius that clinched the title.

The other three shore teams who wrestled on Sunday--Jackson Memorial, Ocean and Shore Regional--all lost in the semifinals earlier in the day.

The Shore Conference Basketball Tournament is scheduled to begin Tuesday and the seeding meetings on Sunday saw Ranney and St. John Vianney earn top spots as expected.  Ranney tops the field of 24 boys teams to qualify followed by Manasquan, CBA, Freehold Township, Rumson and Toms River North.

On the girls side the Lady Lancers are followed by St. Rose, Manchester and Manasquan in the field of 26 teams.  All those teams and others have opening round byes.

The first two rounds of the tournament are Tuesday and Thursday at the higher seed before the quarterfinals and semifinals move to the RWJBarnabas Health Arena.

The championship doubleheader is scheduled for Saturday, February 23^rd at Monmouth University’s OceanFirst Bank Center and in a switch the boys game will be played first that night at 5pm followed by the girls final.

I’ve made fun of the fact that I’m bad luck when it comes to hockey’s New York Rangers but I’m really starting to wonder if I’m a jinx.  With yours truly in attendance the Rangers were shut out by Carolina Friday night and I’m pretty sure it’s the fourth time in the last six games they have failed to score a goal with me in the seats at the Garden.

By the way last night it only took 28 seconds for them to score in what would be a win over Toronto. Of course I was not there.