Roselle Park Wrestlers Edge Cranford

The Final Count

Although Cranford wrestlers lost to the Roselle Park Panthers 42-35, the gymnasium was packed by well-wishers honoring the legendary Cranford coach, Herb Farrell, who passed away last year.

It was a fitting matchup for the occasion. Long before he took the reigns as Cranford's coach, Farrell was an outstanding wrestler for Roselle Park High School, participating in four state finals and winning two. 

The Quote

"We thought that we had the right matchups to win tonight but we just came up short in a couple of the tight matches," Coach Darren Torsone said. "While we did come up short our boys wrestled their hearts out and almost took this one."

The Recap

In one bout sophmore Jim Dwyer was just edged out by Jon Acosta of Roselle Park. Acosta had a 3-0 lead but Dwyer hit a standing gramby roll and put Acosta on his back.

With the score tied late in the match Acosta was able to take Dwyer down for the deciding points, both wrestlers receiving huge ovations. In a later match Ray El Khoury was bumped up to heavyweight where he pinned Mike Signarella in the first period.

"I knew Roselle Park had already clinched the match but I wanted to win my bout to end things on a good note," El Khoury said. 

In addition to El Khoury's pin Joe Giaccio, Corey Markovitch, Matt DiGiovanni and JP Christiano also pinned for Cranford while Ian Henry won by technical fall 18-3.