Bound Brook Wrestling

Close loss gives Bound Brook hope Published in the Courier News on January 16, 2003 By HARRY FREZZA JR. Staff Writer BOUND BROOK - The Bound Brook High School wrestling team is young enough to be given a pass for Wednesday night's near-miss against Rahway. The Crusaders' thrilling 41-32 loss was definitely encouraging and had Rahway head coach Fred Stueber praising them. Though assistant coach Marty Gleason was very pleased by taking seven of the 12 bouts that were wrestled -- Bound Brook forfeited at 103 and 189 -- he also looked at is as an opportunity missed. Rahway improved to 4-0, while Bound Brook dropped to 3-2 with another unbeaten team -- 5-0 Voorhees -- visiting tonight. Bound Brook has only one senior in its lineup, 135-pounder Jason Gregor, so the future should be bright. "We're looking at this as a two-year journey," Gleason said. "We're looking at 2004, but we're driving ahead. The kids for the most part stayed with the plan tonight." The big moment for Bound Brook came at 275 pounds where sophomore Richie Perry, who came into the match with an 0-6 record, pinned Darnell Butler to give the home team a 32-30 lead. The Crusaders had won just two bouts from 189 through 275 in their first four dual meets, giving up 54 points. "Richie loves wrestling and is really working hard at it," Gleason said. "The kid weighed 305 pounds at one point and now he's at 243. He's really working to get better." Bound Brook didn't quite have enough margin after Perry's pin. Bound Brook forfeited to outstanding freshman 103-pounder Darian Caldwell and freshman 112-pounder Ed McCray scored a technical fall win over sophomore Jose Abarca to close out the Rahway victory. Bound Brook had leads of 11-9, 17-9 and 26-12, but Gleason knew that 103 and 112 would be a problem. The victory was clinched when freshman Ed McCray scored a technical fall over Bound Brook sophomore Jose Abarca at 112 pounds, the final bout of the night. "We were hoping to get pins and points early and often," Gleason said. The Crusaders built their lead behind freshman Jesse Harrington's technical fall at 119 that started the match. Junior David Shubick won by fall before Rahway's Carlos Nicasio and Marlon Zuniga closed the Bound Brook lead to 11-9 with a decision and fall at 130 and 135, respectively. Bound Brook countered with a second-period fall by sophomore Andrew Flanagan at 140 and junior 145-pounder Steve Bradley won 9-2 to boost the lead to 20-9. Bound Brook's biggest lead came after sophomore John Jannuzzi won by fall at 160 to make it 26-12. "Bound Brook really came after us and we really went after them, it was like a collision," Stueber said. "They had some momentum and really took us apart. They're twice as good as they were a week ago." Senior 171 pounder Mike Rodriguez and 135-pounder Marlon Zuniga had key falls for Rahway. Adam Rojas gave Rahway its first lead of the night at 30-26 when he pinned freshman Jay Makowski in just 30 seconds at 215. RAHWAY 41, BOUND BROOK 32103 -- Darian Caldwell (R) won by forfeit. 112 -- Ed McCray (R) tf. Jose Abarca 15-0, 4:00. 119 -- Jesse Harrington (BB) tf. Ryne Luddington, 18-3, 5:29. 125 -- David Shubick (BB) p. Justin Racelis 3:06. 130--Carlos Nicasio (R) d. Billy Vivona 7-2. 135 -- Marlon Zuniga (R) p. Jason Gregor 1:02. 140 -- Andrew Flanagan (BB) p. Alexis Nicasio 2:25. 145 -- Steve Bradley (BB) d. Ian Sevard 9-2. 152 -- Sean Horton (R) d. Jaime Martinez 5-2. 160--John Jannuzzi (BB) p. Al Montedeoca 2:49. 171 -- Mike Rodriguez (R) p. Michael Roberts 2:59. 189 -- Mike Podell (R) won by forfeit. 215 -- Adam Rojas (R) p. Jay Makowski :30. 275 -- Richie Perry (BB) p. Darnell Butler 2:08. MATCH STARTED AT: 119. RECORDS: Rahway 4-0. Bound Brook 3-2. from the Courier News website www.c-n.com