Brearley - Union County

There was little suspense about which high school team was going to win the Union County wrestling championships, held Saturday January 24 at Union High School. The only question was how dominant, heavily favored Brearley would be in capturing its fourth straight title. The answer was nine individual championships, compared to five for the other 12 teams combined which even left the hard to please Brearley coach Brian Luciani beaming.

“There were a lot of highlights throughout the day. Everybody who wrestled Saturday did a nice job, whether or not they finished first,” said Luciani, who felt that the Bears’ demanding schedule helped their performance.

“Our schedule may beat up our record and bruise some egos but the end result is to put the kids in a position to gain confidence and be able to meet the challenge and work to improve. Perhaps where some wrestlers cannot draw from that experience or position we can,” said Luciani.

In addition to sweeping all nine finals, the Bears also took two of three third place consolation bouts to finish with 270 points, well ahead of Roselle Park, which has now finished second five straight years.

Senior Kenny Knapp was named outstanding wrestler and became the seventh grappler in county history to win four titles, joining 2008 Brearley star Jesse Boyden in the record books. Knapp won an 8-1 decision over John Barnes of Westfield in the 130 finals to add to his titles won at 119 last year and 103 as a freshman and sophomore.

Fellow co-captain and senior Joe Lospinoso edged Anthony Casselli of Roselle Park 3-1 to defend his 135 title and win the third crown of his high school career. Lospinoso also won at 119 as a freshman. Senior Umar Taramov also defended his title at 160 by pinning Dawud Hicks of Plainfield in 4:58. His junior brother Khusen followed with a 14-6 victory over Alex Aravena of Roselle Park at 171.

The Bears’ two top seeded sophomores, Anthony Madonia and Danny Ries sailed to victories at 103 and 119 respectively. Madonia pinned Anthony DeFranco of Governor Livingston in1:58 and Ries stopped 2008 103 pound champion Mike Stepien of Governor Livingston 5-1.

“Madonia is having a great season, Ries just continues to wrestle like a machine and if he continues will make some noise at the end of the season,” said Luciani.

In addition to their six top seeded wrestlers, the Bears got titles from three of their lower seeded athletes. The most exciting final also resulted in the biggest upset when Brearley sophomore Devin Geoghegan toppled top seed Russell Benner of Roselle Park 6-5 in a three overtime marathon. Second seed Allen Phillips also captured the 125 pound title with a 5-4 squeaker over Christian Alvarez of Union and junior Travis Dilts toppled top seeded Gary Pyrus of Rahway 7-4 to win the 215 pound title. Phillips defeated Joe Hoy of Governor Livingston in the semi finals avenging a defeat from a year ago.

“Phillips was great, Travis was incredible but Devin Geoghegan's win over Benner was tremendous,” said Luciani, who was most surprised with Geoghegan’s upset win.

“We reminded him to stay focused and just pressing the attack, I told him to not just stop and relax and continue moving. We also reminded him about his shot distance and poor angles from his feet. He made some good corrections and took Benner's aggressiveness away. It was very exciting regardless of the outcome,” added Luciani, who also lauded Brian Gilligan’s third place finish.

“Brian worked hard to wrestle back to third, gave (Mike) Ferrara of Scotch Plains all that he could handle in the semi's,” said Luciani.

The Bears competed without 112 pound freshman star Nick Lospinoso, who failed to make the weight and heavyweight Jeff Viglone.

Cranford got victories from sophomore Joe Giaccio at 112 and junior heavyweight Joe Brady and finished sixth. Giaccio, the top seed, made amends for a disappointing loss in the finals as a freshman last year after he was also the top seed.
This time, Giaccio broke on top quickly and controlled the match in defeating Dan Pisauro of Roselle Park 5-1. Giaccio won his semi final 8-0 over Troy Skibitsky of Westfield.

“Last year I was upset in the county final, so I was very glad to win it this year. I wrestled Pisauro twice before the final, I knew I was going to have to wrestle hard and get the first takedown and continue wrestling as if I was down, said Giaccio who to 17-0 with the win.

Brady continued his fine season with an 8-2 win over top seeded Matt Tansey of Governor Livingston, avenging an earlier season defeat. Freshman J.P. Christiano had a break through tournament at 145 before being pinned in the finals by Mike Ridge of Scotch Plains-Fanwood. Christiano pinned Dillon Geoghegan of Brearley to reach the finals. Co captain Connor Leahy at 171, junior Julian Campo at 215 and freshman Ian Henry at 105 also finished fourth.