Three individual milestones were attained on February 10 when the top-seeded Cranford High School wrestling team hosted Morris Hills, Roxbury and West Essex for the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 Tournament. The Cougars routed eighth-seeded Morris Hills, 76-0, in the quarterfinal then knocked off the West Essex Knights, 52-23, to advance to the championship to face second-seeded South Plainfield on February 12.

Those milestones were achieved during the semifinal match with West Essex. Two were achieved in the second bout when senior Jordan Chapman not only recorded his 99th career pin when he showed Kole Corcoran the lights in 43 seconds at 190-lbs but he also surpassed Gavin Murray as the all-time winningest Cranford wrestler at 149 victories.

“Pins! I feel like it’s what coach tells me to do. Just do my job. Dual meet season, I am here to get six for my team from here on out. Get a title,” Chapman explained.

Throughout the season, Chapman has recorded pins in very stylish manners. “This one was what we call the finisher. I was working on it with my coach. I just like being innovative. You never know what I am going to use, so you can’t really study it,” he said.

On his record-breaking wins, Chapman recalled that in his youth wrestling years, “No! I didn’t think I was going to break the school record. When I was a little kid, I didn’t think so. As soon as I hit middle school, I was thinking, Yes! This is going to be me one day. I’m going to do this. Now, the sky is the limit. All the glory to God! One step at a time!”

The third milestone did not arrive until after the final bout at 165-lbs when senior Dylan Jones recorded his 100th career win with a vigorous 22-10, majority decision over Joey Cutruzzula.

Jones recalled, “It was a messy match on my part defensively. I could have done way better but I scored more points and that’s all that matters.”

Jones used his uncanny balance to pull off a takedown in the first period, then used his quickness to convert a takedown to an arm bar/wrist nearfall early in the second period. Late in the period, he employed a wicked doubleleg takedown to carry a 14-6 lead. Jones added an escape and a takedown early in the third period, yielded an escape and a takedown then finished with an escape and an alert ankle pick takedown.

“I had to give him a taste of his own medicine,” Jones commented.

As to achieving his 100th career win, Jones added, “It’s a goal in my season. My dad has 98 wins. He was so close to getting 100, so it’s been a little competition in our house. Winning the counties was one of them, this was next and now placing in the regions, going to states, possibly placing in the states are my next goals.”

The first bout at 175-lbs, had Cougar Joey Acinapura leading, 8-7, late in the third period but Carmine Masi escaped and added a takedown to grab an 11-8 decision. After Chapman’s bout, Cougar Jake Ulicki dropped a tough 4-3 decision to Dan Harraka at 215-lbs then at 285-lbs, Cougar Louis Kruk made good on a bearhug late in the third period to edge DJ Fiore, 4-3.

The 106-lb bout had DJ Torsone recording a pair of takedowns and a two-point nearfall before stacking Jason Nigro in 5:27 with a double arm bar. Cougar Caleb Goldblatt came out the backdoor for a takedown on Rowan Tran at 113-lbs then pinned him in 1:20 with another double arm bar. At 120-lbs, Cougar Mike Daly recorded an 11-1, majority decision over Mark Farah to up Cranford’s team lead to 25-6.

Both competitors had to work overtime at 126-lbs but Knight Christian Bastante recorded a takedown to earn a 4-1 sudden victory over Ryder Connors. Nick Bastante cradled Cougar Logan Murray in 2:33 then at 138-lbs, Knight Tom Ruane escaped in the third period and added a counter takedown to defeat Brandon DiPaolo, 4-1. West Essex narrowed the Cougars’ lead to 25-23 with three bouts remaining when Reid Clausi recorded an 18-1, tech fall over Braedan Waters at 144-lbs.

But the tide shifted quickly at 150–lbs when Cougar Eoghan O’Hara came through with an arm bar/wrist stack to pin Nick Marino in 43 seconds. Luke Scholz put on a clinic of takedowns that ended with a hard double-leg drive for an 18-8, majority decision over Ben Marques at 157-lbs. Then Jones did his thing to wrap up the victory.

The total wipeout of Morris Hills began at the 165-lb class and Cougar Owen Woodruff went to overtime with Tyler DiSanto but recorded a legaround takedown for a 9-6 sudden victory. Chapman received a forfeit at 175-lbs then Acinapura converted a short arm drag trip takedown to a four-point nearfall on Frank Dimarzio at 190-lbs then pinned him in 1:38 with a leg grapevine/power half.

Ulicki pinned Jim Cortese in 58 seconds with a tight waist/half nelson at 215-lbs then Kruk put Mathewn Ochaa to sleep at 285-lbs with a cradle in 2:14. At 106-lbs, Torsone began with a side single-leg takedown to a two-point cradle on Dom Lombardi, added an arm bar/walk over nearfall then in the third period got four more points with a cradle to win by 13-0, majority decision.

At 113-lbs, Goldblatt pinned Jose Vasquez in 1:34 with an arm bar/wrist stack. At 120-lbs, Daly performed a double-leg lift takedown and pinned Pat Acevedo with a cradle in 46 seconds. Connors received a forfeit at 126-lbs and Murray recorded a reversal, an escape and a pair of takedowns before pinning Ethan Smolinski in 4:30 at 132-lbs. DiPaolo had a tight one against Josh Levin at 138-lbs but escaped late in the third period to salvage a 5-4 decision.

At 144-lbs, O’Hara used one of his patented long arm drags for a takedown on Andrew Mucci then pinned him in 1:13 with an Olympic arm bar stack maneuver. Sholz put on another one of his takedown clinics at 150-lbs. But after he recorded four takedowns and a reversal, he pinned Alex Casarrubias with a cradle in 3:20. In the final bout, Jones strutted onto the mat and received a forfeit for his 99th career win.