'A lot of heart': What's behind the rise of North Brunswick boys and girls wrestling

NORTH BRUNSWICK – “Who’s getting the donut?” North Brunswick wrestlers pose that key question following every win. See, the person with the top victory gets a Boston cream treat as sort of a trophy. It started two years ago when coach David Saley didn’t accept a donut from a wrestler, junk food after all, but gave it to the best performer. A tradition was born. “The winner gets to eat it,” senior John Colon said. “They’re acknowledged. Everybody claps for everybody when you get the donut.” More:'Starting to pay off': North Brunswick girls win first GMCT wrestling title with two golds Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. More:Wrestling rankings: This week's Greater Middlesex Conference Top 10 That gooey award is a paradox in the team’s no-fat culture. Saley has stressed a lean approach encouraging spring and summer wrestling while building up the recreation program. In a day and age of quick answers from AI and 30-second attention spans via social media, some embrace the old-fashioned grind of discipline and simply putting in the work. No shortcuts. Enter the North Brunswick wrestlers. “Saley really pushes us,” senior Gabrielle Roberts said. “He pushes us really hard and he does everything in his power to get us things that we didn’t even know we could get.” Senior Jason Estrada added, “He never gives up on us.” The results have been there this winter – the girls are state-ranked and won their first Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament championship. The boys won the team’s first-ever GMC division title. Important to the program: There’s no distinction between the boys and girls teams. They drill side-by-side, and with each other if the girls feel comfortable. The program has grown in numbers and Saley seeks out difficult matches. North Brunswick's Dave Saley talks to his team at their faceoff against JFK Memorial, Perth Amboy, and South River on Jan. 18, 2025 afternoon at the North Brunswick High School gymnasium in North Brunswick. Heck, the boys even faced the state’s top public school team in Rumson-Fair Haven just to see the level they’re chasing. “When I took this job here, first thing I said to my AD is it’s pretty easy to build a good wrestling program,” Saley said. “It’s just work.” Get the Inside the NFC East newsletter in your inbox. Delivery: Thurs Your Email 'Make a show' The lights dim and the wrestlers sway back and forth ready to shake their opponents’ hands in the center of the mat with their accomplishments read to all. That spotlight high in the middle of the gym is a new addition for home matches. There are posters on the walls and highlights are noted in the school’s announcements. It’s all about creating excitement. “You make a show, the kids will show up,” Saley said. “We got Leighs (wrestler introductions), we got national anthems, we got the light now. Everybody wants to be out there in that show because you got to earn it and it’s not just by showing up to practice. You need to get good grades and you need to be well-behaved in school.” Saley, 33, earned his cauliflower ears at Monroe by becoming a four-time district champion, a GMCT champ and he finished top 12 in the state his senior season (2010) at 152. He wrestled at Division 2 Belmont Abbey College (NC) and worked in construction. Eventually, he became an industrial arts technology teacher – woodshop – at North Brunswick and joined the wrestling staff three seasons ago, taking over last year. He could only coach the way that worked for him: no-nonsense. “I’ll be honest with you, anybody who could tolerate me for three months can tolerate some of the stuff that they experience out there in that circle,” Saley said. “I think I’m that way by design because that’s what I was put through in Monroe and some of the clubs and the national tournaments I’ve wrestled in.” He continued, sans sugarcoating. “I’m tough on them,” Saley said. “I’m tough on them in the room. I’m tough on them in the classroom. I’m tough on them in the hallways and when you just get used to that, (on the mat if you) get a tough cross-face across your nose and you start bleeding, it could be worse – Coach Saley could be pissed at me. “They deal with that and that’s kind of by design. Like I say to most of my parents, I’m tough on your kids to prepare for the worst of the worst when you’re out there and as long as they’re prepared, they got a shot.” That turns kids off, right? Well, Saley noted the program had 70 wrestlers, boys and girls, last season and finished with 38. This season, they started with 126 wrestlers and still have 97 coming back each day. “I love Saley, he’s done a lot for me,” Estrada said. “He’s given me opportunities. I may not be the best wrestler but I’m striving to be better every single day and I feel like that’s all that matters. You win some, you lose some, but he always strives for us to get better. He pushes us hard, that’s what I love about a coach. He gets mad at us for not putting in the effort. That’s all that matters. He only cares if you put the effort in. That’s why he’s an amazing coach.” In turn, Saley wants to share his love of wrestling and all it can give. They’ll talk about community service and the team has charity events with donations to Parkinson's disease and epilepsy organizations, as well as building handicap ramps. “That’s part of that service, that positive productive citizen because at the very least that’s what this sport gave me,” Saley said. “It gave me a pathway to an education and it made me a positive, productive citizen and if I give the kids only that, I feel like I am successful.” Building for the future Saley has struck a balance in his coaching style. Take a recent match against J.P. Stevens. One first-year wrestler was winning, got caught and pinned. “My first question to him was, 'Did you have a good time?' ” Saley said. The response was, “Well, yeah, I always have a good time in the circle.” “All right,” Saley responded, “we’ll watch film in the room and we’ll figure out what happened and we’ll counter that mistake so it doesn’t happen again.” North Brunswick’s Mekhi Ford (blue & gold) takes on Perth Amboy’s Remy Camacho (red & gray) in the 144 lb. weight class on Jan. 18, 2025 morning at the North Brunswick High School gymnasium in North Brunswick. “That’s the point, right, is to have a good time,” Saley said, “learn some of these life lessons that wrestling gave all of us adults that have been involved in it and then get better the next time. I think that’s all we can ever ask of the kids is to do one percent better than they did yesterday.” Immediate yelling or brow-beating would just be a discouraging wall. “You open yourself up to the kids, the kids will open themselves up to you and they become better wrestlers,” said Saley, who sat next to the wrestler on the bench. Ultimately, Saley wants to build what all the mat powers have: a feeder system with a separation of egos from coaches. He restarted and also coached in the township’s youth rec program after it had been dormant. It had five wrestlers last season. Now, it’s up to 29. Former South Brunswick head coach Bobby Januska runs the middle school team and the varsity added former New Brunswick wrestler Darwin Reyes to the staff. It’s added up to steady improvement for a program not known as a wrestling power. The Raiders averaged five wins for the last 10 seasons and often finished around 20th place in the GMCT. Two weeks ago, North Brunswick placed 11th in the 24-team tournament. That was up a spot with 19.5 more points from 2024. Steady improvement. Their medalists increased from two to five in Jayko Luna (fourth, 106), Colon (fifth, 215) and sixth-place finishers Antonio Pizza (113), Joldin Miranda (157) and Jaime Andino IV (285). Then, there’s the dual success. North Brunswick (12-9) captured the GMC Blue Division with a 7-0 mark, including a thrilling 35-34 win over second-place North Plainfield. “It’s a big deal to us,” Colon said. “We never had something like that.” His head spun around scanning the gym’s rafters and eying banners for mostly other sports. “If you look around, we barely have any wrestling stuff,” Colon said. “All we have are county champs and state placers. I want to say everything goes to coach Saley.” 'A lot of heart' Sometimes, Saley wonders if he’s doing the right things. The right ways. “I’ve never done this before,” he said. “I love wrestling. I know how to wrestle – coaching is a different animal. … At the end of the day, there’s no book. Every once in a while, I’ll say to someone, ‘Was I a little too harsh? Was I not harsh enough?’ But I think everybody at the end of the day that shares that room with me knows that I care. And I’m in their corner and I want the best for them.” Take the girls GMCT championship on Jan. 26. They had two champions in Roberts and Rahkai Degrasse, who met a North Plainfield wrestler in the final who pinned her in three previous meetings. “She told me that girl was really strong,” Saley said. “There was a moment there, a great moment that I’m probably never going to forget, and I said to her, ‘You’re strong, too, right in here’ and I pumped at her chest and I said, ‘Right in here, you got a lot of heart. That’s what’s going to win you this match.'” Degrasse trailed, got a reversal and scored the pin in the second period. The senior was a snapshot of what Saley wants. “Most of those kids well, they may not be the smartest, the best wrestler but they all got some heart,” he said. His reward – they keep showing up, asking questions and earning those donuts. “As long as I have one kid who’s committed and wants to put the work in,” Saley said, “I’ll be there.”

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
North Brunswick Township HS Athletics

'A LOT OF HEART': WHAT'S BEHIND THE RISE OF NORTH BRUNSWICK BOYS AND GIRLS WRESTLING

ANDY MENDLOWITZ

MyCentralJersey.com | 2/4/2025

PHOTO CREDIT: Alexander Lewis- MyCentralJersey