CRANFORD, NJ — Cranford High School representation filled the Bob Carpenter Center once again from Friday, Dec. 20, through Sunday, Dec. 22, with six Cougar grapplers competing this time at the annual Beast of the East Tournament at the University of Delaware.
Five Cranford wrestlers won at least one match, three placed and two dealt with injury situations before the highly challenging multi-state competition concluded on Sunday, Dec. 22.
Competing for the Cougars were junior Michael Daly at 113 pounds, junior Ryder Connors at 126, senior Eoghan O’Hara at 145, junior Luke Scholz at 150, senior Dylan Jones at 157 and senior Jordan Chapman at 175.
Scholz placed sixth at 150, Daly eighth at 113 and Chapman eighth at 175. Jones and Connors also won matches.
“Overall, as a collective group, I think we impressed,” Cranford head coach Pat Gorman said.
Daly lost his first match by a point, but then came back to place at 113.
“He had the desire to come back and place,” Gorman said. “He beat some other New Jersey kids.”
Gorman said Scholz defeated two wrestlers from Pennsylvania, as he reached the semifinals at 150.
“In the fifth-sixth place bout, he rolled his ankle,” Gorman said. “It’s a sprain, not broken, but he will miss some time.”
Chapman, who placed third at 165 in last year’s Beast of the East, his second year competing in the event, went 4-3 in his matches and just managed to place at 175, which will be his primary weight this year.
“Jordan lost in the quarterfinals and took a medical loss in the seventh-eighth-place match,” Gorman said. “He did beat a kid he lost to last year.”
Winning at 175 was Blair Academy senior William Henckel, who will continue wrestling in college at defending multiple-time national champion Penn State University. Placing second was Saint Joseph Regional High School, Montvale, senior Ryan Burton, who is the defending New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Tournament champ at 175. Burton will compete next at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Chapman, second in the state last year at 165, will wrestle at Rutgers University. Chapman began his senior season with an outstanding record of 119-11.
Cranford was to close the December portion of its 2024-2025 campaign in the Sam Cali Invitational Tournament on Friday, Dec. 27, and Saturday, Dec. 28, at the Morristown National Guard Armory in Morristown.
In the Kearny Holiday Tournament on Saturday, Dec. 21, at Kearny High School, an event in which Cranford annually competes, the Cougars placed second with 220 points. Host Kearny won with 255.
Winning titles for the Cougars were DJ Torsone at 106, senior Jake Ulicki at 215 and senior Louis Kruk at heavyweight.
Torsone defeated Jonathan Rocco of Kearny by fall in 30 seconds in the 106 final and Ulicki won by fall in 5:20 against Alejandro Valencia of Bloomfield High School in the 215-pound title match.
Cranford continues in January with a match at Westfield High School on Friday, Jan. 3, at 6 p.m., and will then host a quad on Saturday, Jan. 4, beginning at 9 a.m., which includes Ridge, Old Bridge and Phillipsburg high schools.
“We’re a bit banged up right now,” Gorman said. “We have three kids on crutches, one with a knee injury and one with a neck injury.”
Cranford will begin January with a 2-0 record after opening at home on Tuesday, Dec. 17, with a 47-23 win at Immaculata High School and then posting a 74-3 triumph at Roselle Park High School the next day.
On Saturday, Jan. 18, at Union High School, the Cougars will bid to capture a record 10th consecutive Union County Tournament title. Governor Livingston High School placed second the last three years, getting closer to Cranford each tournament.
Cranford won against Governor Livingston, 244-202, by 42 points in 2022; 269.5 to 240, by 29.5 points, in 2023; and 223.5 to 217, by just 6.5 points, in 2024.
“They have another really good team,” Gorman said of Governor Livingston.
Cranford is scheduled to host Governor Livingston on Friday, Jan. 31, at 7 p.m., in Union County Conference–Watchung Division action.
Governor Livingston, guided by head coach Matthew Liberato, was 1-2 as of Thursday, Dec. 26, with a win against Glen Ridge High School and losses to Mount Olive High School and Phillipsburg.
Photos Courtesy of Pat Gorman