Rutgers wrestling: New Jersey stars have fueled Scarlet Knights' ascension

The Rutgers wrestling program does not work in anonymity, and hasn't for quite some time.

Under 11th-year head coach Scott Goodale, the Scarlet Knights, who resume their Big Ten schedule on Sunday afternoon at the RAC against Ohio State, have expectations. Those expectations range from inside their own wrestling room, to those of a growing fan base.

So, when a pair of December dual meets against Lock Haven, Goodale's alma mater, and national power Iowa ended in losses, it wasn't just a blip on the radar.

"We came into the season with expectations, and maybe it was overblown," said Goodale, a Jackson Memorial graduate who later coached the school's highly-successful wrestling team until 2007 when he took over at Rutgers. "We have good guys in our program who wrestle at a really high level, but we really haven't lived up to those expectations from a win-loss perspective.

"We lost to Lock Haven, we let a really good opportunity against Iowa slip away, so from wins and losses, it has been frustrating. There has certainly been progress, but we will be better as we move along."

Progress has been made over the course of a decade, and it has been made with Goodale, no stranger to New Jersey high school wrestling, aggressively recruiting his own state.

Of the 10 wrestlers that saw the mat on Dec. 8 against the seventh-ranked Hawkeyes, nine went to high school in the Garden State. Of those nine, two, Wall graduate Brett Donner and Toms River East alum Richie Lewis, are Shore Conference products.

A third, Nick Suriano, is a New Jersey legend, having gone 159-0 in becoming just the fourth four-time state champion in history at Bergen Catholic. The 125-pounder is 9-0 on the season and is ranked second nationally in his weight class according InterMat.

"First and foremost, we want the best kids in New Jersey to stay home," Goodale said. "To do that, we needed to have excitement, we needed to wrestle in front of fans, build our program, build our name, put ourselves out there to keep the best in New Jersey home.

"Recruiting has not changed. It's been altered a little bit because we're at the point now where we're not just looking at the best in New Jersey, but the best in the country. Maybe you take a pass on someone in Jersey to get a kid from California. That's not to upset Jersey, that's the reality if you want to compete with Penn State, Ohio State, Minnesota. We started, and still do want to recruit the Garden State."

It didn't take long for Goodale to create a buzz. Scott Winston, a three-time state champion at Jackson Memorial under Goodale, committed to Rutgers after Goodale's arrival. He was, quite simply, the program's most-prized recruit ever to that point.

Another Shore Conference star followed in Toms River East's Vinnie DelleFave, the 2008 and 2009 state champion at 119 pounds and a four-time state place-winner. Suraino's place as a New Jersey immortal was preceded by Rutgers redshirt senior Anthony Ashnault, New Jersey's first-ever undefeated four-time state champion out of South Plainfield.

Of the six All-America citations Rutgers has received at the NCAA Championships under Goodale, three of them belong to Ashnault. (2015-17). All six belong to New Jersey kids. That number could rise this season thanks to, at a minimum, Suriano, who was a freshman sensation at Penn State last winter, but did not compete at NCAAs due to injury.

"Those are the fresh faces, the faces of our program," Goodale said in reference to Suriano, Ashnault and Lewis, who won the 70 kg title at the Under-23 World Championships in November in Poland. "Guys growing up in the state, coming up through the high school ranks recently as two of the best guys in New Jersey. "I think it's gotten to the point where recruiting has been hurt because kids say no because of all the guys we have.

"They know our team and think maybe they should go out of state, which kind of hurts a little bit, but it's a good problem to have."

Staff writer Josh Newman: @Joshua_Newman; jnewman@app.com