On the night of Dec. 22, 2009, the Howell High School wrestling team defeated Allentown High School, 55-13, in a dual meet.

Some of the coaches who have been at the helm of the Howell High School wrestling team during the past five decades returned to the school on Jan. 20 when the Rebels celebrated the program’s 500 dual meet victories. ERIC SUCAR staff That win was more than just an earlyseason victory. When the record books were checked, it turned out that the Rebels’ victory over the Redbirds was the 500th dual meet victory in the program’s history.

Howell High School opened in the mid- 1960s. The school was initially known as Southern Freehold Regional High School.

On Jan. 20 during a home match against Marlboro High School, the Rebels celebrated the program’s dual-meet milestone by honoring the six coaches who have been at the helm of the wrestling program since it started in the 1964-65 season.

Ron Surgent, who was the program’s first coach, Bruce Boyd and Doug Bower were there along with current coach John Gagliano. Charles Jameson and John Kurelja, the other two coaches in the program’s history, were unable to attend.

After honoring the past, the 2009-10 Rebels put their name in the record book by becoming the first team to win five consecutive division championships (Shore ConferenceANorth). The Rebels polished off a perfect division season (7-0) by handling Marlboro, 42-21.

The powerhouse that Howell wrestling is today started with Surgent. He nurtured the team in its infancy and had turned it into a power by the time he left following the 1976-77 season.

Surgent forged a 111-49-2 record in 13 years, taking the program to remarkable heights that at one point included a school record 25 straight dual meet wins. That record set by Surgent’s teams still stands.

His teams won three Shore Conference division titles and two NJSIAA district team championships. His 1971-72 team had the program’s only undefeated season, going 13-0.

“It was a lot of fun,” Surgent said of his years at Howell.

Surgent also had the honor of coaching the school’s first state champion, Carlos Fontanez, who won the 136-pound title in 1965.

Surgent, long retired, still attends three or four matches a year and is pleased to see the progress the Rebels have made.

“I’m really thrilled with the success,” he said.

Surgent sees a common thread between today’s Howell wrestlers and the ones he coached.

“Dedication,” he said. “They are really dedicated and so into the sport.”

That dedication is what helped get a new program off the ground quickly for Surgent in the 1960s. His wrestlers competed during the offseason, which was rare at the time. Surgent was also the Rebels’ cross country coach and had his wrestlers participate in the fall sport to build up their stamina for the winter wrestling season.

Another thing that has not changed is what it takes to succeed. It has remained the same.

“The top guys then were as good as the top guys now,” said Surgent. “It takes attitude, discipline and talent. You have to have balance, speed and strength.”

Surgent’s first Howell team was only 2-6-1 in dual meets, but the season was made memorable by Fontanez’s state championship.

Fontanez had won a state title at Freehold High School, Freehold Borough, in 1963 and remains the only two-time state champion in Freehold Regional High School District history.

It took some time, as expected, for the program to start winning. By the third season, the Rebels had their first winning record (5-4). In 1967-68 the Rebels were 8-2 and on their way. The next season, the team won its first Shore Conference division title.

“Every year we gradually improved,” Surgent said. “At one time we won 25 straight dual meets.”

From the start, Surgent said, the Howell community was supportive of the wrestling program.

“The nice thing was always the cooperation from the parents,” he remarked.

There have been three great eras in Howell wrestling history, with Surgent’s being the first.

The second memorable period was under Bower, who coached the Rebels from 1981-93. He brought the program up, going 158-52-2 in dual meets. His teams won three Shore Conference division titles and two district team crowns.

Surgent said he was not surprised that Bower was able to turn the program around.

“Doug was highly organized and disciplined,” he said.

Surgent saw the same characteristics in Gagliano, who wrestled for Bower from 1984-87 and now coaches the Rebels.

“John is very disciplined, highly organized, and he gets the kids to work out in the offseason,” he said. “The kids relate to him.”

Surgent said he, Bower and Gagliano surrounded themselves with capable assistant coaches.

Gagliano (who at one time was the school’s all-time leader in career wins on the mat) returned to Howell as the head coach in 1998. Since then, he has taken Howell wrestling to its greatest heights. The Rebels are now a solid, perennial state power.

He has won eight Shore Conference division titles and one district team crown, and with more than 200 career dual meet wins (222-49), Gagliano is the all-time winningest coach in the wrestling program’s history. He coached the school’s second state champion, Joey Langel (125) in 2008.

Overall, Howell has won 14 Shore Conference division championships, seven NJSIAA district team crowns and a team championship in 14 tournaments.

The Rebels have two state champions in Fontanez and Langel, plus five state tournament second-place finishers: Art Beins, Nils Deacon, Zac Cunliffe, Cody Fobes and Harry Turner.

Cunliffe, who is a member of Gagliano’s coaching staff, is the school’s only four-time state tournament place-winner. Cunliffe holds Howell’s career record for wins at 138.

Langel and Turner share the record for most wins in a season at 42.

The 2007-08 team holds the record for most dual meet wins in a season at 25 (in a 25-4 campaign).