Wrestling Team Places Third in Tournament

The Cranford High School wrestling team, unbeaten at 4-0 in dual meets, placed third at the Bloomfield Tournament Wednesday night. The Cougars tied for third with Caldwell with 144 points behind runner-up Passaic Valley and champion Bloomfield.

Senior co-captains Joe Brady (285) and Julian Campo (215) won titles for the Cougars, while Joe Giaccio (119), Brian Buontempo (125) and Matt DiGiovanni (135) were second.

Click here to watch video highlights of the tournament (courtesy of PJ Keim).

"I was happy with our finish,'' said Cranford coach Darren Torsone. "I thought some of the kids could have wrestled a little better, the kids who did wrestle tough won and the kids who didn't wrestle as good as they wanted – well, it was a wake-up call for them."

"The good part about this tournament is a lot of things looked good, but there were also things we need to work on," he continued. "But it's an opening.''

The unbeaten Brady pinned Thomas Trommolen of Clifton in 2:34, then won the title with a 7-4 win over Caldwell's Dan Pierce.

"Joe is like  a man on a mission right now, he doesn't even know who he's wrestling or what school they're from,'' Torsone said. "He just wants to out and wrestle.''

Torsone said he suggested to Campo that he be a bit more aggressive after the Linden dual meet. The co-captain followed his instructions. He won his two bouts by first period falls, pinning Verona's Joe Festa in 1:34 for the championship.

"Julian went right after it today,'' Torsone said. "He went after his pinning combinations and looked impressive.''

Giaccio won the Bloomfield Tournament last year by beating Bloomfield's Chris Lantz. But Lantz beat Giaccio 5-3 for the title this year after Giaccio opened with first-period pins against Peter Tantillo (Passaic Valley) andx Nick Rogers (Caldwell).

Torsone said Giaccio and Lantz knew each other from wrestling together at a club. Lantz qualified for the state tournament last year.

"[Lantz] was playing a lot of defense on Joe,'' Torsone said. "[He] seemed like he had a good game plan.''

Buontempo pinned Verona's Mike Randall in his first bout, then scored a 13-3 major decision win over Edgar Guido of Clifton in the semifinals, but lost to Nutley's Mike Ferinde by fall in the final and finished second.

DiGiovanni pinned Nik Armagno of Passaic Valley in 5:29 in the quarterfinals before nipping Nutley's Dante Montes 5-4 in the semifinals. He lost to Bloomfield's Connor Chauncey 14-4 in the final.

The Cougars now prepare for a busy week. They play host to Woodbridge Tuesday, then wrestle against defending Union County Tournament champion Brearley Wednesday night.