Bound Brook Wrestling: Welcome

CRUSADERS WIN BLUE BRACKET AT 1000 ISLANDS DUALS

WRESTLERS TAKE 9TH OUT OF 40 TEAMS

     The Crusaders have traveled to scenic Clayton, New York to compete in the 1000 Islands Duals for the 6th consecutive year and finished day one with a 2-1 record. As usually the duals offer great competition and every wrestler was challenged after the two day competition ended and Bound Brook ended the competition with a 4-1 record.

      In the Blue bracket semi-finals the Crusaders defeated the Apex Black Wrestling Club by a 36-16 score. Bound Brook wrestlers scoring big in the match included Nestor Taffur who had a 12-0 victory and Kyle Doerr who toughed out a 7-5 overtime win. Andrew Campolattano won, but had to score three third period takedowns to win 6-5, after falling behind 2-0 in the first period.

       In the Finals the Crusaders defeated Newark Valley by a 37-28 score. Winners included Oleem O'Garro who had a nice 7-0 decision and Henry Shapiro had a tough 6-4 overtime comeback win. Gabe Gleason and Nestor Taffur also had nice wins to seal the Blue Bracket Championship for the Brook which was set up by a 2-1 performance by the Crusaders on the first day of the competition.

      On day one in the first match of the tournament the Crusaders beat Attica (the town, not the prison) by a 31-27 score. Key bonus point wins against Attica were delivered by Hank Shapiro and Kyle Doerr, while Andrew Campolattano dashed the other team's hopes with a quick pin.

      Next up in the pre-quarter finals was Club Chin Cup who the Crusaders defeated two weeks ago at the Air Dome Duals, but alas this time the New York Club was the better team. They beat the Brook by a 30-27 score and winners included a very impressive win by Nestor Taffur and a good close decision by Gabe Gleason. Also there was another romp by Shapiro and a lightning quick pin by Camp via cradle.

      The loss threw the Crusaders into the final losers bracket and on Saturday evening the Brook faced Wayne, New York and had another close 29-26 victory. Winners included Gary Sensasoupha who had a nice major decision, Taffur and Campolattano.

      Individual scores are available at http://www.njwrestle.com . Just click on the live results tab at the top right of the page.

      The wrestlers records so far are as follows:

103: George Wohar 0-3, Mike DeSantis 0-2, Rob Murray 0-2, 112: Sean Brand (Courtesy of Point Boro) 4-1, 119: Gary Sensasoupha 1-4, 125: Tom Scerbo (Courtesy of Hunterdon Central) 0-5, 130: Tyler Biscaha (Courtesy of Jackson) 5-0, 135: Henry Shapiro 4-1, 140: Kyle Doerr 4-1, 145: Cody Mooney (Courtesy of Raritan) 4-1, 152: Gabe Gleason 3-2, 160: Nestor Taffur 4-1, 171... No Wrestler, 189: Andrew Campolattano 5-0, 215: Oleem O'Garro 1-3, 285: Kenneth Taffur 0-4.

CAMPOLATTANO WINS FREESTYLE NATIONAL TITLE

TAFFUR AND GLEASON ELIMINATED ON DAY ONE

      Andrew Campolattano won his first freestyle National Title on Friday evening when he defeated Morgan Macintosh of California in two consecutive periods 1-0 and 1-0 at the Accelerade Cadet Freestyle Nationals.

      In the first period there was no scoring which meant the wrestlers would have to face a coin toss to see who got the advantage in the clinch. In freestyle the clinch advantage is basically having a single leg with your head on the outside. Macintosh won the toss but couldn't finish the shot on Andrew, nor could he push him out of bounds for a score; therefore, Andrew was awarded a point and the victory in the first period. 

      In the second period Andrew scored a quick takedown and the played defense the rest of the period. Macintosh got in on some good shots with little time left in the period, but Camp limp legged out of each shot to the amazement of the crowd. 

      Andrew became a double National Champ with the victory and avenged a second place finish from last Summer in freestyle. Congratulations Andrew, Bound Brook is so proud!

     Eventually his match will be archived at http://www.livesportsvideo.com for your viewing enjoyment. There are also interviews of Andrew on http://www.flowrestling.org and http://www.themat.com .       

      He earned his trip to the finals by winning both his pool matches on Friday morning. In his first match he defeated Mike McGrath of New York by a 6-1 and 6-0 score. He then pinned Scott Schiller of North Dakota in a minute 1:38 to earn a birth in the finals. 

       Unfortunately, Nestor Taffur and Gabe Gleason were not as tough in the Junior Freestyle Nationals, as both were eliminated on day one of the competition. Taffur lost his first match on Thursday night by decision to Jared Kusar of Ohio by a 7-4 and 5-0 score. Nestor finished the tournament with a 1-2 record at 152.

      Gabe Gleason won his first match on Friday night against Isiah Smith of Iowa by three period decision 3-6, 1-0 and 7-0; however he then fell to on of the favorites in the bracket Bobby Barnsisel of Illinois by tech fall 7-0 and 6-0. Gabe finished the tournament with a 2-2 record at 140.

       Okay, one match to go..... 

CAMP GETS THROWN TO BACK, BUT STILL FINISHES THE DAY ONE 5-0

DOERR ELIMINATED WITH TWO EARLY LOSSES

      Well Andrew Campolattano finished his first day of freestyle at the Accelerade Cadet Nationals with a perfect 5-0 record, but not before some excitement was thrown in his last match of the day. Camp was wrestling Austin Moorehead of California when he attempted his inside trip, but before you could say Hoochie Momma Camp's opponent back arched him and threw Camp to his back. However, Andrew is not one to give up and he fought off his back but still lost the first period by a 5-3 score. But the Cali wrestler's time in the sun was soon to end as Camp cradled up Moorehead in the second period to finish the match 42 seconds.... Whew! These Cali kids are really giving us the business!

      Andrew's other four matches went a little smoother as in the first round he defeated Pat Nusekabel of Ohio 7-1, 6-0 and then in the second round he pinned Drew Miller of Minnesota in :43 seconds. He then started the evening round with a pin of Cody Wesson of North Carolina :29 seconds into the second period and then defeated Tim Hartwig by tech fall 6-0 and 6-0.

     As if all this wasn't enough, Camp is featured on USA Wrestling's National website at: http://www.themat.com/index.php?page=shownarticle&ArticleID+19205 . Another video of Andrew after his greco championship is at The Mat's special Fargo section. Finally, you can see an archived video of Andrew's Championship Greco match at http://www.livesportsvideo.com . You need to register, but it's free and you can watch the freestyle finals for free Saturday night... hopefully Andrew will be in that video.

      Bound Brook's other Cadet, Kyle Doerr also started competition Today in freestyle, but unfortunately he was eliminated with a 0-2 record. In Kyle's first match he was teched by Max Poikonen of Ohio 6-0, 8-0 and then pinned by Ben Villaret of New York in :33 seconds.

      Gabe Gleason and Nestor Taffur start the Junior tournament Tomorrow as Gabe will compete at 140 and Nestor at 145.

      The wrestling continues.... 

CAMPOLATTANO DEFENDS GRECO ROMAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

DOERR, GLEASON & TAFFUR FALL ON THEIR FIRST DAY 

      Andrew Campolattano became the first New Jersey in forever to win two consecutive National Greco Roman Cadet titles on Monday night when he defeated Morgan Macintosh of California in the final round of the Accelerade Cadet Nationals. Andrew was challenged in the Finals as he won the first period 1-1 (first point scored), lost the second period 4-1 and won the final period 1-0. He now has a day of rest before attempting to win his first freestyle National Championship.

    On Saturday Andrew's title defense got off to a strong start  when he pinned Logan Barrett of Minnesota and Andy Dixon of Ohio in round one of the Greco Roman Nationals on Saturday afternoon.

       During the Saturday evening session he disposed of a North Dakota State Champ/Folkstyle National Champ Scott Schiller by one minute fall and David Severn of Michigan with another minute fall.

        On Sunday Camp defeated Austin Moorehead of California by a 6-0 and 5-4 victory. According to Camp, he fell asleep during the second period and he doesn't plan on doing that again. He then defeated the only other undefeated wrestler in his bracket Dustin Williams of Missouri to ensure his return to the finals on Monday night. An interview with Andrew can be seen at http://wrestling.flocasts.org/videos/coverage/view_video/234054-cadet-and-junior-nationals/70238-andrew-campolattano-cadet-189 .

       The Junior Greco Nationals also started Sunday and Gabe Gleason defeated a kid named Mo from Wisconsin in three periods, he then lost to defending All-American Zach Clemente of New York by two 6-0 scores. Despite the hugeness of the weightclass, Gabe lost to Clemente for the second consecutive year in Greco. There was no scoring on the feet, but Gabe was crushed in the clinch.... not his best position. In his final match Gabe lost by default to Ray Calvert of Oklahoma. He was winning the match and hit his head and while he thought he could continue, the trainer disagreed.... needless to say Gabe was not pleased with the trainer.

      Nestor Taffur had a quick fall against Chase Spaw of Missouri, but then was decisioned by Chris Canty of Ohio in two periods 6-0 and 3-1.  Canty took fifth in the Ohio States this past year. Nestor then rebounded with a quick fall :19 fall against Daniel  Nelson of Washington, but then lost a three period decision to Jon Urango of California by a 0-6, 9-5 and 0-9 score. He was banged up in the match, so hopefully he will be alright for freestyle which starts on Thrusday.

      Kyle Doerr was eliminated on Saturday after going 2-2. In his first two matches as the Cadet Greco Roman Nationals began at the Fargodome. Doerr had tech fall against Stephen McPherson of Ohio by a 7-0 and 6-1 score. He then defeated pinned Austin Pea of Washington at 1:50 of the second period. He was then eliminated in round 2 by suffering two straight losses to John Sims of Indiana by a 6-3 and 3-1 period losses. He was then eliminated by  Dustin Woosley of Oregon by a Tech Fall two straight periods 6-0 and 7-0.

       The wrestling continues....

CRUSADERS TAKE 5^TH OUT OF 27 TEAMS AT AIR DOME DUALS 

      A group of Bound Brook wrestlers, with some guest wrestlers from other schools traveled to the Air Dome Duals in Muncy, Pennsylvania this past weekend and finished with a 6-1 record and fifth place finish under their new head coach Kyle Franey. 

       On the first day the Crusaders finished undefeated with their first win coming over Team Mat Room by a 54-31 score; then the Crusaders defeated Team Ram Rod in a tight match 38-34. In the final match on Friday Bound Brook defeated Upper Duaphin 77-7. 

       On day two the competition got tougher, but the Crusaders did well with their late charging approach. In the first match, the Crusaders fell behind Pen Argyl 31-9, but came back to win by a 38-34 score. However, the Crusader’s late charging approach failed against Queen of Peace as they prevailed 38-34. Next up was New York’s Club Chin Cup who the Crusaders bested by a 48-28 score. Finally, in the fifth place match the Crusaders beat a tough but undermanned PA Legends team 45-36.  

       Undefeated wrestlers from Bound Brook included Nestor Taffur and Andrew Campolattano, while Gabe Gleason finished 6-1. Taffur defeated a New Jersey State place-winner in on of his matches. 

       The successful trip then finished with a trip to an old fashioned amusement park Knoebels, which was somewhat less successful. However, our first trip with our new head coach allowed everyone some quality time with each other and everyone had a good time in the end. 

The final Crusader records were as follows: 

90 Rob Murray 1-6 95 Mike DeSantis 2-4 100 Nick Onnembo (Courtesy of Point Boro) 2-4 105 Paulie Kirchner (Courtesy of Somerville) 4-2 115 Sean Brand (Courtesy of Point Boro) 6-1 121 Gary Sensasoupha 1-6 128 No Wrestler 135 Henry Shapiro 4-3 140 Cody Mooney (Courtesy of Raritan) 3-3 145 Charlie Croce (Courtesy of Middletown South) 6-1 150 Gabe Gleason 6-1 157 Nestor Taffur 7-0 165 Dan Soffer (Courtesy of Somerville) 7-0 174 Dan Seidenburg (Courtesy of Raritan) 7-0 189 Andrew Campolattano 7-0 215 Oleem O’Garro 3-2 275 Kenny Taffur 2-4            

        The Crusaders next duals are the 1000 Islands Duals on the first weekend in August and although it’s nice to coach a team of all-stars, we’d rather see some of our young and experienced Crusaders take the time to work on their wrestling. But life is full of choices and Bob Barker can’t tell you what the price is, he can only tell you if the price is right. 

FOUR CRUSADERS HEADED TO LARGEST TOURNAMENT ON EARTH            

       Four Bound Brook wrestlers have been accepted to compete for Team New Jersey in the largest wrestling tournament in the world the third week of July, as Kyle Doerr, Andrew Campolattano, Gabe Gleason and Nestor Taffur will wrestle in the Aasics Cadet/Junior Nationals at the Fargo Dome in North Dakota.            

       As one may remember, this tournament features 25 mats in a indoor football stadium and two types of wrestling styles in two age groups. Doerr and Campolattano are Cadets which are basically  eighth graders, freshman and sophomores in high school, while Gleason and Taffur are Juniors who are basically juniors, seniors and graduating seniors. The styles are the Olympic styles of wrestling which are Greco-Roman and Freestyle wrestling.            

        Andrew Campolattano will be defending his Greco-Roman crown in the Cadet Division, while he will try to move up one placement from last year in Freestyle and become a double Champion and All-American. Gleason and Taffur both finished in the top fifteen last year, but are stepping up into the more experienced division, so they will have to wrestle hard to match last year’s strong performances. This is Kyle Doerr’s first trip to Fargo.            

       The dates of the tournament are July 20^th to 26^th and the results can be followed on http://www.trackwrestling.com . 

CRUSADERS EXPECT TO NAME NEW HEAD COACH            

           After a one year search the Bound Brook wrestling team is expected to have Kyle Franey named as their new head coach for the upcoming 2008-09 school year.  After Koup’s unexpected retirement last August the Crusaders were left looking for a coach, when no suitable replacements surfaced, Coach Lukacs Thankfully accepted the position for the year.            

          However, Steve will now rejoin the staff as the assistant and Coach Franey will be the head. For those of you who do not know Kyle, he is a graduate of Bridgewater Raritan High School and the The Citadel. For the past few years he has been the Coach of Point Pleasant Boro and led them to record of 24-3 last season and the South Jersey Group II Section title in 2007.            

          Needless to say we are very excited to have Kyle in our midst and look forward to a successful first year with our new coach.