Vercammen hopes to clean up in AC South Brunswick Post/ Princeton Packet

Vercammen hopes to clean up in AC South Brunswick Post/ Princeton Packet March 4, 2010
By Ken Weingarnter, Special Writer



Brendan Vercammen heads to this weekend’s NJSIAA Wrestling Tournament in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall hoping to accomplish what few visitors to the gambling mecca can do – leave a winner.

Of course, it will not be easy, but Vercammen has some idea what to expect. Last year, the South Brunswick High senior won a match in the tourney and finished among the top 12 and his two losses there came against place-winning wrestlers.

Securing a place on the podium this year is Vercammen’s goal. Vikings coach Joe Dougherty believes it can happen if Vercammen goes into his matches aggressively.

”A lot of what he can do there will be premised on where he is seeded in the bracket,” Dougherty said. “His weight class is tough. He has to win his first round (tomorrow) to get to the double elimination scenario. That’s the most important part.

”There are too many times when he’s wrestling against quality competition and the first period goes by without there being any score,” he added. “It means he’s not doing enough. The more he opens up, the more scoring opportunities he creates for himself. He’s pretty athletic, so I don’t mind us getting in scrambles. If there’s no action, we’re kind of negating his athleticism.”
Vercammen’s first-round foe is Hightstown’s Greg Ratner, who is 27-7 with three losses to state qualifiers — two to Trenton’s Canaan Bethea and one to Washington Township’s Daymien Scott. He also lost to two wrestlers who finished fourth in the regions – Steinert’s Jason Miller and Toms River North’s Michael Barone.

Vercammen (33-2) finished second in last weekend’s Region 5 Tournament at Hunterdon Central High. A returning champion, Vercammen dropped an 8-0 decision to Voorhees’ Mike Hafke in the championship match. For Hafke, who missed last year’s tourney with an injury, it was career win No. 101.

”He’s got a lot of credentials,” Dougherty said about Hafke. “He was a region champ as a sophomore. He was everything that we thought he was going to be, and more. He was tough; real highly skilled. I was impressed.”

Dougherty was pleased with Vercammen’s effort.

”Brendan wrestled a good match,” he said. “He had a couple situations where he was close to scoring points. I don’t think the loss is going to affect him at all. It shouldn’t. (The loss) has to go to the backburner. You don’t want one loss to turn into two. You have to get over it. I think Brendan is mentally strong enough to not only know that, but adhere to it.

”Winning a region title might have been a goal, but ultimately we want to place at states. That dream is still alive.”

Vercammen was one of two South Brunswick wrestlers to win a District 20 title two weeks ago. Junior James Pagano, at 130, also captured a crown.

”He wrestled the best he’s wrestled all year,” Dougherty said about Pagano. “He was a man on a mission. When James wants to, he’s a pretty good wrestler. It’s a matter of James wanting to be a good wrestler. It happened that weekend and wrestled great. He wrestled without any fear whatsoever. It was nice to see.”

Pagano, who was seeded third, won his first two district bouts with pins before beating East Brunswick’s Ryan Levinsky, 7-2, for the title.

South Brunswick finished fourth in the district’s team standings. Justin Lopez finished second at 112 while Chad Capraro (103), Frank Capraro (125), Justin DeAndrea (160) and Jeff Goldhagen (189) each finished third. All advanced to the regional tourney, but only Vercammen was able to move on to the state tourney from there.

”Our goal and focus was to win the district tournament,” Dougherty said. “We told the kids if the seeds hold true, there’s no way we’re going to win the districts. Kids had to beat kids they weren’t supposed to beat, according to the seeds; which we had the ability to do. (Pagano) took that to heart. James is the one that proved it can be done, if you set your mind to it.”

http://www.centraljersey.com/articles/2010/03/07/south_brunswick_post/sports/doc4b8eca5856505552273148.txt