O’HARA, JONES, NOCK, CHAPMAN WIN FINAL 4 BOUTS

Receiving the third seed for the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 Tournament meant that the Cranford High School wrestling Cougars had to spend the entirety of their time on the road. But that did not stop the 18-2 Cougars when they edged Morris Hills, 39-33, in the quarterfinals and the hosting second-seeded Warren Hills Blue Streaks, 41-32, in the semifinals before heading to West Essex and shocking the Knights, 27-24, in a real thriller that went down to the final bout for the Championship.

In that mach with the Knights, the Cougars actually trailed, 24-12, and needed to win the final four bouts to grab the title. Eoghan O’Hara got it started with a 9-5 decision over Ben Marquis at 150-lbs. Dylan Jones (157) edged Nick Janish, 4-3, then Marcus Nock (165) beat Joe Cutruzzula, 5-0, to knot the team score 24-24. Jordan Chapman then scooped up all the marbles when he pinned Doug Taylor in 49 seconds at 175-lbs. But before that, the scenario was set up when Luke Scholz pulled off a 4-3 win over Ethan Kerlin at 132-lbs.

“Yes it was a close match with a few swing bouts going our way and a few going their way,” said Cougar Head Coach Pat Gorman, who pointed out, “It came down to getting Scholz on their best kid to help get back some points, and Luke got the win. After that win we were back on track and got the match-ups to score the remaining team points needed to set up the last match with Jordan. We were down 24-12 with O’Hara, Jones, Nock and Jordan left. I felt pretty good about that.”

The match began at 190-lbs and Knight Carmine Masi in a rough-andtumble bout, managed to get past Joey Acinapura, 15-13. Chris Nigro upped the Knights’ lead to 6-0 when he got past Jake Ulicki, 8-5, at 215lbs but the Cougars got on the board when Louis Kruk beat Eldin Gashi, 84, at 285-lbs. At 106-lbs, Knight Alex Esposito pinned Declan McKittrick in 1:38. Cougars Mike Daly (113) topped Christian Bastante, 11-4, and Joe Tona (120) beat Dante D’Achille, 12-9, but Nick Bastante (126) nipped Ryder Connors, 1-0, to give West Essex a 15-9 lead entering Scholz’s bout.

Knights Tom Ruane (138) beatAlex Muller, 8-2, and Reid Clausi (144) pinned Braedan Waters in :58 to set up the exciting four-bout run by the Cougars.

But an interesting note is that the Cougars nearly failed to advance to even the semifinal round but managed to squeak past Morris Hills by recording a pin in the final bout when Ulicki pinnedAnthony Prestia in 4:00 at 215-lbs.

Morris Hills took a 6-0 team lead when Brady Gaeb pinned Kruk in 1:20 at 285-lbs but Daly knotted the score when he showed Adam Molina the lights also in 1:20 at 106-lbs. The 113-lb bout was quite serious and Tona managed to pull out a 3-2 decision over Jonny Vasquez. Morris Hills won the next two bouts via fall to take an 18-9 lead. Josh Levin pinned Brandon Colon at 120-lbs and Jaydin Barreto pinned Connors at 126-lbs.

Cranford won the next three bouts to regain the lead, 21-18. Scholz claimed a 12-4, majority decision over Kalan Acevedo at 132-lbs, Muller edged Brody Frank, 9-7, at 138-lbs and O’Hara won by 18-3, technical fall over Alex Casarrubias at 144-lbs. Morris Hills won the next three bouts to take a 33-21 lead. Andrew Mucci (150) pinned Owen Woodruff in 1:54, Roger Barrezueta (157) beat Jones, 8-2, and Ivan Gomez (165) pinned Nock in 3:28. After Chapman pinned Dan Matamala in 18 seconds at 175lbs, Acinapura (190) pinned Ayden Gomez in 4:21 to tie the team score at 33-33 going into that final bout.

Against the Warren Hills Blue Streaks, Daly got things rolling with a 4:36 pin over Augie Szamreta at 106lbs. Tona made the score, 12-0, with a 4:41 pin over Aidan Wells at 113lbs. The next three bouts belonged to the Streaks when Charlie Piccione (120) pinned Colon in :27, Dave Rhinehard (126) beat Connors, 10-5, and Tyler Redfield (132) pinned Brandon DiPaolo in 3:46.

Scholz (138) won by 15-5, majority decision over Ethan Drazek then the Streaks took a 20-16 lead when Josh Lee (144) won by 16-1, technical fall over Muller. But the Cougars would win the next five bouts to put the match out of range for Warren Hills and it began with O’Hara (150) topping Tyler O’Neill, 5-2. Jones (157) pinned Dom D’Aconti in :42, Nock (165) grabbed a 10-0, majority decision over Cole Friedman and Chapman (175) received a forfeit. Acinapura (190) pinned Cyles Santiago in 2:39 to make the score 41-20 then with victory in hand, the Cougars forfeited the next two bouts.

“Our team has depth and the ability to make moves and score points, that’s what I attribute these victories to,” Coach Gorman concluded.