Last season, wrestling fans from around the state were forced to admit what local aficionados have known for years- the very best wrestling in the state can be found right here in central New Jersey.

With a tremendous showing at the state individual championships in Atlantic City, where Shore-area wrestlers either won or were in the running for a title at virtually every weight class, coaches from around the state were left shaking their heads at the level of success enjoyed by our local grapplers.

Once the regular season revved up back in November, the Shore's best picked up right where they left off, competing brilliantly in some of the toughest kickoff and holiday tournaments in the nation.

With a number of conference teams (including JacksonMemorial, BrickMemorial, Howell, Long Branch, Ocean Township, Southern Regional, Raritan and Point Borough) ranked in the state's top 20 in numerous polls during the course of the season, the Shore entered the postseason looking to reaffirm itself as the state's hotbed for high school wrestling.

You'd have to say they accomplished that feat, with many of the aforementioned teams advancing far into the state team championships, led by Long Branch, who captured its first Group II championship last month.

This past weekend, the focus turned to the individuals, as teams competed in their respective district tournaments. Ocean Township was able to celebrate another team title by winning its fifth straight District 22 title, outscoring second place CBA, 245-214.5, while Long Branch, who rolled through the regular season undefeated en route to its state title, accumulated 204.5 points in the District 23 tourney - not quite enough to stop Brick Memorial (228.5), the state's Group IV champs, from winning its 22nd consecutive district title.

However, there were a number of grapplers from throughout the local schools who advanced to this week's Region VI tournament by finishing in the top three of their respective weight classes.

What that means is once the region tournaments wrap up on Sunday, there should be a number of local participants in the state championships in Atlantic City next weekend.

Ocean Township's District title performance was led by a handful of grapplers very familiar with wrestling well into March. Defending state champion NickMenditto walked away with the 152- pound title by beatingMiddletown South's Josh McManigal, 14-3, in the final. He was joined by senior Mike Berardesco, who won the 112-pound title with a 14-3 win in the final; senior Zac Coulas, who pinned Middletown South's Mike Kerr in 1:07 of the 130-pound final; and seniorAndrew Van Dyk, who won the 145-pound title with a 5-0 win over CBA's Dylan Meade in the final. Those wrestlers, like all district champs, received byes through Tuesday night's Region VI preliminary round action, and will take to the mats again tomorrow night in the first round.

Also advancing for Ocean were junior J.P. Palandrano, who fell to Raritan's Cody Mooney, 2-1, in the 125-pound final; junior Scott Weldon, who lost in the 189- pound final to Middletown North's Mike Fish, 6-1; Jon Lyster, who fell to the Middletown South's Tim Tomaino (the defending champ) in the 215 final, 4-3; Chris Sagona, who took third at 103; and Andrew Lee, who took third at 140.

Monmouth Regional senior Cory Sellers took home a district title as well, beating Middletown South's Alex Schulman, 3-2, in a hard-fought 135-pound final, while his teammate, junior Jordan Teel, took third at 130 with a 18-2 win over Rumson-Fair Haven's Nick Carducci in their consolation bout.

Monmouth's Omar Akel was the only other local grappler to advance out of District 22, taking third at 160 with a 5-4 win over Ocean'sMike Recchia. CBAwill also be well represented this week after advancing eightwrestlers out ofDistrict 22, led by senior Joe Favia, the 160-pound champ.

After putting together a perfect regular season en route to their Group II title, Long Branch was hoping to put the icing on the cake with an District 23 win over the weekend. However, Brick Memorial proved to be too much (as usual). The Mustangs won six individual titles and advanced 11 wrestlers all together to secure the title, while Long Branch certainly enjoyed its share of success as well.

The Green Wave had three individual champions, starting with junior Jon Robertson, who beat Brick Memorial's Karon Reid, the state's third-place finisher last year, 8-4, in the 140-pound final. With his second impressive win over Reid this season, Robertson has certainly emerged as a force to be reckoned with this week and beyond.

Sophomore Billy George continued his impressive season with a 3-2 win over Brick Township's defending champion John Battista in the 189-pound final.

George continues to get better on the mats, and will certainly be looking to earn his trip down the Garden State Parkway in the coming days.

Junior Ameer Washington was the Wave's third champion, beating Brick Memorial's John Pawlin, 7-4, in the heavyweight final.

Long Branch also received secondplace showings from junior Justin Clarke at 130; Dan Cornell, who lost a tough 1-0 match to Brick Memorial's Steve Santos in the 145 final; sophomore Nick Visicaro at 152; sophomore Scott Festejo at 119 and senior Ray Stathum at 130.

Also advancing for the Wave were senior Shawn Brown, who took third at 171, sophomore Andrew Cornell, who took third at 125; and senior Pat Viccaro, who took third at 215.

With Long Branch wrestling a very difficult schedule this year, even prior to their Shore Conference Tournament championship run, the Wave grapplers enter this week's Region VI tournament extremely battle-tested. It would surprise no one to see a strong Long Branch contingent in Atlantic City next weekend.

Shore Regional senior Steven Gallo was the only other local grappler to advance out of District 23, securing a third place win at 145 pounds.

The Region VI tournament will conclude this weekend, with the top-three finishers advancing to next weekend's state championship inAtlantic City, where only the best of the best compete for the ultimate prize.

Like last year, the Shore will be there in force, looking to equal the statement made last year on the state's biggest stage.