Bound Brook Wrestling

2010-2011 Bound Brook Wrestling Recap

600 And Counting… 

      The Bound Brook wrestling team continued their upward trend under Coach Kyle Franey and also won the 600^th match in program history against no one other then the mighty Somerville. Add in improved performances in every tournament the team entered and a middle school team that produces more and more State place-winners, and one can only conclude that the future looks bright for the Bound Brook wrestling program.

       The high school team started their season in Dagsboro, Delaware for the sixth consecutive year where they competed in the Battle at the Beach. The team finished 6^th out of 24 teams which was a seven place increase from the season prior. The Crusaders only one winner in Andrew Campolattano, but had three freshman, Peter Pity Clemenza Clemente Lorenzo Limenza, Jeison Arias and Ronald Picado all placed in the top six and Arias made his first final of the season.

            At the Battle both Arias and Rob Murray were injured so the Crusaders returned home from the First State to face a improved Manville squad, minus two of their eventual state qualifiers. No matter Ken Taffur whooped on Manville’s 215 Region Qualifier and the Crusaders scored a  39-28 victory.

            Next up was a trip to the Hurricane Classic in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania where the Brook took a beating on all levels last year in finishing 23^rd in the 28 team tournament. However, this year the Crusaders jumped 10 places to 13^th as strong performances by the seniors carried the day, as Camp won the tournament while Kenny Taffur and Ricky Ash placed 5^th and 6^th respectively. Also, placing in his second tournament of the year was Rob Murray with a 5^th place finish.

          From that point on the Crusaders wrestled some good and not so good matches and competitions . Among the not so good was a trip to the Whitehall Zephyr Duals where the team finished a disappointing 2-2 and a lackluster County Tournament where the team placed fifth out of  eleven teams. The Crusaders sported two County Champs as Camp won his fourth title with great ease and Kenny Taffur finally broke the glass ceiling which prevented him from winning titles when he defeated his arch nemisis from Bridgewater for his title.  Rob Murray and Ricky Ash each made the finals, but fell short and Jeison Arias wrestled back for third place.

            At that point the Coaches had made it clear to the team that they needed to be goal oriented and their goal was to beat Somerville for the first time in ten  years at the beginning of February. This would be no easy task as Somerville was having a strong season and the Crusaders would by way of snow cancellations, face the Ville for their first opportunity to win 600 matches. Well go figure, the match didn’t go anyway the coaches thought it would and Bound Brook prevailed by a 36-32 score. Pins by freshmen Picado and Limenza were huge while frosh Jeison Arias sealed the victory with a decision over a Somerville senior.

           The Crusaders  in between and after had some nice wins against North Warren, Westfield and Madison but injuries shut the team success down for last two weeks of the season, but the team did manage to win their anemic conference and qualify for the sectional wrestling tournament.  One nice moment was in the final quad of the season where Andrew Camp broke the State record for wins. It was the second time in five years where a Crusader has held the State wins record… Wow!

All in all they finished the year with a 14-9 record, which although not great shows the team is going in the right direction.

         Upon the conclusion of the dual meet season, the most important part of the season started which was the pursuit of State Championships and individual glory. The Bound Brook wrestling coaches make no bones about it, everything they do is for wrestlers to become State Champions and State place winners. Team comes second in this program as the coaches want athletes who strive to be the best. The taxpayers pay good money for the schools to sponsor athletics and we owe them our best for their tax dollars.

         And as usual the Crusader wrestlers gave the town of Bound Brook plenty to be proud of in the off-season. Although some Crusaders underperformed at the Districts where the team placed fourth out of eleven teams, the seven Region qualifiers did one heck of a job. In fact, out of the 41 teams with wrestlers in Region 5, the Crusaders place 5th as a team! Of course they were led by Andrew Campolattano who became the State of New Jersey pins leader during the tournament, but freshman Jeison Arias electrified the crowd when he upset the first seed from Hillsborough to make finals. Add in Rob Murray’s  stoic run to the 3^rd place match where he avenged his only loss in the tournament to qualify for States. Score one for the skinny white chess geek!

         At the States Murray and Arias both struggled with the bright lights, but Campolattano shined on his way to his historic fourth title. After starting with a fall on Friday, Camp faced a wrestler whose only two losses were to the heavyweight State Champ by decision, no problem as Camp teched the kid. Then a major decision against a less then offensive wrestler from Delbarton and he returned to the final round. As the last match  of the day, he had plenty of time to think how things might not go his way, but no worries he went out in won his fourth title in style with a first period fall and his second State Outstanding Wrestler Award. Just Awesome.

        But the high school team wasn’t the only squad with success as the middle school also broke through at their State Championships this year. The Crusaders had two 3^rd place finishers in 8^th graders Aaron Saavedra and Josh Uglade, while Aaron’s seventh grade brother Abraham Saavedra took 4^th.  In the younger division 6^th grader Josue Sandoval finished a promising rookie season with a 4^th place finish, and 7^th grader rookie Virgilio Galdamez placed 6^th. As a team they finished with a 13-3 record.

          In the end the Crusader wrestling program took some nice steps this year and although were nowhere close to where we want to be, the coaches feel the wrestlers are falling in to place for a great future and more historic state wrestling performances.

2010-11 Schedule & Results

Indian River Tournament (6^th out of 25 Teams. Champ: Campolattano)

Bound Brook-57                     North Plainfield-24

Delaware Valley-54                Bound Brook-15

Bound Brook-35                     Manville-29

Hurricane Tournament (13^th out of 28 Teams Champ: Campolattano)

Bound Brook-50                     Pingry-18

Pocono Mtn. East-39              Bound Brook-30

Bound Brook-63                     Mahoning-15

Souderton-36                          Bound Brok-25

Bound Brook-44                     Whitehall-27

Somerset County Tournament (5^th Place Champs: Taffur and Campolattano)

Bound Brook-42                     Belvidere-24

Bound Brook-48                     Middlesex-21                         

Bound Brook-45                     Marlboro-29

Brick Memorial-39                  Bound Brook-32

Bound Brook-37                     Westfield-34

Bound Brook-34                     North Warren-33

Bound Brook-36                     Somerville-32

Bound Brook-44                     Madison-23

Montgomery-41                      Bound Brook-27

Bound Brook-50                     Ridge-14

Warren Hills-46                       Bound Brook-18

Bordentown-37                       Bound Brook-24

St. Peters Prep-54                   Crusaders-18

Cranford-43                            Bound Brook-28

Bound Brook-51                     Ramapo-21

District 18 (4^th Place Champs: Murray, Ash, Campolattano and Taffur)

Region 5 (Champ: Campolattano, Arias-2^nd, Murray-3^rd and Taffur-4^th)

State Championships (Campolattano-4x Time Champion)

2009-10 Accomplishments

Weight            Name                                    Grade            Season            CareerRecord

103:             RobMurray                                     9            29-11                        29-11

            -3^rdBattle at the Beach

            -2^ndSomerset County

            -3^rdDistrict 18

            -5^th/6^thRegion 5

112:             GeorgeWohar                         10            12-16                        30-35

119:             ZachVatalare                         9            19-15                        19-15

            -2^ndSomerset County

            -4^thDistrict 18

                  TylerAwtry                                     9            2-5                        2-5

                        MikeDeSantis                         10            2-8                        9-30

                        DannyTineo                                    9            0-0                        0-0

125:             GarySenesoupha                         12            7-16                        29-46

130:             DavideFitzpatrick                         9            3-19                        3-19

RandyKaiser                         9            0-10                        0-10

JohnHoey                                    9            0-0                        0-0

135:             RickyAsh                                     11            17-11                        37-22

            -3^rdDistrict 18

140: NoWrestler

145:Dominick Vatalare                         10            3-23                        4-32

152:Sebastian Mercado                         10            2-19                        2-19

                                                                                    Page-2-

160: KyleDoerr                                     12            21-6                          52-21

            -2^ndDistrict 18

            -5^th/6^thRegion 5

171: LuisMendez                                     9            1-8                        1-8

189:Andrew Campolattano             11            42-1                        131-1

            -Battleof the Beach Champion

            -2^ndHurricane Tournament

            -1^stSomerset County

            -1^stDistrict 18

            -1^stRegion 5

            -1^stState of New Jersey

215:Frank Gianotti                                     12            19-13                        25-31

            -3^rdSomerset County

            -2^ndDistrict 18

285:Kenneth Taffur                         11            25-12                        40-21

            -2^ndBattle at the Beach

            -2^ndSomerset County

            -2^ndDistrict 18

            -4^thRegion 5

Gabe Gleason-New York University

Graduated

  NWCA Academic All American

Gabe started at 149 as a freshman for the Violets, I mean Wildcats, and finished the season with a 10-15 record, but was named the Wrestler of the Week during the season by his Conference. After two years of recovering from a high school hip injury Gabe became Bound Brook's third NWCA Academic All American in wrestling in 2013.

Although slowed by a broken hip and seventeen other deformities his senior year at Bound Brook, he still qualified for the state wrestling tournament.