Announcement
Bergen Catholic (15-1) won nine bouts, capping the night with four straight after Bound Brook (17-2) had cut its deficit to 20-18 on senior Emmanuel Soto’s first-period fall at 152.
Bergen Catholic’s late run was sparked on Gianni Hallek (170) and Christian Jenco (195) falls that sandwiched state champ Johnny Sebastian’s 14-4 major at 182. Brothers Abe Saavedra (170) and Aaron Saavedra (195) had leads against Hallek and Jenco, but Abe was pinned at 6:00 and Aaron at 5:50.
“We knew it would be a battle, we lost some of the important ones and that was the difference,” Bound Brook coach Shaun Cleary said.
Bound Brook wrestled without Somerset County Tournament 152-pound champion Joshua Ugalde (20-1), who was held out because of a knee injury. Both sides acknowledged the sophomore’s absence hurt the two-time Somerset County Tournament champions, but the way the visitors wrestled, they might have won even if Ugalde had been healthy.
Ugalde did come out for introductions and jogged back to the bench, but Bound Brook wasn’t counting on him to wrestle against Bergen Catholic for several days. The injury isn’t believed to be season-ending.
Bergen Catholic coach Dave Bell figured Ugalde would have likely bumped to 160, where he would have faced freshman Kevin Mulligan (20-7), who beat junior Ryan Doerr 6-2 to extend the lead to 23-18. That also took some of the momentum Bound Brook received on Soto’s fall.
“We were scrambling and we were looking at the lineup, and saying, ‘why isn’t Ugalde coming out?,’” said Bell, whose team’s only loss was a Dec. 18 40-26 dual-meet setback to No. 1 and unbeaten South Plainfield. “Then we looked to make sure that he weighed in and that he wouldn’t be coming out at the next weight. He weighed in at 150.4.”
"It changes the strategy a little bit, you know, but they were also without one of their good wrestlers (freshman 152-pounder Joe Grello) too, so it cancels each other out,” said Cleary. '”It changes our strategy, but no matter what, we always put 14 kids out there who know how to wrestle and know how to wrestle well and they didn’t come to wrestle tonight. That’s exactly what happened.”
Bound Brook, the defending state Group I champs, didn’t get the bonus points where it expected or steal the toss-up bouts.
“113, 132, obviously, heavyweight, 160 was a winnable match and 170 was a winnable match and we came up a little short on all of them,” said Cleary. “There were a lot of matches where I thought we could have and should have won and we didn't.”
Even a couple of the ones Bound Brook won were disappointing.
Junior 220-pounder Ronald Picado (12-4) won the opening bout 10-5 over sophomore Conner O’Brien (3-6), but Bound Brook expected more; junior S. Michael Johnson wrestled well at 285, falling 5-3 to Bergen senior Carmine Goldsack (23-3). That was followed by unbeaten freshman 106-pounder Nick Suriano’s 25-10, third-period techincal fall. Some polls have Suriano (25-0) ranked No. 1 in the U.S.
Senior 113-pounder Robbie Murray (18-6) lost 3-2 to Bergen Catholic junior Tyler Casamenti, the winning point coming on a stall with 12 seconds left in regulation.
Sophomore Matt Rose (16-11) then limited returning state tournament place winner Craig De La Cruz (23-1) to a 3-1 decision at 120. De La Cruz finshed fourth in the state tournament at 106 last year and is a returning District 18 champ and won a second Somerset County Tournament title two weeks ago.
Bound Brook’s unheralded 126-pound senior Zach Vatalare (17-5) brought his team closer with a 10-5 decision, desperately trying for bonus points against junior Troy Schaafsma (18-7). Bergen Catholic junior J.P. Ascolese (16-8) answered at 132 by beating junior Jeison Arias 8-6 in sudden victory and the lead was increased to 14-9 that bcame 20-9 on 138-pounder Laurien Anghelina’s first period fall.
The 145-pound bout was the best of the night.
Bound Brook sophomore Nick Accetta, wrestling up a weight, trailed freshman Danny DeLorenzi 4-0, 6-4 and 9-6 with 50 seconds left in regulation, but tied it at 10 on a takedown, escape and stalling point. He nearly won it in regulation. The two exchanged opportunities in the one minute overtime. Accetta rode DeLorenzi out in the first 30 second period, then escaped with seven seconds left in the second tiebreaker period for an 11-10 win. That cut the BC lead to 20-12. Senior Emmanuel Soto, coming up to 152 from 15 to take Ugalde’ spot, scored a first period pin to cut the deficit to 20-18. That’ as close as Bound Brook got, as it had its 13-match winning streak snapped, one that started after a 30-27 loss to Apple Valley (Minn.) Dec. 28 at the Clash National Duals in Rochester, Minn.
“I think it’s because the kids wrestle hard in the room and they push hard in the room and they replicate what they do on the mat and it’s been a big difference,” Bell said when asked about several late wins by his team. “Our kids stuck in there, our kids hung in there and they wrestled hard. We have been talking about that all year that they need to fight for every point, and right to the whistle and tonight and we got that kind of effort.”
Comments
Seasons
Sponsors
