Family Ties: Cruz Cousins Power Hopatcong Wrestling

Hopatcong teammates and cousins, Giancarlo and Joe Cruz, grew up around the block from each other and have been wrestling together on the same teams since agee 5. On Saturday, they’ll have another event to compete in at the same time—the District II semifinals at .

Giancarlo Cruz, a 112-pound senior, earned a 11-1 win in the quarterfinals over rival Lenape Valley’s Dominic LaBell. Cruz was in control throughout the match, and scored numerous takedowns en route to a major decision.

“He’s just tenacious,” Hopatcong head wrestling coach Eric Fajerman said. “He’s going to shoot at you and come at you until the final buzzer. He’s not going to stand there and wait. Even when he’s winning he keeps coming.”

His cousin, Joe, a junior, advanced to the second day of the tournament after being granted a bye as the second-seeded wrestler at 103 pounds.

“I wish Giancarlo would wrestle in his matches the way he wrestles his cousin,” Fajerman said. “He beats him up in there sometimes. But they work hard together. They drill together, go live together. And they’re both hard workers. You can’t complain about them too much in the wrestling room.”

Not surprisingly, Giancarlo and Joe mixed it up every once and a while in the backyard, off of the mat without headgear.

“We’ll start fooling around and then wrestling,” Joe Cruz said. “It never got too carried away. We know our limits and we have our maturity.”

The two have used the familial bond to their advantages, working with each other in practice throughout years of wrestling.

“We’ve been wrestling together since we were young,” Joe Cruz said. “Wherever he went, I went. Wherever I went, he went. It’s going to be different next year when he goes off to college. But he drives me and I drive him. We just work off each other.”

“I’ve always had a partner to work with,” Giancarlo Cruz said. “We push each other. We know how to push each other and how hard to do it. We make each other better.”

So, who’s the better wrestler?

“Oh, definitely me.” Giancarlo immediately said.

“I don’t know,” Joe responded. “I guess I would have to give it to him.”

If he makes it to the finals, Joe Cruz awaits the top 103-pounder in the state: Morris Knoll’s Jan Rosenberg. Rosenberg is undefeated this season.

Cruz beat Rosenberg once last season in three matches, including a loss in the regions by just a point.

“I haven’t seen him yet this year,” Joe Cruz said. “But if I do, I’m coming out hard. I’m coming out strong. I’m looking forward to a good match … It’s been a big part of (my motivation). It was my goal last year and I didn’t get it. This year I’m looking forward to placing in the states, not just going down there.”

Senior Miguel Burgos advanced to the semifinals in convincing fashion with a pin at 1:15 over Dover’s Angel Tapia.

“I did pretty well,” Burgos said. “I worked the kid out a little bit. I was looking to get some confidence, because I haven’t wrestled in two weeks because of my arm. It felt pretty good wrestling again.”

Three weeks ago, Burgos hyper-extended his right arm and did some damage to his bicep ligament. It was his first match in two weeks since the injury, but Burgos looked sharp. Tapia shot at Burgos legs early in the match, but Burgos stuffed the attempt, and used the downward momentum to score two points. Less than a minute later, Burgos pinned Tapia.

Senior Dan Haines will advance to the second day of districts after he was granted a bye as the top seed at 125.

“Absolutely, we had expectations (coming into today),” Fajerman said. “For the Cruz’s, Haines, and Burgos we’re looking for the state tournament. AJ Bongiovani should get to regional’s and then we’ll see what he can do. He hasn’t been there before, but if he wrestles well he could surprise some people.”

Bongiovani, a 140-pounder, earned a tough 3-1 in over Dover’s Nathan Peterson. Bongiovani scored a take down with 28 seconds left in the second period which carried him to a win.

“I’m happy if we can get more than one person down to states,” Cruz said. “Danny (Haines) has been down there by himself for three years now. I want to try to make it down there this year, hopefully. But it just shows that even if we don’t have the numbers to win a bunch of matches, we still have the talent.”

The District 2 semifinals start at 11 a.m. at Hopatcong High School. The finals will start at 5 p.m.