Mussari leads resurrection of Allentown wrestling

When Bob Mussari took over the wrestling program at Allentown High School four years ago, he inherited a program with eight kids on its roster.

CHRIS KELLY staff Allentown's C.J. Nafus tries to use a power-half to earn points against Nottingham's Keith Meseroll during their 215-pound bout on Jan. 7. Now, as the Redbirds roll through the early part of the season looking like one of the very best teams in the Colonial Valley Conference,Mussari has over 30 kids at his disposal, including some emerging stars who are helping to create an unprecedented buzz around the Allentown team.

"We're young; I mean, we start five freshmen, but these kids are working hard and doing very well," Mussari said. "We lost a lot of kids, but the freshmen have stepped up. They're all good kids."

The hard work is certainly paying off: Allentown raced out to a 4-0-start heading into Monday's match with Nottingham. The Redbirds also took on Robbinsville last night and will face West Windsor North on Saturday.

Thus far, Allentown has beaten West Hampton Tech, Trenton, Hightstown and WestWindsor South, all by large margins.

"We beat Hightstown, and we've never beaten them," Mussari said. "Then we beat Trenton by a big margin, so we're wrestling verywell and it's shaping up to be a big year.

"I'm pleasantly surprised and cautiously optimistic at the same time," the coach added. "These kids have really performed well so far. Coming in, I thought we'd be lucky to be .500 with so many freshmen in the lineup."

The Redbird lineup is divided into two different levels of experience.

Mussari starts five freshmen at the top of the lineup - Lenny Gigintino at 103, TaylorMaul at 112,Mike Ries at 119, Sam Shonk at 125 and Ross Schuerman at 130. From there, it's all upperclassmen, starting with senior Andrew Ferro at 135 and junior Jason DeLeon at 140. Senior T.J. Oliver starts at 145,while another senior, John Butera, is at 152, where he has looked extremely sharp early on.

"He beat a kid from Trenton the other night that was a state finalist last year," Mussari said.

Senior Drew McGovern starts at 160, with senior Matt Wilhelm back at 171. Junior Mike Waldron starts at 189, with senior C.J. Nofus and junior Shawn Beans at 215 and heavyweight, respectively.

At this point, the Allentown team has been getting wins from throughout the lineup, making Mussari's team one of the most talked-about squads in the conference.

"All of our kids are rated first or second in the conference in terms of wins and losses right now," the coach said. "We're getting better with every match, so it's clear the more they wrestle the better we're going to be. Schuerman and Maul could be state champions some day, they're that good."

Whilemuch of the credit for theRedbirds' quick ascent to the top of the conference should go toMussari and his coaching staff, Mussari is quick to praise the wrestlers themselves, aswell as thewrestling program atAllentownMiddle School.

"They came in wrestlers," he said of his kids. "There's a very good middle school program here in Allentown, and a lot of these kids work real hard in the wrestling clubs, and it's really starting to show.

"You can see the freshmen that are coming in are wrestlers. They're not new to the sport, and understand what it takes to be successful. I think that's a credit to the middle school program."

And for the first time under Mussari, the program's success is not just at the varsity level.

"We've got a lot of JV kids who are good as well and can step in if we have a void," he said. "Winning breeds success."

And the early season success has left Mussari excited about this team's potential.

"Needless to say, these kids are battlers," he said. "They're not afraid to wrestle anyone. What really surprised me about the freshmen was how they weren't afraid of anybody. They just came in, starting working hard, and have been very deliberate about getting better. They've impressed me."