Bound Brook Wrestling: Welcome

STEP ONE TO GROUP I

     The Crusaders took their first step towards a group one State Championship on Wednesday night as they defeated Bordentown by a 49-15 score. The victory avenged a 37-24 defeat at the hands of the Scotties last year. The win sets up a Central Jersey Group I Final match with New Egypt who defeated Bordentown by one earlier this season and Roselle Park by a 31-29 score tonight. The match will be contested at Bound Brook on Friday night at 7 p.m. If the Brook is fortunate enough to win that match they will move on to the Group I Finals at Toms River North on Sunday.

     As for Wednesday night's match pinners were Craig Delacruz, Rob Murray, Emmanuel Soto and Josh Ugalde. Tech fallers were Ronald Picado and Jeison Arias... learn how to pin already, crikey!

      Here is the box score:

BETTER, BUT A WAYS TO GO

     The Crusaders went 2-1 on Saturday in their quad at Bound Brook as they defeated Ridge and Montgomery with little trouble but lost to Timber Creek.  Although the Crusaders had the edge in conditioning (or at least not getting hurt in the third period), they failed to hand fight beyond the elbow and chain wrestle on their feet which meant they fell short a few times in the third period of their matches. Oh well, I guess that's what practice is for.

    Three and Zero wrestlers on the day were Craig Delacruz and Aaron Saavedra and, and, and okay never mind there were only two  3-0 wrestlers on the day as the Crusaders had to sit some wrestlers to stay under the 30 match limit.

       The Crusaders next match will be the semi-finals of the Group I Central Jersey Sectional tournament on Wednesday at Bound Brook. They will wrestle the winner of the Bordentown-Point Pleasant Beach match at 7 p.m. One if they are astute and have a excellent memory might recall that Bordentown defeated Bound Brook in the Semi Finals of the Sectionals last season. But have the tables turned Mr. Powers? If they win that match they will wrestle in the Group I Central Jersey Final on Friday at Bound Brook. If they win that they are the Sectional Champions and wrestle for the Group I State Championship on Sunday at Toms River North at the Rittacio, no wait we got to chang that name, Poland Spring Arena.

Here are the box scores:

OUCH

        South Plainfield wrestled Bound Brook this evening and defeated them by a 52-15 score. The Tigers were aggressive and wrestled with confidence. They knew how to get to their offense and did so on the whistle.

      Winners for Bound Brook were Craig Delacruz, Isiah Soto and Ronald Picado.

Bound Brook defeats Somerville

      The Crusaders started strong, but fizzled to an end on Wednesday night against Somerville. Things would go a lot better if they did what they were coached to do. Anyhow, the winners who were pinners were Nick Limenza, Rob Murray, Isiah Soto and Ronald Picado.

      Both Jeison Arias and Nick Accetta beat their corresponding weight place winner from the weight directly below them at counties. Arias the county runner-up at 132 beat Nick Wahba the runner-up at 126 and Accetta who placed third at 138 defeated Frank Lazauskas who placed third at 132. I guess there is something to this weight class thing!

      Please adjust your clocks, schedules, tell your Siri Iphone and program your Blackberry (Do they still exist or are they stored away with the old Palm Pilot?) as the Crusaders will travel to South Plainfield on Friday night to wrestle the always super tough 4th ranked South Plainfield.  The match will be at 7 p.m. in South Plainfield's gym so if your not doing anything come out and watch what hopefully will be some great wrestling. Needless to say this will be a heck of a challenge for the young Crusaders, but no mountain worth climbing doesn't come with a few rocks in the way.

        As for Saturday's quad, Warren Hills has had to drop out because they have the skin funk so we are looking for a replacement and we think #5 Timber Creek is filling out that spot. Here are the match times for Saturday:

       Also, it looks like the Crusaders schedule will be undergoing a huge change for next year as they are considering accepting a invite to the Clash in Rochester, Minnesota over the Christmas break week. Of course if the team accepts this challenge they will really have to pick up their training as this season's clash featured six of the top ten high schools in the Nation. Plus the tournament would mean six out of State matches which would mean the Crusaders would need to wrestle a boat load of  matches against Jersey teams to ensure sectional eligibility. Furthermore, they are going to need to raise some money as getting to Minnesota ain't cheap! So stay tuned!

Bound Brook wins third consecutive conference title

     The Bound Brook Crusader wrestling team won three matches on Saturday including a 54-12 win against their host North Warren to earn their third consecutive conference title. Bound Brook also defeated Hopatcong by a 56-9 score and the 18th ranked team in the State Voorhees by a 32-25 score.

     The Crusaders started the day with their toughest match which was Voorhees Vikings who are ranked 18th in New Jersey. However,  Zach Vatalare, Jeison Arias and Nick Accetta all started the match with bonus point wins which allowed Bound Brook to take the momentum in the match. Freshmen Josh Ugalde, Andrew Gombus, Aaron Saavedra and Craig Delacruz all won matches to help the team overcome the fact that they had to forfeit the top two weights.

    The team then faced North Warren to wrap up their third consecutive conference title and the Crusaders didn't lose any matches, other then forfeits and won the match by a 54-12 score. Pinners were Craig Delacruz, Rob Murray, Tyler Awtry, Jeison Arias and Josh Ugalde. The first three wrestlers all pinned in the first period.

     In the final match of the day Bound Brook beat Hopatcong by a 56-9 score. Pinners were Delacruz, Awtry, Ugalde, Davide Fitzpatrick, Ronald Picado and Aaron Saavedra, whose pin was in a blistering ten seconds and which raised the freshman's record to 17-4.

     Here are the box scores:

     The Crusader wrestling team won two matches on Wedneday night in Bound Brook when they defeated Bayonne by 59-15 score and North Brunswick by a 67-12 score. The team forfeited 220 and 285 in both matches and Andrew Gombas lost 5-4 to Wade Cole of Bayonne.

      Double pinners included Nick Limenza and Aaron Saavedra. The Crusanders return to the mat Saturday when they face a one loss North Warren squad, Hopatcong and the 18th ranked Voorhees Vikings. The matches start at 10 a.m. at North Warren be there, or be square, or be at home, or be at the dentist or be somewhere.

DELACRUZ FALLS AT ALL STAR MATCH

     Craig Delacruz lost 3-2 to Morris Knolls Jan Rosenburg at the All Star match on Sunday at Brick Memorial. There was no score in the first and Craig put on a good ride through about a 1:45 of the second period. However, a scramble resulted in a lightning fast neutral and takedown for Rosenburg which gave him a 3-0 lead at the end of two. Craig got out quickly in the third to close the gap and then received stalling point, but the winning takedown could not be earned by Craig, which included a close cradle situation on the edge. You can see a picture of that situation to the right, and realize there is a whizzer  in by Rosenburg with his left arm.

CRUSADERS DEFEAT SEATERS

     The Crusader wrestling team took another step to their third consecutive Skyland conference championship on Wednesday when they defeated the Belvidere County Seaters by a 43-24 score.

       Pinners included Nick Limenza, Craig Delacruz, Emmanuel Soto, Josh Ugalde and Aaron Saavedra. However, the best match of the night for the Crusaders was perhaps by Ronald Picado who defeated Evan Bray by a 11-9 score.

       Two Crusaders who had a chance to earn nice wins but fell short because of their utter lack of effective offense were Zach Vatalare and Jeison Arias who each lost to one of the Thorsen brothers.

      Here is the box score:

SOMERSET COUNTY CHAMPS

       The Bound Brook Crusaders won their first county title in twelve years on Saturday when they had eleven wrestlers place top three and had two Champions in sophomore Ronald Picado and freshman Craig Delacruz each won their first titles.The Crusaders used seven freshmen in the line-up and four placed, also not one senior was on the winning squad.  Franklin led the tournament after the semi-finals, but the Crusaders showed how great the ability is to wrestle-back when four of their five wrestlers in wrestle-backs placed third.

 Here is a break down of each wrestlers day and place:

106 Craig Delacruz-9th (1st Place) won his first of hopefully four titles when he defeated Gianni Calo of Bridgewater 9-1 in the Finals. He also defeated the first seed Alex Pollara of Watchung Hills.

113 Rob Murray-11th  (2nd Place) Takes second for the third year in a row as he could not muster anything close to a take down  against freshman Matt Noble of Bridgewater. Noble scored a take down with 27 seconds left and made it stick for the 2-1 victory.

120 Tyler Awtry-11th (2nd Place) Made his first tournament final but lost by fall to Mike Magaldo of Watchung Hills in the final.  Tyler made it to finals when he beat 2nd seeded Dan Remoli of Somerville in the Semis.

126 Zach Vatalare-11th (3rd Place) Zach added to his second place finish as a freshman when he placed third. He defeated Lenny Bird of Montgomery to earn his place and his lone loss was to runner-up Nick Wahba of Somerville in the semi-finals.

132 Jeison Arias-10th (2nd Place) Jay looked good in the semi-finals when he major decisioned State Qualifier Frank Lazauskas 11-2. But in the finals Hillsborough's Mackey Price came out determined and took Jay down twice in the first period and defeated Jay by two, avenging his loss to Jay in the Region Semis last year.

138 Nick Accetta-9th  (3rd Place) This kid had one heckuva day placing third. He started off with a 3-2 loss to Region Champ Mike Fagg-Davies but then responded with three wins, including a two very exciting vicories against Mike DiRosa of Watchung Hills and Louis Colona of Montgomery. In both matches he was down with :30 seconds left in the match and got the winning takedown and rideout for the victory.

145 Josh Ugalde-9th (2nd Place) Josh had a great semi-finals victory against a undefeated Tyler Workman of Hillsborough in the Semis. Workman was hit with his second stalling call (unknown to the ref) with ten seconds left and then with once second left scored the winning takedown on a spin with one second left.

152 Emmanuel Soto-11th (3rd Place) Emmy lost a tough match to eventual Champ David Bergida in the Semis, but came back with two nice wins to earn a third place finish.

160 Isiah Soto-10th (2nd Place) I lost to Mike Carroccia of Watchung Hills in his final as he gave up a quick two on a shot to start the match. Isiah earned his place in the finals when he pinned Kolton Nelder of Ridge in the Semis.

171 Andrew Gombas-9th (No Place) Andrew was primed to place, but couldn't repeat his win against Jon Diamond of Bernards in the Quarter finals as he gave up five points on a elbows out shot and then tried the Levitating Merkal in third period, which never seems to work. He then he lost his first wrestle back to Charlie Burrows of Watchung Hills when he tried to use a high half as a ride and decided not to stand up.

182 Ronald Picado-10th (First Place) He engaged in one of the most exciting matches,  if not technically excellent matches in the finals. He defeated Ralph Normandia of Franklin but it wasn't easy as Ron tried a Full Nelson and tried a crossface to counter a shot. That's right a cross-face... YUCK! But he found a way by scoring the winning takedown with five seconds left. Ron also had a nice win against Alex Fornelos of Watchung Hills in the Semis.

195 Aaron Saavedra-9th (3rd Place) Aaron did the heavy-lifting for the team when he went up to 195 while weighing a soaking wet 172 and placing third. After a loss with some questionable technique against second seed Matt Bruskin of Somerville, Aaron scored a pin and then a thrilling last minute victory against J.T. Valley of North Plainfield.

220 Ryan Galdamez-9th (No Place) Although he didn't place Ryan scored a nice victory in the pigtail round against his Somerville opponent Oscar Bucaro.

285 Aldo Robles-9th (No Place) Al has had better days, but he's going to get it, but it might take a year as he's the lightest heavy in the County.

JUNIOR VARSITY WINS VOORHEES DUALS

       The Bound Brook High School Junior Varsity wrestling team had enough of the high school winning titles on Friday night and added one for themselves when they won the Voorhees Duals. The Crusaders won all three of their duals comfortably against much bigger Skyland Conference schools. In the first match Bound Brook defeated North Hunterdon by a 41-16 tally. Then they defeated host Voorhees by a 47-18 score and they finished off the tournament in the finals by defeating Del Val by a 34-18 score. Other teams in duals included Somerville, Phillipsburg and Hunterdon Central.

    Put that in your hat bellyachers! 

BRICK MEMORIAL MAULS THE BROOK

        Brick Memorial is a tough team and when you wrestle a tough team you better bring your "A" game. The Crusader coaches were unable to coax their team's "A" game Thursday night and the result was a loss to Brick Memorial by ugly 37-22 margin. The team started the night off slow and remained that way throughout the match. The Crusaders were unable to wrestle in the third period and unable to finish matches when they put opponents to their backs. The end result was four measley bonus points being scored by the Crusaders, while giving up four falls. Unacceptable.

      Only six Crusaders won on the evening and they were Zach Vatalare, Nick Accetta, Josh Ugalde, Isiah Soto, Ron Picado and Craig Delacruz.

     With the Somerset County tournament boring down the team Saturday, the Crusaders coaches need to figure out in a hurry how to get this team to buy in to the following:

     That's a lot to learn in one day!

       Here is the box score:

BOUND BROOK BEATS BERNARDS

      The Crusader wrestling team traveled to Bernards on Wedsnesday night and returned home 55-9 winners as Nick Limenza, Rob Murray, Mike Desantis and Andrew Gombas scored falls for the Brook. Ronald Picado went up to 220 and scored a technical fall. Also winning his first Varsity match was first year wrestler Ryan Persuad when he defeated Bernards Luis Britez by a 12-3 major decision.  Congratulations Ryan.

Here is the box score:

Defeat Stroudsburg 39-18 in Finals

      The Bound Brook Crusader wrestling team has not won the Zephyr Duals in Whitehall since the first year they entered the tournament in 1999. When Coach Franey arrived at BBHS this morning he was met with a rash of overweight wrestlers  and a few didn't make weight. This left  many to believe that drought would continue. That would be a mistaken assumption.

      The Crusaders wrestled every match better then their last on Saturday and ended up with a perfect 4-0 record and their first Zephyr Duals title in 13 years after  they defeated the first seed Stroudsburg High School 39-18 in the Finals.

      In the first match of the day the Crusaders faced a severly under-manned Mahanoy Area High School. The match wasn't much of anything as the Crusaders won by a 66-9 score. The biggest event of note was beginner Brandon Slover winning the first match of his Varsity career when he pinned Zane Houser in 2:57.

     Three hours later the Crusaders faced 7th seed Hughesville and defeated them by 50-22 score. The match wasn't ever in doubt as the Crusaders sprinted out to a 37-0 lead as Aldo Robles started with a forfeit win and the Brook didn't post a loss until 145. After that, things didn't go so hot and the coaches weren't pleased with the second half of the team in that match.

      After a toungue lashing by the coaches, the Crusaders faced third seed Wyalusing and they won by a 46-15 score. Leading the way was Nick Accetta who defeated a 16-1 wrestler with a take down  for is first lead with 12 seconds left in the match. Tyler Awtry also had a nice win when he de