By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher EWING TOWNSHIP — Perfection is so rare in sports. In the history of Major League Baseball, there have been less than 30 perfect games thrown. There has been only one perfect season in NFL history — the 1972 Miami Dolphins. The Mainland Regional boys swimming team now knows what it’s like to be perfect. The Mustangs capped off an undefeated season by throttling Scotch Plains-Fanwood 99-71 in the Public B state championship meet at The College of New Jersey on Sunday night. Mainland finished its season 15-0, and was rarely challenged the past three months. The state title is just the second in school history, and the first since 2003. “We knew that we were going to have to put together our best times to give this team a good run for their money. Everyone had a job to do today, and everybody executed,” said senior Mike Juliano. “Anytime you win a state championship, it’s probably the best feeling in the entire world. Being able to celebrate with all these guys, I’m glad we got a final victory after all that hard work we put in this season.” “It’s the greatest feeling right now. It’s the one goal we had in mind all year, just to get here,” added junior Chris Bradley. “Just to have the option to be here, then to win is a hundred times better.” Both teams came into the meet ranked in the top 10 in the state, according to nj.com, Mainland (15-0) at No. 6 and Scotch Plains-Fanwood (14-2-1) at No. 8, and after the first couple of events the Mustangs and Raiders were knotted at 15-15. After four events, Mainland held a 33-29 lead, but then the Mustangs began to pull away, eventually building a 66-44 lead after the 500 freestyle. Derek Kneisel, Joey Rogers and Erik Truong finished 1-2-3 in the 100 butterfly, and Justin Liu and Glen Lasco took the top two spots in the 100 freestyle as Mainland stretched its lead to 58-36. Mainland assistant coach College Tighe and head coach Brian Booth celebrate after the Mustangs knocked off the Raiders 99-71 to win the state title. Mainland assistant coach College Tighe and head coach Brian Booth celebrate after the Mustangs knocked off the Raiders 99-71 to win the state title. “This is my first year swimming, and swimming is not an easy sport by any means. This takes it to a whole new level. I don’t even swim that much, but just to be a part of it is probably one of the most incredible experiences ever,” Eger said. “I’m kind of just the hype guy, but I enjoy that role. It’s an eye opener. It puts me in somebody else’s shoes, and I know how it feels to maybe not get the minutes, but to be a part of a team and work for something that is so worth it.” Mainland completely dominated this season, scoring more than 100 points in 13 of its 15 wins. “Once the wins started piling up, and we kept putting up 100 points every meet, then after we beat St. Augustine Prep and a team like Moorestown — which has been so historically good — once we beat them, the momentum kept building and our confidence kept rising. We felt like we could do anything,” Gallagher said. “We never expected (to dominate like that). We try to stay humble as much as we can. We don’t think of ourselves coming into meets as a lot better than people, so it was kind of surprising to see the kind of points we were consistently putting up throughout this season.” Bradley said the team wanted to win for a group of seniors who had helped build up a program that now owns two South Jersey championships and a state title in the past two seasons. “I feel great for every single one of our seniors, especially James Gallagher. He’s the happiest kid in the world right now, and it’s great to win it for those guys,” he said. Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]