Brearley -Kittatiny

Like many of the state’s top wrestling programs, Brearley has shown that it will travel to all ends of the state in an effort to compete against the toughest competition possible. After having made Saturday excursions to southern New Jersey venues like Toms River and Buena Township, the Bears took their powerful team north to Sussex County to face Kittatinny and Toms River North and came away with two hard fought victories, Saturday January 31, raising their record to 18-2.

After cruising past Toms River North 46-20, Brearley had its hands full with the host team and things looked bleak when they trailed 33-28 with two matches left. Dillion Geoghegan squeaked though by the slimmest of margins, 3-2 and Umar Taramov won 14-5 at 160 to pull out the match.

Taramov’s brothers, Khasan and Khusen got the visitors off to a 9-0 lead with a decision and pin at 171 and 189 respectively. After watching Khasan struggle at 189, Coach Brian Luciani decided to switch the two brothers’ weight classes.

“Khusen is a much tougher and nastier wrestler who can deal with many different situations and wrestlers. Taking eighth in the state last year adds greater credibility about what he can do,” said Luciani.

Travis Dilts continued winning with a decision at 215. But three straight pins turned a 12-0 lead into an 18-12 deficit. The Bears trailed 21-12 until Dan Ries, moving up to 125 from his usual 119 stopped the bleeding with a 7-3 decision.

“We moved some of our lower weight wrestlers around to get Nick in at 119,” said Luciani.

Trailing 21-15, the Bears nearly incurred a devastating blow when Knapp was declared too injured to continue his 130 pound match. Joe Lospinoso got the points right back with a 39 second pin and Devin Geoghegan evened things up with a 3:13 pin at 140. But Brian Gilligan was pinned at 145 meaning Brearley would have to win the final two matches to emerge victorious. Dillion Geoghegan pulled out a tough 3-2 decision at 152 and Umar Taramov pulled the match out with a 14-5 victory at 160 giving the Bears a one point win.

One name missing from the match was county 125 pound champion Allen Phillips. “He got squeezed out of the line up due to who the other teams had in different spots, Allen is a classy wrestler and always does what is best for the team, He is one of our leaders and can always be counted on,” said Luciani.

The Bears had an easier time with Toms River North, winning 46-20. Umar and Khusen Taramov won by decision and Khasan won by forfeit at 171 giving them an early 12-0 lead. Dilts moved up to heavyweight and scored a 1:44 pin to extend the margin to 18-6. Madonia came back down to 103 and won 6-0. Nick Lospinoso won a 7-2 decision at 119 to extend the lead to 24-12. Ries and Knapp posted identical pins in 1:27 at 125 and 130 respectively, padding the lead to 36-12. Joe Lospinoso made it three straight pins and took only 42 seconds to clinch match. Dillion Geoghegan won 3-0 at 145 for the final points.

Earlier in the week Brearley won their local brawl with Cranford 44-20 Thursday afternoon January 29 at Kenilworth. The match was scheduled for the previous night, but was delayed because both schools were closed for snow.

With the match starting at 215, the Cougars had an early 16-3 lead. After county champion Travis Dilts cooled off red hot Julian Campo of Cranford 10-1 at 215, county champion Joe Brady pinned Viglione in 3:50 and rapidly improving freshman Ian Henry shocked Mike Disko with a 36 second pin at 103. With Joe Lospinoso missing the match, Luciani moved his lower weight wrestlers up one class and Joe Giaccio easily won a battle of county champions at 112 with a superior decision 11-1 over Madonia. But freshman Nick Lospinoso \,who has been having trouble making weight at 112, started the comeback with a hard fought 11-6 victory over Kyle Markovitch. Ries the newly crowned, county 119 pound champion pinned Carmine Pellino at 125 in 34 seconds. Phillips superior decisioned Brian Buontempo 12-2 at 130 and Knapp won by forfeit at 135. Cranford drew within 22-20 when Matt DiGiovanni stopped Jesse Bell 12-2 at 140.but the Bears took the remainder of the matches. The Geoghegan twins each won tough matches. Devin edged freshman J.P. Christiano 2-1 at 152 in a battle of a county champion against a runner up. Dillion won 7-1 at 145. Gilligan pinned George El-Khoury in 4:39 at 160 and Umar Taramov won a battle of seniors by defeating Connor Leahey 11-3 at 171. Khusen Taramov finished the match with a forfeit at 189.

“(Coach) Darren (Torsone) and his staff have done an excellent job with the team, They are young and getting better each match and will be a tough contender in the upcoming 2009-2010 season for the new Conference, County and the Section,” said Luciani.

Cranford took their other two matches, beating a vastly improved Linden team 49-27 on Friday night January 30 and finished their week and the month of January with a 57-15 home rout of Elizabeth on Saturday morning January 31. Against Linden Brady, Henry, Giaccio and Markovitch all won to give the Cougars a quick 21-0 lead. Buontempo, DiGiovanni, Christiano, Leahy and Campo all won their matches to finish off the victory.

Facing Elizabeth, the Cougars Markovitch and DiGiovanni sandwiched pins around forfeits by Pellino and Buontempo to give Cranford a quick 24-0 lead. Londregan, Christiano and Chris Keim followed with victories to clinch the decision. Leahey pinned at 171 and Campo and Brady also won their matches. Giaccio closed the match by running his record to 20-0 with a 1:42 pin.