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 (Photoby Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption:
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PHS Wrestling Making Progress; Still Has Room for More Growth
By Bill Alden
Princeton High wrestling head coach Rashone Johnson often holds up senior star Will Borchert's fearless attitude as an example to the team's other wrestlers.
"Will doesn't care who he is wrestling, the rankings don't matter to him," said Johnson. "He just goes out to win. I try to get the other guys to model themselves after him."
At the Mercer County Tournament (MCT) earlier this month, several PHS wrestlers took a page out of Borchert's book as the team placed sixth out of 12 teams and turned in several outstanding individual performances.
Tom Frantzen won the county crown at 160 pounds for PHS while the intense Borchert narrowly missed the title at 189 when he dropped an 8-7 decision to Brett Linebarger of Ewing in the title bout. Other Little Tiger standouts at the MCT included Mark Jeevaratnam, the third-place finisher at 145, Dale Owsemi, who took third at 215, Peter Asmuth, the fourth-place finisher at 171, and Andre Cutler, the sixth-place finisher at 152.
In reflecting on his team's performance at the MCT, Johnson was pleased but not surprised. "I honestly thought we performed well," said Johnson. "We didn't exceed my expectations because I thought we'd do well. I thought we may have even more guys in the finals. All the wrestlers progressed and stepped up."
No Little Tiger stepped up more than Frantzen, who pinned Notre Dame's Chase Badger in the semifinals before earning a 7-4 decision over Ewing's Jordan Wolff in the championship match.
"Tom has progressed a lot," said Johnson of his junior star. "He won the title but that probably wasn't even his best wrestling. His best match was probably in the semifinals, that was a tough win."
While Borchert's loss in the final was tough to swallow for Johnson, he still had kudos for the senior standout. "I thought Will was going to win," acknowledged Johnson. "He's such a hard worker. He's had a huge impact on the program."
A wrestler who is having an increasingly large impact on the PHS program is Jeevaratnam, who topped Hamilton's Mark Belviso 6-1 in the third-place final.
"Mark is having a solid season," asserted Johnson. "He's been consistent, I couldn't ask for more from him. He hasn't had his best wrestling yet. Getting third at the counties and beating the guy from Hamilton was good."
With the District competition on the horizon later this month, Johnson is hoping that his team can build on the progress it made at the MCT.
"I was definitely happy that my wrestlers were able to peak for the counties," said Johnson. "I hope we can repeat that and peak for the districts."
From his vantage point, Johnson believes that his wrestlers can get even more out of their potential when they compete in the districts.
"I think all the guys have room to grow," declared Johnson. "The goal is to go to the districts and do well. The districts are what are remembered. Nobody really remembers the counties, it is how you finish the season. The idea is for the season to go into March."
And if the Little Tigers can produce their best wrestling of this season, it could be a March to remember.
