The site is no longer referred to as “The Pit” but for the Cranford wrestling team tonight’s (Jan. 6) first match at Phillipsburg is one the Cougars have been looking forward to for some time.
On the same Saturday night in January last year the teams met in the regular season for the first time, with Cranford coming away with a 36-32 upset home victory. Cranford entered ranked 16th in the state and Phillipsburg sixth.
Phillipsburg went on to produce a 16-1 record that included the Group 4 state championship. The only Stateliner loss last year was to Cranford.
Cranford filed its best regular season record ever at 21-1 and reached the Group 3 semifinals where the Cougars fell to Delsea. South Plainfield defeated Delsea in the Group 3 final.
Cranford, which is not state-ranked, is 4-0 with four double-digit victories. Cranford won at New Providence 74-6 on Dec. 20, at home over Johnson 52-18 on Dec. 22, at Hopewell Valley 37-22 on Dec. 23 and at Wall 46-26 on Jan. 3. The Cougars were scheduled to wrestle at Rahway on Jan. 5.
Phillipsburg, ranked sixth in the state again at this time in the season, is off to a 3-0 start. The Stateliners opened with a 64-6 home win over Delaware Valley and then defeated Newton 38-29 at home on Dec. 23. Phillipsburg won at Bound Brook 54-21 on Jan. 3 and was scheduled to wrestle Raritan at home on Jan. 4.
Next Saturday (Jan. 13) at The Louis J. Rettino Gymnasium at Union High School, Cranford will attempt to win the Union County Tournament for the fourth consecutive year.
CRANFORD COUGAR WRESTLERS:
106: Jimmy Gluck (3-0)
106: Brendan Reilly (0-1)
113: Will Fernandez (2-0)
113: Jake Quinn (1-1)
120: Patrick Kilnans (3-1)
126: Albert DeChillo (2-1)
126/132: Luke DiGiovanni (2-0)
132/138: Dean Smith (3-0)
138/145: Conor Halpin (2-2)
145: Evan Kanterman (1-0)
145/152: AJ Bencivenga (2-0)
152/160: Kyell Roper (3-1)
160: Danny Swanson (0-3)
170/182: Matt Doran (3-1)
170/182: Chuck Fabian (1-1)
182: Zach Blevins (1-0)
195: Justin Alpaugh-Mclean (1-0)
195/220: Dylan Budnik (2-2)
220/285: Rob Schork (4-0)
285: Matthew Savino (2-1)
CRANFORD COUGARS SINCE 2010:
2017-2018: (4-0 so far)
2016-2017: (21-1)
2015-2016: (15-4-1)
2014-2015: (16-4)
2013-2014: (16-5)
2012-2013: (19-4)
2011-2012: (8-7)
2010-2011: (15-7)
2009-2010: (15-4)