Rocky Forte, the longtime former athletic director at Hillsborough High School, and for years its wrestling coach, recently passed away at age 68.
A very big crowd came to Branchburg Funeral Home Friday afternoon to pay their respects to a man who did the correct hiring of coaches over the years that helped Hillsborough High blossom.  Of course,  Rocky had a family who loved him dearly -- his wife Janice, this two sons and daughter.
Forte oversaw the athletic world at Hillsborough as the mammoth township around it grew and grew and grew some more.
I loved calling Rocky because I knew that he would tell me exactly how he felt and wouldn't mind giving me a tasty quote or two. But it wasn't because he wanted to impressive somebody in reader-land, but because that's how he felt. He was a coach's athletic director, meaning he wasn't that afraid to say things that might ruffle an administrator or two or three.
I know Rocky loved the Yankees. He had pictures of the greats in his office at the high school -- he loved wrestling -- the Raiders' wrestling room is named after him. He was very proud of Super Bowl champ Ricky Proehl, and current Giants' center Shaun O'Hara, two Raiders who became NFL standouts.
He was helpful to me, and somebody I could trust. I knew exactly where he stood when I spoke to him. He spoke from the heart.
So Rock, rest in peace. It was a pleasure to have known you.

	CAMP PINS IN GRECO FINALS

     Andrew Campolattano won his third consecutive Greco Roman National Title Tuesday night when he pinned Josh Lehman of Minnesota in a 1:06 of the first period. All this despite being hurt Sunday night and having no intentions of entering the Greco tournament when he flew to Fargo last week. As he told USA Wrestling after the Championship: "I had to get talked into wrestling Greco again this year."

    Bound Brook site:

http://www.eteamz.com/BBWrestling/index.cfm?

Taffur took fourth at the state tournament at 145 pounds. He also was a District 18 and Region V champ along with a Somerset County Tournament title, his third.

He finished 45-3 this past season and was 130-35 for his career.

Keep the updates coming!!!

Thanks!

This is to inform the wrestling fans of some important and exciting changes that will be taking place in the GMC Division Alignments beginning in the 2010-2011 season. Next years alignment is the same as this seasons, as the GMC does their alignments in 2 year cycles.

As many of you know, wrestling is split up into 3 divisions in the GMC. In the past, schools were divided up strictly by enrollment. Red for the larger schools, White for the mid-sized schools, and Blue for the smallest schools. Schools then had the option of “appealing” their placement, either “up” a division, or “down” a division.

For this years (08-09) and next years alignment, the divisions were finalized with only 4 teams in the White Division. Personally, I don’t quite understand how the conference could have left this that way. Meaning no disrespect to the 4 White Division teams (Monroe, Sayreville, North Brunswick and Colonia) as they STAYED where they were placed, my problem lies with the appeals process, as teams that were originally slated to be in the white were allowed to leave the division, causing the 4-team set-up.

So, not necessarily because of wrestling, the GMC adopted a new alignment procedure.

Devised by Spotswood’s Athletic Director, Graham Peabody who was assisted in the process by South River’s AD, Carl Buffalino, the new alignment procedures take a lot more than school enrollment into account.

The new formula is being applied to ALL SPORTS in the GMC and is based on the last 5 years, and Graham and Carl had to do a lot of research to come up with the new alignments.

The formula is based on 50% enrollment, 30% Division Finish and 20% Tournament Finish. Because everything is “equal” the Red Division was “weighted” more heavily than the White Division and the same for the White vs. the Blue.

I believe that Graham and Carl have hit a “home-run” with this new formula. Simply because it not only takes enrollment into account but also factors in a “Strength of Program”. Also, by going back over 5 years, it doesn’t just move a team up (or down) for a good year or two, but rather develops a history for each team.

The original alignment did not include Franklin. By a vote of the GMC Athletic Directors, Franklin will be accepted into the GMC for this cycle. This is pending their release from their current conference. A condition of their acceptance was that the Warriors will be place in the Red Division for the first two year cycle. This will help begin to develop a history for them in all sports.

Franklins acceptance has made a division distribution of 8-8-7. Meaning 8 teams will be in each the Red and White Divisions and 7 teams will be placed in the Blue.

There is still an appeals process, which of course changes things. But the “powers at be” will look at the effect any movement will have on the WHOLE CONFERENCE, which is a positive change. For a team to appeal they cannot disturb the “within one” distribution. This means that a Red Team cannot appeal to go to the White Division (or vice-versa) as this would cause a 9 team division.  The appeals process was already decided and Dave Kirk, Monroe’s Athletic Director who is the Wrestling Committee Chairperson announced at the GMC Coaches Meeting last week that Piscataway, originally slated to be in the White Division has appealed to go to the Red.  J. P. Stevens (originally a Red Division team) has appealed to go to the White. This was orchestrated by Piscataway who need a team to “switch with” and J P. Stevens agreed. Both of these appeals were granted. A 3rd appeal was filed by John F. Kennedy, who appealed to go to from the White to the Blue. This appeal was denied, as the alignment committed decided that based on the above mentioned formula, Kennedy can compete in the White. Had Kennedy’s appeal been granted, this would have cause a 8-7-8 distribution and that would still have been OK as all of the divisions would be with one team.

So, as of now, the RED Division will consist of …

East Brunswick, Edison, Old Bridge, Perth Amboy, Piscataway, South Brunswick, South Plainfield and Franklin

The WHITE Division will include …
Bishop Ahr, Colonia, John. F. Kennedy, J.P. Stevens, Monroe, North Brunswick, Sayreville, Woodbridge

and the BLUE Division will have …
Carteret, Highland Park, Metuchen, Middlesex, New Brunswick, South River, Spotswood

I believe the “Strength of Program” that was factored in had a great (and positive) effect on the new alignments.

One final question was “What if Franklin’s admission is denied?”  According to Dave Kirk, if Franklin does not become a GMC member, the highest ranking White Division team will replace them in the Red Division and this will be Sayreville.

As I mentioned, once finalized, this will take effect for the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons. Franklin will also compete in the GMC Tournament. The Warriors will actually be in a unique position as the will be allowed to compete in the Somerset County Tournament and the GMC Tournament as one is a “county tournament” and the other is a “conference tournament”. The Skylands Conference, which they are a member of now, does not hold an individual tournament.

The Greater Middlesex Conference's last individual state champion was South Plainfield's Jimmy Conroy in 2004. Who do you think is the GMC's best chance to win a state title next year? Answer in the comments!

All wrestlers & parents need to make their reservations through their schools head coach. Any individual wishing to attend, can make a reservarion through me. E-mail me at ronmazzz@aol.com remember to use 3 Z’s

Wrestlers from ages 6-13 have the room between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Those from 14 to 18 have it from 6 to 8 p.m. There is no cost. Wrestlers must have their USA wrestling card.

Among those clinicians expected to take part are Tom Wysocki and Jon Forster of Rutgers and current Scarlet star Scott Winston and former Hillsborough star Frankie McLaughlin. The camp will feasture instruction, intense drilling and live wrestling.

For more information call Pioneer coach Brent McGuinness at 908-625-4134 or visit www.shswrestling.com