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The first time Scott Goodale saw Scott Winston wrestle he knew he was watching something special.

Winston was in the 7th grade and was still living in Edison, when he took the mat in the New Jersey Kid States Tournament against an 8th-grader named Frank Molinaro.

“I was coaching Molinaro, along with Vinnie Santaniello (an ex-Brick Memorial wrestler who runs the ShoreThing Wrestling Club), and it was an eye-opening experience,” said Goodale, who is in his first year as Rutgers University’s head coach.

“Scotty beat him, 3-2. I never thought anybody would beat Frank Molinaro when he was in 8th grade. I said, “This kid is going to be real good.’ ”

Molinaro, who spent his freshman year at Middletown High School North before transferring to Southern Regional his sophomore year, became New Jersey’s 21st three-time state champion last year.

Winston, a senior at Jackson Memorial, became a New Jersey scholastic wrestling immortal on Sunday at Boardwalk Hall when he finished with a career record of 137-0 and became New Jersey’s 22nd three-time state champion. He is the first scholastic wrestler in New Jersey to go unbeaten for a career while wrestling more than 100 bouts.

Goodale, who coached Winston his first three years at Jackson Memorial, was not at Boardwalk Hall this weekend because he was coaching Rutgers in the EIWA Championships at Franklin & Marshall in Lancaster, Pa.

However, he was with Winston in spirit and was informed of Winston’s pin of Scott Kelly of Sacred Heart of Vineland in the 160-pound final immediately after it happened by his mother, Karen, and Jackson Memorial assistant coach Rob Connor.

“It was really emotional for me,” said Goodale, who will be reunited with Winston next year when Winston wrestles for Rutgers. “Then, I had a good opportunity to talk to him later that night and reflect on everything.”

Goodale was thrilled when he was told by mother that the crowd of 10,844 gave Winston a standing ovation. Winston received two standing ovations, one just after the pin, and another after Brick Memorial head coach Dan O’Cone, the president of the New Jersey Wrestling Coaches Association, presented him with a plaque.

“He deserved it,” Goodale said. “I always wanted the fans to appreciate what he has done. If I was there, I don’t know if I would have been able to handle it because I’m a very emotional person.”

Winston’s freshman year was cut short by a broken wrist suffered just before the NJSIAA Team Tournament. It is anybody’s guess as to how he would have fared in the 140-pound weight class against Jefferson’s Dan Vallimont that year. Vallimont, who won the state 140-pound title that year, was a two-time state champion and is now at Penn State and ranked No. 3 in the nation at 157 pounds.

But, early in Winston’s sophomore year, Goodale began to sense New Jersey’s wrestling fans had a chance to witness history.

“When we bumped him up in Minnesota (at The Clash, a national dual meet tournament in Rochester, Minn.) and beat the Pretto kid (Eric Pretto of Sandburg, Ill., who was an Illinois state champion), we, as a staff, said, he might end his career unbeaten,” Goodale said. “We felt his toughest test would be to get through the state tournament the first time.

“What separates him from everybody is his mind-set. He has great technique, but not the best. He does a couple of things and does them really well. He trains so hard and does it all year-round.”

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