Don Bosco High School

TOMS RIVER – The match already had been sewn up three bouts earlier, but the Don Bosco bench remained calm and focused Sunday.

After going down to the final bout on the road in each of their State sectional matches, it was as if the Ironmen needed proof that they actually were the Non-Public A wrestling champions.

But when that proof finally came, out poured the emotions.

Sal Mastriani pinned in 4:19 at 140 pounds to clinch the match and Frank Mattiace closed it out with a 3-2 decision in the final bout at 160 to give the Ironmen a convincing 45-15 victory over St. Augustine and the first Non-Public A championship in program history.

The bench, which had been calm throughout the Mattiace bout, exploded with wrestlers thrusting their arms in the air, leaping into one another’s arms and coaches hugging in the center of the mat.

"It felt amazing to get the chance to close the deal," Mastriani said, a huge smile lighting up his face.

"This was six years in the making," Bosco coach Nunzio Campanile said. "It was tremendously gratifying to see all their hard work pay off."

Bosco is the first team other than Camden Catholic to win the Non-Public A title since Bergen Catholic won back-to-back titles in 2002 and 2003. The Ironmen reached the State final in 2007, losing to Camden Catholic, 32-25.

Seniors Jason Dack and Chris Dombroski are the only two starters returning from that team, and Sunday they each came away with a win to put their mark on the championship trophy.

Dombroski followed up Mastriani’s clinching pin by beating Paxton Burgin in two overtimes, 6-2, at 145, and Dack came back with a tough 2-0 victory over Connor Donahue at 152 for his 99th career win.

"This one is definitely going to be more memorable than my 100th," Dack said. "Because the State championship is all that I want. I couldn’t ask for more."

Eddie Johnson, who won the final bout a week ago in Bosco’s 25-24 victory over St. Joseph, got the Ironmen off to a great start with a 12-4 major decision over Thomas Abbot at 171.

Back-to-back forfeits at 189 and 215 by St. Augustine and a tough 8-6 victory by Kurt Schmitz at 285 gave the Ironmen a 19-0 lead. And they never looked back.

Billy Reardon, Joe Orecchio and James Dawson also won as the Ironmen heeded the words Campanile had been spouting all week and made their mark on school history.

"It feels great to be the first," Dombroski said. "When we finally knew we had the win, it was a feeling of relief."

"We were so concentrated on just getting down here," Campanile said. "These guys were great at focusing on one match at a time. I was proud of how well we wrestled as a team. That was as good a performance as we’ve put together top to bottom all year."

E-mail: schutta@northjersey.com