Brearley - Buena

Brearley Wrestling Coach Brian Luciani has always tried to find the best competition for his team, no matter how far away that might take them. On Saturday the Bears traveled to Buena Township in Atlantic County, hoping to take on Buena Regional, Washington Township from Sewell Township in Gloucester County and highly rated Walkill Valley from Hamburg in Sussex County. While the snow conditions in the northwest part of New Jersey kept Walkill Valley from making the trip, Brearley was able to defeat both the hosts and Washington, raising their record to 8-2.
Like other New Jerseyans, Luciani heard the ominous weather forecast but correctly deduced that the conditions would not be treacherous going south.
“If you want to wrestle sometimes you got to drive. We were fortunate the weather was just cold going down and back and the only snow was in Kenilworth,” said Luciani.
Brearley used its superior depth to beat the hosts 55-15 and hand Washington its first loss, 41-21. The Bears competed without two of their top wrestlers, Kenny Knapp and Khusen Taramov.
“Kenny was ill all week and Khusen needed some rest so everything worked out ok,” said Luciani.
Against Washington, Brearley was trailing 18-9, when Co-captain Joe Lospinoso started the comeback with a pin at 135 in 1:31. Devin Geoghegan put the Bears ahead for good with a 2:15 pin at 140 and his twin brother Dillion extended the lead with a 5-0 decision at 145. Brian Gilligan continued the avalanche with a 34 second pin at 152 and Umar Taramov kept the streak intact with a 13-4 win at 160. Olsi Musaij, filling in for Khusen Taramov clinched the match with a 2:20 pin at 171. Brearley also got victories from Travis Dilts at 215, Anthony Madonia at 103 and Dan Ries at 115.
“It was a long day but very successful. It would have been better if Walkill had come,” added Luciani.
. Cranford’s big match with Governor Livingston came down to the final bout. Trailing 36-33, the Cougars needed a victory from Julian Campo at 215 to gain a tie but he did even better scoring a pin with only eight seconds left in his match, to give the Cougars an exhilarating 39-36 win, raising their record to 6-1 and handing the Highlanders their first defeat. The match was a see saw affair, with heavyweight Joe Brady, suffering his first loss to start the Cougars in a 3-0 hole. Trailing 9-0, Joe Giaccio got the Cougars back in the match with a lighting fast 38 second pin at 105. After Kyle Markovitch suffered a surprising loss at 119 and another loss at 125, the Cougars were down 21-6. Brian Buontempo started the comeback with a 50 second pin at 130 and Matt DiGiovanni closed further with 1:33 pin at 140. Connor Londregan won 8-4 at 145 and JP Christiano had 3:33 pin at 152. Captain Connor Leahy kept the match close with a 3:12 pin at 171.
“We have wrestled well as a team this year. We had one bad match but we bounced back well. The team is also excited with the young talent coming up, and that we have young wrestlers that we help build up the team,” said Leahy, who has taken well to his responsibilities as captain.
“I try to set the pace in practice, and encourage kids that are having trouble and starting off the matches strong,” added Leahy.