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SAAVEDRA BROTHERS WORKING HARD ON THE MAT
Bound Brook's Saavedra brothers working hard to succeed on mat
Hard work is something Bound Brook’s Saavedra brothers have known since they were little kids in Costa Rica. Their mother, Monserrat, was the one setting the example.
Monserrat lived in the United States for a decade, working to send money home to her family as Aaron and Abraham and sister Nazareth were cared for by their grandmother. In 2008, the children were able to join their mother in Bound Brook, which has become a landing place for so many Costa Ricans. No different than countless Italian immigrants who came to the borough’s west end at the beginning of 20th century.
The Saavedra boys arrived with just a knowledge of soccer. Wrestling was not in their terminology, just like it wasn’t for Colombian native Nestor Taffur when he and his family came to Bound Brook. Taffur went on to place fourth at 145 pounds in the state tournament in 2009, and is now a 157-pound senior at Boston University.
The Saavedras also have college in their sight.
Wrestling has certainly helped in their meshing in the U.S. They have even become pretty good football players. Football, however, is the bridge to their top priority.
Aaron Saavedra, third at District 18 last year, wants to make a return visit to the Region V Tournament when he goes at 195 pounds in the district tournament Saturday at Hillsborough High School. Aaron was third last year at the districts.
Abe, who’s 15-7, wants to join his brother at the regions after watching as an eighth-grader last year.
“I will do whatever it takes to get to states and place at states,’’ said Aaron Saavedra, 20-8 this year, mostly at 195 after having eight of his first nine bouts of the season at 220. He was beaten 9-2 by Franklin junior Ralph Normandia in the Somerset County Tournament 195-pound final. Saavedra was third last year.
The brother’s involvement in the sport can be traced back to a scuffle Aaron got into outside of Smalley School. Part of Smalley Principal Kyle Franey’s punishment was for Aaron to wrestle – for a minimum of 30 days.
“At the end of it, it was up to him whether to stay (wrestling) or not, and he stayed,’’ said Franey, the former Crusaders’ coach, now athletics director.
Abraham eventually joined his brother, leaving basketball.
“I went to one of Aaron’s matches and it was pretty intense and I just told my basketball coach I was going to try it. He just wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing,’’ said Abraham.
Apparently it was. Two months later, Abraham placed third at Kid’s States.
His older brother nearly made the trip to Atlantic City last year, but fell 12-5 to John F. Kennedy’s Ryan Alston in the region semifinals after Saavedra had beaten Notre Dame’s No. 2 seed and District 17 champ Josh Simon 7-3 in the quarters. Saavedra’s season ended when he lost 6-5 to East Brunswick’s Gregory Krueger in a consolation semifinal.
CRUSADERS WIN SECOND GROUP ONE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
Bound Brook did that in the semifinal at the Pine Belt Arena, routing perennial powerhouse Paulsboro 59-9, leaving many to wonder if the Raiders had ever experienced such a loss.
The momentum was carried into the final, but they were facing Hanover Park, a team riding its own crest of accomplishment after surprising Kittatinny 31-30 in the other semifinal.
The two-time Somerset County Tournament champs won 21 of 28 bouts for the day, but there were certainly momentum changers like sophomore 138-pounder Nick Accetta’s 4-3 overtime victory in the final. That came after Hanover Park had run off three straight close ones. Bound Brook beat Hanover Park in last year’s final after the Hornets had beaten Paulsboro in the semis.
“A couple of things didn’t go our way and Hanover Park came to wrestle; they wanted a Group I state title, they came to wrestle us,” said Bound Brook coach Shaun Cleary, who will have 11 starters returning next season. “Once Nick pulled that overtime one out that really really helped us out, I needed that, we needed that. He came through for us and changed the momentum of the match as well.”
Bound Brook got behind Accetta’s victory and capped its title victory with four wins – pins by senior 145 pounder Emmauel Soto, junior 152-pounder Ryan Doerr and sophomore 170-pounder Andrew Gombas and sophomore 160 pounder Joshua Ugalde’s 1-0 with over Anthony Bassolino.
“It seems like it could be like business as usual,” said Cleary. “But we take it as the way we wrestle. We want to wrestle well every single time we get on that mat and when wrestle bad even if we win and we wrestle bad it’s unacceptable. We want to wrestle well in all 14 matches we go out there.
“We really got after it. But there were a few matches that didn’t go our way and there are a few guys have to make corrections before the state tournament.”
Sophomore 120-pounder Craig De La Cruz dropped an ultimate tiebreaker loss to Anthony Cefalo, who won the state title at 106 last year. De La Cruz was fourth. Junior 285 pounder S. Michael Johnson dropped an utlimate tiebreaker loss to junior Nick La Shell. But those kinds of matches are what Bound Brook has been looking for to prepare for the next three weeks.
Bound Brook opened the semifinal with a victory that Paulsboro has dealt out countless times on its way to 28 state championships. The Crusaders had five falls, three major decisions and two technical falls.
“Paulsboro is an unbelievable program, so I’m really happy with what we did,” said Cleary. “The kids came to wrestle and they wrestled really hard. We got in on our hand fight, we got heavy hands, we got in on our man, we were pushing them all over the mat and we dictated the pace of those matches, which is exactly what we teach our kids to do.”
BOUND BROOK FALLS TO BERGEN CATHOLIC
Bergen Catholic (15-1) won nine bouts, capping the night with four straight after Bound Brook (17-2) had cut its deficit to 20-18 on senior Emmanuel Soto’s first-period fall at 152.
Bergen Catholic’s late run was sparked on Gianni Hallek (170) and Christian Jenco (195) falls that sandwiched state champ Johnny Sebastian’s 14-4 major at 182. Brothers Abe Saavedra (170) and Aaron Saavedra (195) had leads against Hallek and Jenco, but Abe was pinned at 6:00 and Aaron at 5:50.
“We knew it would be a battle, we lost some of the important ones and that was the difference,” Bound Brook coach Shaun Cleary said.
Bound Brook wrestled without Somerset County Tournament 152-pound champion Joshua Ugalde (20-1), who was held out because of a knee injury. Both sides acknowledged the sophomore’s absence hurt the two-time Somerset County Tournament champions, but the way the visitors wrestled, they might have won even if Ugalde had been healthy.
Ugalde did come out for introductions and jogged back to the bench, but Bound Brook wasn’t counting on him to wrestle against Bergen Catholic for several days. The injury isn’t believed to be season-ending.
Bergen Catholic coach Dave Bell figured Ugalde would have likely bumped to 160, where he would have faced freshman Kevin Mulligan (20-7), who beat junior Ryan Doerr 6-2 to extend the lead to 23-18. That also took some of the momentum Bound Brook received on Soto’s fall.
“We were scrambling and we were looking at the lineup, and saying, ‘why isn’t Ugalde coming out?,’” said Bell, whose team’s only loss was a Dec. 18 40-26 dual-meet setback to No. 1 and unbeaten South Plainfield. “Then we looked to make sure that he weighed in and that he wouldn’t be coming out at the next weight. He weighed in at 150.4.”
"It changes the strategy a little bit, you know, but they were also without one of their good wrestlers (freshman 152-pounder Joe Grello) too, so it cancels each other out,” said Cleary. '”It changes our strategy, but no matter what, we always put 14 kids out there who know how to wrestle and know how to wrestle well and they didn’t come to wrestle tonight. That’s exactly what happened.”
Bound Brook, the defending state Group I champs, didn’t get the bonus points where it expected or steal the toss-up bouts.
“113, 132, obviously, heavyweight, 160 was a winnable match and 170 was a winnable match and we came up a little short on all of them,” said Cleary. “There were a lot of matches where I thought we could have and should have won and we didn't.”
Even a couple of the ones Bound Brook won were disappointing.
Junior 220-pounder Ronald Picado (12-4) won the opening bout 10-5 over sophomore Conner O’Brien (3-6), but Bound Brook expected more; junior S. Michael Johnson wrestled well at 285, falling 5-3 to Bergen senior Carmine Goldsack (23-3). That was followed by unbeaten freshman 106-pounder Nick Suriano’s 25-10, third-period techincal fall. Some polls have Suriano (25-0) ranked No. 1 in the U.S.
Senior 113-pounder Robbie Murray (18-6) lost 3-2 to Bergen Catholic junior Tyler Casamenti, the winning point coming on a stall with 12 seconds left in regulation.
Sophomore Matt Rose (16-11) then limited returning state tournament place winner Craig De La Cruz (23-1) to a 3-1 decision at 120. De La Cruz finshed fourth in the state tournament at 106 last year and is a returning District 18 champ and won a second Somerset County Tournament title two weeks ago.
Bound Brook’s unheralded 126-pound senior Zach Vatalare (17-5) brought his team closer with a 10-5 decision, desperately trying for bonus points against junior Troy Schaafsma (18-7). Bergen Catholic junior J.P. Ascolese (16-8) answered at 132 by beating junior Jeison Arias 8-6 in sudden victory and the lead was increased to 14-9 that bcame 20-9 on 138-pounder Laurien Anghelina’s first period fall.
The 145-pound bout was the best of the night.
Bound Brook sophomore Nick Accetta, wrestling up a weight, trailed freshman Danny DeLorenzi 4-0, 6-4 and 9-6 with 50 seconds left in regulation, but tied it at 10 on a takedown, escape and stalling point. He nearly won it in regulation. The two exchanged opportunities in the one minute overtime. Accetta rode DeLorenzi out in the first 30 second period, then escaped with seven seconds left in the second tiebreaker period for an 11-10 win. That cut the BC lead to 20-12. Senior Emmanuel Soto, coming up to 152 from 15 to take Ugalde’ spot, scored a first period pin to cut the deficit to 20-18. That’ as close as Bound Brook got, as it had its 13-match winning streak snapped, one that started after a 30-27 loss to Apple Valley (Minn.) Dec. 28 at the Clash National Duals in Rochester, Minn.
“I think it’s because the kids wrestle hard in the room and they push hard in the room and they replicate what they do on the mat and it’s been a big difference,” Bell said when asked about several late wins by his team. “Our kids stuck in there, our kids hung in there and they wrestled hard. We have been talking about that all year that they need to fight for every point, and right to the whistle and tonight and we got that kind of effort.”
BOUND BROOK DEFEATS HANOVER PARK FOR THE GROUP ONE TITLE
Bound Brook, No. 4 in The Star-Ledger Top 20, entered the NJSIAA team tournament as an overwhelming favorite to capture its second straight Group 1 championship.
On Sunday, the Somerset County school delivered on that promise.
Bound Brook defeated unranked Hanover Park for the second straight season in the Group 1 final, posting a 49-12 victory at the Pine Belt Arena in Toms River.
"We expected to win this," first-year coach Shaun Cleary said. "We came and did what we were supposed to do. I'm very excited for the kids, for the town, for the program. It's a really good night."
The championship triumph completed what was a very impressive showing for Bound Brook. Earlier in the day, it rolled past Paulsboro, the dean of Group 1 schools with 28 all-time state group championships, in a 53-9 semifinals victory.
The Somerset County team won 21 of 28 bouts it wrestled on the day and earned bonus points in 16 of them. Bound Brook finished with 11 falls, four major decisions and a technical fall.
The scary part for its Group 1 counterparts: Bound Brook (21-3) will return 11 of its 14 starters next season.
"That's the goal," Cleary said of a potential return back to Groups Sunday in 2014.
Bound Brook jumped out to leads of 18-0 and 25-3 on Hanover Park (13-6), but the Morris County school, which beat No. 10 Kittatinny, 31-30, in the semifinals, did not go down quietly. Hanover Park, seeking its first group championship, won three straight bouts, all by decision and one coming in ultimate tie-breaker, to pull to within 25-12 with four bouts remaining.
But Bound Brook had a second wind. Nick Accetta gutted out an ultimate tie-breaker victory at 138 pounds to get Bound Brook back on track.
Then, the bonus points started flying again.
Emmanuel Soto pinned at 145 pounds, Ryan Doerr pinned at 152, Josh Ugalde got a decision at 160 and Andrew Gombas closed the match with a fall at 170.
"A couple of things didn't go our way," Cleary said. "Hanover Park came to wrestle. Once Nick pulled that overtime win out, that really helped us. I needed that. We needed that. He really came through."
CRUSADERS WIN SECOND CONSECUTIVE COUNTY TITLE
Somerset County Tournament - Wrestling
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By Joe Kania
Five individual champions and a county title weren't enough for Bound Brook coach Shaun Cleary.
Craig De La Cruz (120 pounds), Jeison Arias (132), Emmanuel Soto (145), Josh Ugalde (152) and Isaiah Soto (182) won county titles at yesterday's Somerset County Tournament to help Bound Brook take the team championship over runner-up Watchung Hills at Hillsborough.
"To have five champions is certainly great," Cleary said. "But we need to be able to close the deal in the finals if we would like to be a championship caliber team. We sent 11 kids to the finals, and I thought that each of them had an opportunity to win. There were some real close ones that we lost, so hopefully our kids benefit from the experience and continue to get better day after day."
Watchung Hills 126-pounder Mike Magaldo was named the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler after pinning all three of his opponents. Magaldo opened his tournament by pinning Montgomery's John Isaacs in 40 seconds and went on to pin North Plainfield's Brandan Russo in 3:09 before securing a pin in 3:12 over Bound Brook's Zach Vatalare in the final. Magaldo, a junior, won his third Somerset County title.
"It feels great to win my third consecutive county title," said Magaldo, last year's 120-pound state champion. "Getting the OW means a lot too because there are many great wrestlers here that could've deserved it. Coming into the tournament, my goal was just to dominate and get on and off the mat as quick as possible. I think I achieved my goal."
De La Cruz, Bound Brook's only returning state place-winner, won a title at 120 pounds after winning one at 106 last year. The sophomore opened the tournament by pinning Montgomery's Jake Yu in 1:18 and continued his pinning streak all the way through the finals, pinning Ridge's Ted Caruso in 1:28 and eventually earning a fall over Watching Hills' Jack Donnadio in 4:26 in the final.
At 132 pounds, Arias continued plugging away at Somerville's Nick Wahba, attack after attack, until finally securing a third period takedown to win, 4-3. Arias plowed through his competition to reach the final, pinning Hillsborough's Tanner Johnson before defeating Bridgewater-Raritan's Steve Groski, 13-0.
The Soto brothers helped earn Bound Brook titles in very close bouts. Emmanuel (145) took on Watchung Hills' Anthony DiRosa in the final and scored just one takedown and one reversal, riding DiRosa for nearly four minutes. Soto's victory came after a 31-second fall over Pingry's Bradon Preziosi in the quarterfinals and a 3-1 decision over Montgomery's Louis Colonna in the semifinals.
Isaiah Soto (182) won, 1-0, in the final over Franklin's Kurtis Hewitt. After the two went scoreless on their feet in the first, Hewitt chose down and Soto was able to ride him out the entire period. In the third, Soto was able to escape and score the bout's only points. Soto reached the final by pinning North Plainfield's Estuardo Gonzales in 2:20 in the quarterfinals and pinning Watchung Hills' Ernesto Anazco in 1:59 in the semifinals.
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