With 12 returning starters and three of its four individual district champions returning to the Cranford mat, expectations were high for the Cougars entering the season. So far, this talented group is living up to expectations.
Cranford improved to 4-0 after defeating Linden 43-30 Friday night in front of a group of dedicated and excited fans, who have watched their team roll past Bridgewater-Raritan, Columbia and Bishop Ahr in the past week.
"It's nice to get off to a 4-0 start, but we know we have a lot of tough teams coming up," said head coach Darren Torsone. "We know we have to continue working and getting batter."
Find out what's happening in Cranfordfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The match started at the heavyweight event, where senior captain Joe Brady won 4-2 over Austin Frank. The two met twice last year, both decided in sudden death overtime, the last one in the district championship. Both of those wins for Brady were by one point.
"The captains, Joe Brady and Julian Campo have been wrestling tough," said Torsone. "And the younger kids on the team are really looking to them to go out and wrestle tough and they've been doing that up to this point."
Find out what's happening in Cranfordfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Cranford had to forfeit at 103, but at 1:12, sophomore Ian Henry pinned his opponent at 3:09. Joe Giaccio, who won his first 28 matches last year, won by forfeit at 119 before Linden battled back at 125 when Anthony Betancourt edged Brian Buontempo 11-13.
"We lost a close one at 125," said Torsone. "Brian was feeling under the weather, he fought tough the whole match. But he ended up losing by two points. And then right after that it could have gone south for us, but we bounced back."
The Cougars turned up the excitement a notch with back-to-back pins when senior Carmine Pellino made his comeback at 130, when losing 4-3, he escaped to tie it at four and then worked a takedown to get the pin at 3:23.
That was followed by junior Matt DiGiovanni at 135 pounds, taking care of business in a time of 1:26. DiGiovanni was second in the districts last season and worked hard in the off-season to come back from injuries. Torsone expected big things from him, and so far he's delivered.
Pellino, who was third in the districts last season, continues to impress with his solid performances. He was third in the districts at 125 last year, but has had no problem moving up a class.
After losing at 140 to Linden's Carl Holly, senior Connor Londregan turned it back in the Cougars favor at 145 pounds when he pinned Pat Ramirez at the 4:41 mark.
At 152, sophomore J.P. Christiano, who was second in the county at 150 last year, followed with a pin at 1:35, and it looked like an easy road, but the Tigers took three straight weight classes to make the contest interesting.
That's when senior captain Julian Campo closed the door in the final match at 215, although he also had to come back from a 2-0 deficit against Adas Anikus. He escaped, used a cradle and then pinned his opponent in 3:05 to seal the Cougars fourth straight victory. Campo won a district crown back in 2008.
Cranford will head to the Bloomfield Tournament on Wednesday, a big early-season test for Torsone's squad.
"The Bloomfield Tournament is one of the toughest competitions we have all season," said Torsone. "It has some of the better North Jersey teams in it. There's a lot of tradition that goes into that tournament, it's the same teams every year, tough competition, we like going, and we look to have a good day."
Start time for the Bloomfield Tournament is set for 10 a.m.
