Murray and Burkert brothers complete high school wrestling careers

The high school careers of three of the greatest wrestlers ever produced by the Cranford youth programs came to an end this past weekend in the state finals in Atlantic City and while none of the trio accomplished their ultimate goal of finishing first, the final mat stories of Gavin Murray of Cranford and Ryan Burkert and Connor Burkert of St. Peter’s (Jersey City) Prep are far from being written. The stark contrast between the ending of their 2015 and 2014 seasons pinpoint the ebb and flow of emotions and the miniscule differences between success and disappointments in the highly competitive environment of top flight high school wrestlers. Murray, who finished fifth at 152 was joined on the podium by Cranford’s next great wrestler, junior Niko Cappello, who completed a 35-5 season by finishing seventh at 182. It was the first time since 1998 (Nik Fekete, Pat Ekstrom) that Cranford had placed two wrestlers in the top eight. The finals were contested from Friday night March 6 through Sunday March 8.

A year ago when all three were region champions, Murray defeated Connor Burkert 9-5 in the “Battle of Cranford” semifinals in the 138 pound weight class and narrowly lost in the finals to Ronnie Gentile of Paulsboro 7-6. Before his win over Connor Burkert, Murray had nearly been eliminated in the quarterfinals earlier in the day, facing a three-point deficit with less than a minute remaining in the third period when he reversed Paramus' Joe Travato and pinned him at the 5:03 mark to advance. This year it was Connor Burkert, who escaped twice from the verge of elimination. The first came Friday night in the pre-quarterfinals when Burkert rallied, flipped and pinned second seed Mark McCormick of Camden Catholic in the second overtime period. Burkert then added his second overtime victory in as many days with a 6-5 quarterfinals decision over Bergen Catholic's Laurien Anghelina in a tiebreaker. Burkert left no doubt about his semifinal match winning by major decision over Alex Sebahie of Paramus 17-5. Burkert was pleased to have enacted revenge on McCormick and Anghelina, who had each beaten him earlier in the year,

“Both had been very tough competitors. I know going into these matches I would have to wrestle the whole match without making any errors to cause me to get out of the match.  I have had a lot of help from my private coach Damion Logan from APEX and my school coaches to win these matches. I had to push the pace and just have fun. The key to winning these matches is just to treat them like another match and never give up. I came out on top for both these matches and I owe a lot of credit to my brother Ryan and my mom and dad for believing in me when only of few people did,” said Burkert, who came to Atlantic City without the cachet normally allotted to a fourth place state finisher, but Burkert was upset in his region 4 semifinal and had to wrestle back to gain the third slot.

            Burkert, who also finished seventh as a sophomore knew that short memories are a must in achieving success and he was able to quickly put the previous weekend behind him.

“The past is the past and leave it were it’s supposed to be. A loss does not define the person or wrestler you can be. You have to go to a dark place to achieve greatness and that's exactly where I was. I have had only had one region title and four district titles prior to this tournament but in the end it doesn't matter where you start, it’s how you finish the battles,” added Burkert, who lost in the finals to Kyle Bierdumpfel of Don Bosco Prep 8-2.

Burkert had an emotional Saturday, watching his twin brother Ryan, a state finalist in 2014 at 145, and a top contender and region champion at the same weight, lose 5-2 in the quarterfinals to Stephan Glasgow of Bound Brook. Less than an hour later, Ryan Burkert had his season ended by getting pinned  by Thomas Poklikuha  of Pinelands in 1:45 in a wrestle back.  Although he had an all winning Saturday, Connor was distraught over seeing his twin brother have his dreams dashed in such rapid fire manner.

“It is extremely hard to lose a quarterfinal match and have to come back and beat a really good wrestler to keep your season going. Ryan had every reason to believe he was going to be back in the finals with a good chance to win his weight class and he was not as focused in the wrestle back as he needed to be,” said Connor Burkert.

            Ryan Burkert, who lost to two time state champion David McFadden of DePaul in last year’s 145 pound final 4-3 had a tremendous senior season and was top ranked at 145 after beating previous number one Travis Vasquez of Delbarton in a state tournament team match. The twins finish their high school careers as two of the most accomplished wrestlers in the storied history of St Peter’s Prep. Earlier in the season, while competing in a tournament in Minnesota, they both reached the career 100-win milestone on the very same day. Ryan finished this season at 35-5 with 128 career victories and Connor was 35-8 with 125 wins against a difficult national schedule. The two will be teammates for the next four years at Hofstra University on Hempstead, NY.

Like Ryan Burkert, Murray had his state title dreams ended by another member of the Glasgow family of Bound Brook when Stephan’s older brother Sean edged Murray 8-6 in the 152 pound semifinal.  Glasgow struck quickly with a first period takedown and was able to fend off numerous challenges by Murray.  After being defeated 6-4 in the region 3 finals by eventual state champion Joe Tavoso of Delbarton, Murray defeated Andrew Meyers of Toms River East 3-0, Shane Sosinsky of Northern. Highlands 4-2 and Brandon Kui of DePaul 3-0 to reach the semifinals. Murray lost his first wrestle back to third place finisher Matt Wilhelm of Southern Regional 10-6 but took his fifth place match 2-1 against
Jake Maxwell of Buena 2-1 to finish his senior season 38-4.

 Murray graduates as one of the all-time greats setting the school record for wins 144, pins 77, wins in a season 40, consecutive wins 40, most pins as a freshmen 19 and won 12 of 17 tournament finals. He was clearly the team leader for Coach Pat Gorman’s talented young team that should be a force to be reckoned with over the next few seasons. Murray’s challenges only increase next season as he begins a college career at Purdue University in East Lafayette, IN. The Big Ten is clearly recognized as the nation’s top wrestling conference with five of the top ten teams in the country and an up and coming Rutgers team.

Not to be overshadowed was Cappello, who was Cranford’s busiest wrestler over the weekend finishing an impressive 4-2 and gaining the top eight podium with three straight wrestle back victories. Cappello began Friday night with an extremely difficult first round match against undefeated Chris Morgan of West Orange who won 7-4.

“I think he was getting better as his tournament went on, he was closing the gaps on his shots and creating better angles. He stayed busy and worked his way back into the mix,” said Gorman.

Faced with elimination, Cappello came back strong by defeating Rohan Phillip of Plainfield for the fourth time by a 5-1 score. Cappello had to go overtime to defeat Region 5 champion Eti-ini Udott of Piscataway 3-1.

“Niko's tough in overtime. He was in on a few shots but the finishes were not easy, the opponent had
good defense, in the end it was Niko’s persistence and gas tank that got him that win,” noted Gorman.

Cappello’s biggest victory came in the fourth round of wrestle backs when decisioned Region 7 champion Jason Martinak of  Haddon Twp. 5-3 to clinch a state placing.

“Certainly a meaningful one since that clinched the podium I am proud of his season
and where he ended up, He and I both know there’s more to accomplish more
points to score come next year,” added Gorman.

Cappello was finally defeated by third place finisher Nick DePalma of DePaul 7-0. Cappello won his 7th Place Match by forfeit over Joe Salvato of Toms River South.

Wrestling in his second state championship sophomore Tom DiGiovanni (Cranford) 31-9 won by major decision over Devin Garrido of North Bergen 11-0, before falling to three time state champion Nick Suriano of Bergen Catholic. It was the second straight week that DiGiovanni had faced a defending state champion, losing to Ty Agaisse of Delbarton in the regions. DiGiovanni finished his season at 31-9 with a wrestle back loss to Dylan Luciano of West Morris Central.

In his first state championship sophomore Chris Scorese lost an overtime match 7-5 to Avery Shay of Don Bosco. Scorese bounced back to defeat Region 8 champion Pedro Hernandez (Rancocas Valley) 8-2 before losing to Kareem Askew (Clifton. Scorese finished his impressive season 34-6.

“I think we all learned that Chris is a contender and a killer on the mat. He is quiet and overlooked by many but he is a winner and this year he was certainly a pinning machine for us,” said Gorman, who can now look back on a stepping stone season.

“I am excited where Cranford has gotten to and where we are headed, in the past as a team we strived to win a county title a district title, a conference title. Now we are expected to win these and the boys know it. Our focus has shifted to bigger things, section title, and group title, breaking into the top 20 and placing multiple wrestlers at the state level. We are right there and we are still a young team with a lot of good
wrestlers coming through the program that will be making an impact at the high school level in years to come. Each year we have done a little bit better than the year before, next year will be no different, never look back and always stay hungry. “

Four Cranford wrestlers heading to state finals in Atlantic City

                Nothing came easily for the Cranford Wrestling team at the Region 3 tournament held at Union High School the final two days of February but when the dust had settled the Cougars had four qualifiers who will continue their seasons into March at the state finals in Atlantic City March 6-7.  Of the four Cougars who advanced, senior Gavin Murray second at 152, sophomore Tom DiGiovanni third at 120 and junior Niko Cappello first at 182 qualified last year while sophomore Chris Scorese, second at 126 is making his first trip. After dominating their District 11 tournament last week, Cranford faced the added competition of district nine powers Delbarton, Hanover Park and Parsippany as well as South Plainfield which knocked them out of the state team tournament. 

                Cranford began the week with ten qualifiers, including six who had byes into Friday night’s quarterfinals but by the time Saturday morning dawned, they were down to four semi finalists. DiGiovanni had his hands full with defending state champion Ty Agaisse of Delbarton who scored a second round pin. Murray, Cappello and Scorese rolled through their matches while sophomore Anthony Capece (106), sophomore Vince Concina (132), junior David Bush (138) and sophomore Brian McGovern (145) all kept their hopes alive by winning first round wrestle backs. All four would lose their next match while DiGiovanni won two rounds of wrestle backs to qualify for a winner take all third place match against Phillip Angelo of Summit. DiGiovanni also qualified third as a freshman last year after also losing in the semi finals and winning two wrestle backs. For the second straight year, he defeated Angelo of Summit by one point to book his trip. DiGiovanni is now 6-0 over the past two seasons in the regions when facing a possible season ending loss. While he won 1-0 last year, DiGiovanni had a 3-1 lead in the third period when he was penalized a point for stalling but held on to win 3-2.

When Cappello took the mat for his 182 pound final against Rohan Phillip of Plainfield, the Cougars had already lost two final matches and while Cappello had guaranteed a spot in the state tournament, he to feel confident having previously defeated Phillip twice this season including a 9-3 victory in the Union County Finals in January. But Cappello faced immediate adversity as Phillip reversed him for a 2-0 lead in the first period. A second reversal in the second period left the score 4-2 heading into the third, with Cappello’s only scoring coming from two escapes. In danger of losing Cappello was able to execute a Merkle to nearly pin his opponent, gaining a 5-4 lead on the near fall. Cappello was unable to hold the lead as his quick opponent was able to escape tying the match. Cappello came very close to ending the match in regulation with a takedown, but the match went into overtime where Cappello took his opponent down for a 7-5 win and a huge of expression of joy and relief for Cappello and Coach Pat Gorman.

“We really needed that win after the type of day it had been,” said Gorman.

“He wrestled much better than he had in previous matches. As long as I had time left, I thought I would win,” said Cappello, who will next wrestle in Friday night’s pre-quarterfinal round against undefeated Region 4 champion Chris Morgan of West Orange.

                Although not ranked in the state’s top eight at 182, Cappello is not swayed.

“Rankings are just numbers next to people’s names. I just give it my best for six minutes no matter who the opponent is,” said Cappello.

                Murray ranked second in the state at 152 faced top ranked Joe Tavoso of Delbarton in a battle for top ranking in the state finals. Murray fell behind early, getting taken down once in each period. He fought back and nearly evened the match in the third period but was unable to turn his bulky opponent. Afterward, wearing a Purdue University hooded sweat shirt, Murray took an upbeat look at the defeat, his second this year.

“I would have liked to have won this match but next week is what it is really about. We are looking to win a state championship and we will have to work hard in practice to correct what went wrong,” said Murray.

                Tavoso had the size and strength that Murray rarely faced at 138 last year, but he would not second guess his decision to bypass 145 and move up two weight classes.

“It would not have been healthy for me to wrestle at 145. I would be cutting too much weight. I am never going to be the strongest wrestler at my weight class. It’s the way I am built,” added Murray, who will open as second seed and faces Joe Rocca of Queen of Peace in the preliminary round.

                For Scorese, who fell one point short of going to the state finals last year, winning his semi final match 11-6 against highly touted Anthony Fajardo of Boonton was a big relief and allowed him to enter his final match against two time state champ Anthony Cefolo of Hanover Park with a nothing to lose attitude. Cefolo quickly showed why he is one of the greatest wrestlers in recent state history by taking Scorese down six times before pinning him in the second round.

“I knew he was going to be tough to handle. He is so strong for his weight and is very quick. He is the best wrestler I have ever faced,’ said Scorese after the match.

“I accomplished my goal of making it to Atlantic City and my goal now is to win as many matches as possible. It will be a great experience and I plan to make the most of it.”

“He’s a very good wrestler. He has a bright future the next two years,” said Cefolo.

                Scorese has a very difficult opening match against Avery Shay of Don Bosco and if he wins would face second seed Ryan Pomrinca of North Hunterdon. For Gorman, the Region 3 co-coach of the year, the improved performance continues Cranford’s gradual climb into the state’s elite.

“I am proud of the way each of the ten wrestlers competed this weekend, even though some fell short of their goals they all played a pivotal part in helping Cranford reach new levels this season. I hope to our fans in the stands at Boardwalk Hall, Cranford has a reputation of traveling well, and there will be 100 plus shirts printed up for our fans.”