Paulsboro’s Morina gets another coaching award

Paul Morina looked dejected after his Paulsboro wrestlers lost to visiting Haddonfield, 33-31, in a packed gym on Jan. 21.

Losing a Colonial Conference match at home? That hadn't happened in 40 years.

Moreover, Morina couldn't recall the last time one of his teams had lost a match in which the opponent had won five bouts by pin, as Haddonfield had done. And he had been coaching in the same program for 25 years.

The veteran coach shook his head and reflected upon the goings-on in the wrestling room. The team wasn't listening to instructions, he said. The seniors weren't helping.

That all became a murky memory for Morina on March 6 at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall, where he was named state coach of the year by the New Jersey Wrestling Coaches Association before 10,288 fans.

"It's a nice honor, especially with all of the good coaches in Jersey," Morina said in typical, low-key fashion.

Morina also is The Inquirer's South Jersey Wrestling Coach of the Year.

With his dedicated assistants and the help of senior leaders, Morina turned a team with average talent into a state champion. Along the way, he won the District 29 and Region 8 Coach of the Year awards. The Red Raiders finished 18-1.

It was the second time that Morina had won all three awards – the first was in 1999 – and the soft-spoken coach and principal was modest as usual in his acceptance of the awards.

How he helped the program win its 28th state Group 1 championship is another story.

"There were a lot of seniors I thought were complacent," Morina said. "They just thought that they were going to win on talent. They were lacking in work ethic in the room and in attitudes.

"I told them to get used to losing because they were going to have more losses if they didn't change. And then we picked it up and they started making good changes and their attitude changed and they pulled together as a team."

Dymere Rappa, Matt Cosgrove, and Anthony Dawson were the three seniors who got the rest of the team on board. The Red Raiders went on to win the South Jersey Group 1 title - and gain sweet revenge - with a 31-23 victory over Haddonfield. They followed that achievement with a 40-20 win over Roselle Park for the state crown.

Interestingly, not one of Paulsboro's wrestlers medaled by placing in the top eight in the state individual championships at Boardwalk Hall.

"We didn't have any superstars," Morina said. "We didn't have a lot of talent. We walked into regions not knowing if we had a region champ."

All of which says a lot about a coach who got the most out of his team.