IT’S THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA FOR RUMSON-FAIR HAVEN WRESTLING
By Mike Ready
RUMSON – From 2014 to 2018, the Rumson-Fair Haven wrestling program recorded a total of 22 wins.
During that time period the struggling wrestling program was an after-thought as the school’s highly successful football and basketball programs, among others, grabbed the spotlight by bringing home numerous state titles that helped win the affection of its student-athletes as well as its raucous student body cheering section.
After winning just two matches in the 2017-18 season, Rumson made significant strides as a program last season and it’s carried it over into this season.
Behind arguably the best wrestler in program history, Nick Addison – now a freshman wrestler at Stanford, the Bulldogs went 12-7 overall, 10-6 in the Shore Conference and placed second in A Central with a 5-1 record a year ago. Addison was a three-time district champion, 2019 region champion and placed fourth in the state in both 2018 and 2019, and finished with a 42-2 career record.
“The biggest thing was changing the culture,” said Bulldog head coach Bryan Heller. “At Rumson there are a lot of very successful sports, so when you have a culture in a school with sectional and group and division champions, it was really difficult being the losing team and trying to get people excited about joining that losing team. It really was just changing the minds and perception of the student body that this was a good thing to be part of.”
In his seventh season at Rumson, Heller could easily be in that conversation with Addison as Rumson’s all-time great. He finished with a career record of 118-12 in his four seasons at Rumson, where he was a two-time district champion, two-time regional champion and two-time state placer. He then wrestled at Penn State where he posted an 81-40 career colligate record.
During that two-win 2017-18 season, RFH had only eight or nine varsity wrestlers for matches that consist of 14 weight classes. So right off the bat, they were forced to forfeit five or six matches, depending on who was available and at what weight class.
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“We’ve always had individual success but it’s the numbers that really hurt us,” said Heller. “The year we had two wins we regularly forfeited six weight classes. It’s really difficult to win when you forfeit nearly half the weight classes.”
This season the Bulldogs are currently 11-2 overall, 8-0 in the Shore Conference and 5-0 in A Central and according to Heller, Rumson now has 27 kids in the program and the numbers are growing.
Taking over a losing program as Heller did can be a daunting task for anyone, but Heller is obsessed with wrestling. He eats, drinks and sleeps wrestling and he’s quick to let you know that Rumson’s recent success is no fluke and moving forward he expects the program to compete for championships on a yearly basis.
“We definitely have higher goals as a program,” said Heller. “We want to be part of that winning culture at Rumson where sectional titles are the benchmark. We’re just getting started; we want to be a perennial top 20 team in the state. This is not just a one-off. We have more kids coming in than we’re graduating. This is just a step in the building process. We’re really excited.”
The Bulldogs also moved into the Shore Conference Top 10 a few weeks ago, currently at No. 7, for the first time in recent memory and people have begun to take notice with attendance at matches skyrocketing.
“We’ve promoted the sport with tee shirt giveaways,” said Heller. “We had our third one this year and that brought the whole school to the match and people realized this was a fun thing to watch and could be a cool thing to be part of and that has helped transform us.”
Part of Rumson’s resurgence can be attributed to the popularity of Rumson’s feeder program, RFH Youth Wrestling, which has seen a resurgence in recent years under the direction of former Long Branch and Ohio State standout wrestler Thomas Skove and it serves as a pipeline to the high school.
“We have over 115 kids in the program this year which is insane,” said Heller. “It’s essentially three age groups of kids that we’re developing. We have a bunch of coaches that help out, including Billy George.”
George is Heller’s right-hand man at the varsity level and was a former Long Branch wrestling and football standout before wrestling for Cornell, where he posted a 54-35 career record.
“Billy has a little bit of a different background and our coaching styles vary so that has also contributed to our success,” said Heller.
Heller expects eight kids to come into the program next year from the youth program as it continues to grow in popularity.
This season the Bulldogs brought back the bulk of last year’s team, including six wrestlers with 20 or more wins and another two with double-digit wins.
Junior Max Brignola was 39-6 a year ago while taking first in District 18 and third in Region 5 and is currently 18-0 wrestling at 145 pounds.
“Max is all in, he’ll do anything it takes,” said Heller. “He’s all in at taking the extra steps; he wrestles year round. He was on a team this summer that consisted of the 100 best wrestlers in the state. He’s not afraid to wrestle anyone. He’s looking for those best matches all the time. He just loves the sport and loves to compete so it’s exciting to have him.”
Football players Jack Kelly and Liam Horan have found that their wrestling skills translate well onto the football field and others are taking notice.
“The process of turning the program around is multifaceted,” said Heller. “Our feeder program is thriving but we needed to get our football program to buy in. We need upper weights to come from that program and I think we got that buy in. Head coach Jerry Schulte was a wrestling coach and he was preaching it. The football players who have crossed over and found success are good examples for the others.”
Horan, a senior wrestling at 195, posted a 28-10 record a year ago and is 14-2 this season, while Kelly went 27-14 last season and is 16-1 wrestling at 170 pounds this season.
As a sophomore last season, Kelly took first place in District 18 and placed sixth in Region 5 at 170, while Horan was the runner-up in District 18 and placed sixth in Region 5 at 195 pounds.
Sophomore Shay Addison had a breakout freshman year when he posted a 27-8 record and has continued his rise this season with a perfect 18-0 record.
Junior Tyler Brignola was 22-14 last season, placing third in District 18 at 152 pounds and is 15-2 this season at the same weight.
Sophomore Aiden Shaughnessy, wrestling at 113 pounds, is 14-2; senior Tristan Izzo is 13-4 at 120 pounds; and senior Mike Ponenti is currently 10-2 at 152 pounds.
Last week Rumson had a program-defining win when they overcame a 30-15 deficit with five bouts remaining to defeat long-time Shore power Raritan, 37-30. Kelly’s pin gave them a 33-30 lead, and then Horan clinched the win with a major decision.
“We hadn’t beaten Raritan since I was wrestling in the program,” said Heller. “We’ve had to fight our way back to get there, so that one felt good. For the program, it’s kind of like one of those notches that you check off – we got that one done.”
Rumson can clinch A Central for the first time since 2003 with a win over Manasquan on Feb. 5 in a match they’ll be heavily favored in.
“We probably should talk about it more,” said Heller referencing the division title. “But really we’re focused on the sectional title. The kids are excited about it but the mood in the locker room is that this would be another stepping stone for us, but we feel we were expected to win the division and we’re really in the hunt for a sectional title. That’s what we talked about on the first day of practice.”
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