Bound Brook Wrestling: Welcome

CRUSADERS PREVAIL IN FIRST ROUND OF PLAYOFFS 

     There is an old saying which is "just win baby", this webmaster has never liked that saying and has always been a fan on how you win. Monday night the Crusaders just won baby in the first round of the Central Jersey Group I playoffs.... ughhhhhhh!

     In fact, of the contested matches which were eleven in number the Crusaders only won five matches! Winners, who actually wrestled, included Luis Mendes, Robert F. Murray, III, George Wohar, Ricky Ash and Kyle Doerr. All others were pinned. Not acceptable!

     The match score is as follows:

BOUND BROOK-45 SHORE REGIONAL-36

YOUNGSTERS SHINE IN LOSS TO MADISON

      The Bound Brook coaches have told their team all season long that if they do the work their time will come. This proved very true on Wednesday night as the Crusaders lost to Madison 38-28, but not on the backs of the youngsters.

     Leading the charge as usual leading the charge were Rob Murray and Zach Vatalare who again scored bonus point victories for the  Brook.  A year older, but just as tough was sophomore Mike Desantis as he scored a major decision. On the losing side, but giving their all were sophomore George Wohar who lost a decision to a Morris County Champ and David Fitzpatrick who went two weights up and only lost 2-1.

     Two upper classman were pinners as juniors Andrew Campolattano and Ricky Ash both secured first period pins two help the Crusaders in the losing effort.

     If you would like to watch this match television and you are a Cablevision subscriber, then you can see it at 10:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. Tomorrow on the MSG Varsity Network. I myself think I'll skip that broadcast!

    The box score is as follows:

BOUND BROOK WRESTLING FANS UNITE!

     All Bound Brook wrestling fans you can unite on Facebook as a page has been created saluting our favorite wrestling program. Just go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bound-Brook-Wrestling/275956724368?ref=nf and make yourself a fan and post any great pictures you might have from the past. I've posted here one of my favorites.

     Also, if your interested in attending a 1999 Bound Brook wrestling team reunion please take the survey attached and contact Marty Gleason at m1wres@earthlink.net . THE SURVEY IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE! 

 TAFFUR NAMED CAA ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

     Nestor Taffur was named the CAA Rookie of the Week last week for his undefeated record for the week. However, it must be like a the cover of Sports Illustrated curse because he lost two matches against Donnie Vinson of Binghamton by tech fall and Blaine Wosczak by a equally poor score. However, he did pin his opponent from Harvard on Saturday.

     I hope you enjoyed the walk Nestor.

BBHS WRESTLERS RAISE RECORD ABOVE 500

     For the first time since the last day of the regular season last year, the Crusader wrestling team raised their record above 500 after defeating Bernards on Monday night by a 48-20 score.

     Pinners for the Brook included Rob Murray, George Wohar, Ricky Ash, Frank Gianotti, Andrew Campolattano and Kenny Taffurs. Other winners were Mike Desantis, Zach Vatalare, Gary Senesoupha and Kyle Doerr.

    The next match for the Crusaders is their third and last home match of the season on Wednesday night against a tough Madison team who is 14-2 so far on the season, this one could be a humdinger!

    The box score for the Bernards match is as follows:

QUALIFY FOR STATE PLAYOFFS

     The Crusaders traveled to the Pingry School on Wednesday for a match which would guarantee them a 500 record heading in the State playoff cut-off date and a spot in the Central Jersey Group I bracket and came home with the mission accomplished as they won by a 62-15 score. This is the first time Bound Brook qualified for the State playoffs in three years as a the conference moved the majority of our league matches to before the cut-off date which helped the Crusaders qualify.

     Winners were led by the "BD Crew" Rob Murray, Tyler Awtry and Zach Vatalare. Other winners included pinners George Wohar, Gary Senesoupha, Riccardo Ash, Seabass Mercado and Ghibran Zapata.

     The match score is as follows:

MIDDLE SCHOOL RALLIES TO BEAT BRIDGEWATER

CRUSADERS SCORE TWO FALLS AT END TO WIN BY ONE

      The Smalley Knights have been wrecked with sickness as of late, but were able to get the team as one for a match against Bridgewater on Tuesday and every hand on deck was necessary as they defeated the Panthers by a 41-40 score due to falls by Brendan Neyra and Ronald Picado at the end of the match.

      The Knights are now 13-6 on the season and have their next match against next Tuesday against Hillsborough and then their conference Tournament a week from Sunday. 

TAFFUR HEATING UP AT B.U.

      The Winter might be cold in Boston, but Nestor Taffur is starting to heat things up on the mat at Boston University. Last weekend Nestor went undefeated at the CAA Duals with victories against George Mason and  Hofstra, he won three more matches this weekend to raise his record to a winning record for the first time this season at 10-9.

      On Saturday Nestor won two matches against East Stroudsburg and North Dakota State respectively. In the North Dakota State match he defeated Andrey Patselov a 2x time NCAA qualifier by a 6-4 score and then won another tight match when he defeated Eddie Stephenson of ESU 8-6. On Sunday Nest traveled to Sacred Heart where he pinned Andrew Cohen in a 1:21.

      Good job Nest! Keep grinding out those victories. 

CRUSADERS WIN ONE, LOSE ONE AND MARTY LOSES ONE

     The Bound Brook Crusader wrestling team one won match on Saturday, lost one match on Saturday and I blew a match on Saturday.

     The match the Crusaders lost was the first match of the day was a loss to South Plainfield by an ugly 60-6 score. The only winners were Andrew Campolattano who beat the third ranked 189 wrestler in New Jersey Mike Wagner by a 3-0 score. George Wohar was the other winner in the match with an overtime win against a South Plainfield back-up. Wrestlers who were competitive were Ghibran Zapata, Mike DeSantis and David Fitzpatrick... after that it was really ugly and South Plainfield showed the Crusaders what a program with a year round commitment to each other can accomplish.

    The second match of the day falls squarely on my shoulders as the Brook lost to Edision by a 40-33 score. Unfotunately, I think 22 years in the game too long as somehow, someway I lost what weight we were at and was left with no wrestlers at the end of the match.  The match started well for the Crusaders at Camp, Frank Gianotti, Kenny Taffur and Rob Murray all gave up bonus point wins. But then the Crusaders gave up losses in six matches straight putting the team behind. The mountain was too high after I screwed up the order of the weights and Brook lost a match they should of won.

    In the final match of the day Bound Brook beat their old rival by a 40-33 score. Winners included Kenny Taffur pinning State qualifer Christian Bollin for the third time in his career. Murray, Wohar, Vatalare, Fitzpatrick, Doerr and Gianotti also gave the Brook wins in the bout.

     The Crusaders have just one match against Pingry next week so an excellent opportunity has presented itself to drill the heck out of it and condition like mad-men!

    The box scores are as follows:

Bound Brook 40, Middlesex 33
215: Frank Gianotti (BB) d. Josh Zeloof (Middlesex) 5-3
HWT: Kenny Taffur (BB) p. Christian Bollin 1:17
103: Robert Murray (BB) tf. Brett Schweyher 15- (5:32)
112: George Wohar (BB) p. Mike Hnylycia 1:05
119: Zachary Vatalare (BB) m. Sal Dispenziere 10-2
125: Tom Morelli (M) d. Garry Senesoupha 7-5
130: David Fitzpatrick (BB) d. Mike Suckoe 8-2
135:  Jesse Deene (M) p. John Hoey 1:33
140: Ricky Ash (BB) p. Kerry Hoffman :51
145: Sean Gilbert (M) p. Sean Gilbert :49
152: Kyle Doerr (BB) p. Kyle Dotey 3:10
160: Stefan Jones (M) p. Sebastian Mercado 4:37
171: Frank Bozzomo (M) p. Ghibran Zapata 1:41
189: Dan Peterson (M) won by forfeit
Edison 44,  Bound Brook 34
103: Robert Murray (BB) p. Dylan Frisoli 1:59
112: Chris Szpond (E) p. George Wohar 1:48
119: Anthony Peterson (E) p. Tyler Awtry 1:53
125: Ray Delanuez (E) p. Zach Vatalare 1:42;
130: Jarett Shine (E) d. Gary Senesoupha 11-8
135: Sebastian Ocampo (E) p. John Hoey :19;
145:  Rickey Ash (BB) p. Eric Barbato 1:02
152: Kyle Doerr (BB) p. Walter Gonzales 1:40
160: Bryan Duran (E) tf. Ghibran Zapata 15-0
215: Frank Gianotti (BB) md. John Geraghty 12-0;
189: Andrew Campolattano (BB) won by forfeit
285: Kenny Taffur (BB) p. Daniel Sutherland :21.
South Plainfield 60,  Bound Brook 6
171:  Will Whitefleet (SP) d. Ghibran Zapata 2-0
189: Andrew Campolattano (BB) d. Mike Wagner 3-0
215:  Seth Yocum (SP) p. Frank Gianotti 3:51
HWT:  Bobby Sacks (SP) d. Kenny Taffur 6-2
103: Anthony Asnault (SP) tf. Robert Murray 17-1 4:33
112:  George Wohar (BB) d. Troy Davisson 5-3
119: Tyler Hunt (SP) p. Zach Vatalare 3:16
125:  Rich Szeliga (SP) md. Mike DeSantis 11-1
130:  Joe Pellegrino (SP) d. David Fitzpatrick 7-3
135:  Jeff Conroy (SP) p. John Hoey 1:11
140:  Nick Heilmann (SP) by forfeit
145:  Ryan Sacco (SP) p. Dominick Vatalare 1:54
152:  John Wylam (SP) p. Kyle Doerr 2:29
160: Joe Gonzalez (SP) p. Sebastian Mercado 0:37
Records:  South Plainfield 19-2

CRUSADERS TAME MANVILLE

     The Crusader wrestling team traveled to Manville on Wednesday night to wrestle a improving but short-manned (no pun intended) Mustang wrestling squad and came away with a 52-23 victory. Pinners included Kenny "Ralph" Taffur, Andrew Campolattano, Kyle Doerr and Rob Murray. The only other Crusader to physically win a match was Zach Vatalare who moved up to 125 and won by 11-0 decision.

     However, a record was set tonight as the Crusader coaches received a bench warning 23 seconds into the match! 

     The Crusaders now have two days of practice and a nice little Middlesex County Quad at the Brook on Saturday morning with South Plainfield, Edison and Middlesex.

    The box score is as follows:

PICADO, SEIBERT AND ABE SAAVEDRA WIN TITLES

      The Bound Brook Middle School wrestling team placed thrid at 20 team Princeton Invitational on Sunday at Princeton High School. The only winner in the 7th/8th gtrade division was Ronald Picado who showed a sharp hard double leg in his toughest match of the day. Other Finalists included Shane DeSantis, Reiner Delgado, Ryan Doerr and Aaron Saavedra, while third placers were Nick Limenza, Nick Weigand and Diego Flores. Fourth place wrestlers were Jim Issler, Brandon Neyra, Randy Meyers and Ron Soden.

      In the 6th grade division two Crusaders were victorious as Justin Seibert and Abraham Saavedra each won titles. Placing second was Jairo Taffur and Kyle McCutchen. 

NOT GOOD, NOT BAD

CRUSADERS TAKE 5TH IN COUNTY TOURNAMENT

      The Courier News stated in their pre-season preview this season that this year is probably the first time in 15 years that the Crusader wrestling team wouldn't finish top five in the Somerset County Wrestling Tournament. Well Thanks to a couple of hard working freshman that prophacy did not come true on Saturday night at Hillsborough High, as the Crusaders snuck a fifth place finish due to six place winners.

     But all is not good as a number of Crusaders could of, should of and in the future must do better in this tournament. The only victor in this tournament was Andrew Campolattano who won his third county title in three tries with three pins at the 215 pound weight class. Andrew has wrestled nine matches in his life at the Somerset County Tournament and has nine pins. Wow! He was also given the Robert E. Gleason Award for the most pins in the least amount of time.

     But equally as good was the performance of two the "B Crew", Rob Murray and Zach Vatalare. Murray pinned two opponents and then face the first seed Nick Wahba of Somerville who beat him by a 9-2 score a week and a half ago. But Rob made some adjustments and turned that loss into a 9-6 score this time. Unfortunately, in the Finals Rob looked a little shell-shocked and lost to Valero Lamorte of Bridgewater 12-5.

     The second member of the "B Crew" Zach Vatalare also had an outstanding tournament as after winning a preliminary bout, he defeated the second seeded Devin Burke of Manville, then the third seeded Joe Colon of Frankin in overtime. In the Finals he fell to a tough Joe DiCarlo of Hillsborough by fall.

    One other Crusader to make the Finals was Kenny Taffur who won to matches by fall and then was pinned in the Finals by Bridgerwater's Pete Machala. Although unfortunate, we at least want to give our Congratulations to Mr. Machala as he come's from some of Bound Brook's finest stock.

     The Crusaders had two wrestlers place third as seniors Frank Gianotti and Kyle Doerr each helped the Brook hold fifth place. Doerr looked like he's got a ways to go to get back up to speed while Frank looked great at 189 and after a slow start won three matches to place.

     Other Crusaders who helped the cause included newcomer Sebastian Mercado at 152 who looked great going 1-2, but just missing the next round in a overtime loss and Dominick Vatalare who won a match before losing his next two.

     A good day? In some ways. A bad day? In some ways, but hey we can't change Yesterday, but we sure as heck better try to change Tomorrow!   

CRUSADERS SIT ON SEATERS

     Finally the Bound Brook wrestling team wrestled a home match last night and boy did the Crusaders as a team had their best perfomance of the season defeating Belvidere by 51-24 score.

      Pinners for the Crusaders included Rob Murray, Zach Vatalare, Gary Senesoupha, Ricky Ash, Kyle Doerr, Frank Gianotti and Andrew Campolattano. Other winners were George Wohar who gutted out a tough 4-2 win.

      Campolattano pinned in 10 seconds while Doerr powered off his back and out of a arm bar to pin Belvidere senior Dallas Overko.

       Ken Taffur wrestled a hard-working match, but fell in triple overtime by a 3-2 score. He pushed the action the whole match but the criteria for stalling changed the for the last match of the night.

      The Crusaders are now 4-5 for the season and have the Somerset County Tournament this weekend. 

       The box Score is as follows: