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. “