One Bridgewater-Raritan High School senior delivered the match-clinching pin on his Senior Night.
Another senior ended the evening with a late comeback win by decision in his home gym. In between, history was made when two female wrestlers took the mat against each other for Bridgewater-Raritan and visiting Bernards High School.
On top of this, the Panthers are just over 24 hours away from earning the top seed in the team state sectional tournament under the guidance their fourth-year head coach: Bridgewater-Raritan High School Class of 2016 graduate Kyle Murphy.
Hollywood writers probably could not have even scripted a more memorable Senior Night for the Bridgewater-Raritan wrestling Class of 2025 – of course, one capped off by a big 47-26 victory for Bridgewater- Raritan (12-7) over Bernards (8-7)on Friday, January 31, at Vaughn Stapleton Gymnasium in Bridgewater.
“These guys have been with me from the start,” refelected Murphy, who saw first group of freshmen from his debut 2021-22 season honored as this year’s graduating seniors. “I grew up with them being the head coach at [22 years old]. Now, I see them as men going into the world and being successful, and a lot of attributes that they will take into the world are from the sport of wrestling. I hope that they take a couple of lessons that they learned from me, at least, and I’m really proud for where the kids have grown as people more than wrestlers.”
The following 10 Bridgewater-Raritan High School seniors were recognized during a pre-match ceremony. Wrestlers Akeo Diaz, Matt Di Eduardo, Nick Garcia, Oscar Kilgallon, Logan Levine, Mark Marsigliano, Lerrod Smalls, and Zach Stouffer along and team statisticians Jordyn Spina and Sophie- Grace Levin.