NUTLEY, NJ – Brandon Toranzo got his redemption.
A year after suffering an injury in the semifinals that forced him to end his run at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Region 3 boys wrestling tournament at West Orange High School, the Nutley High School senior 285-pound heavyweight came back to West Orange for the Region 3 tournament and, this time, completed his mission.
Toranzo won the 285-pound title on Saturday, Feb. 24, to punch his ticket to Atlantic City, site of the NJSIAA’s state tournament.
In the final, Toranzo decisioned Benjamin Shue of Bergen Catholic, 4-2, to remain undefeated on the season. Toranzo, who improved to 41-0, also was voted the region’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. He is the first heavyweight region champion in Nutley’s rich wrestling program history.
The NJSIAA’s state tournament will be held Thursday to Saturday, Feb. 29-March 2, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
Freshman Jack Finkelstein (113 pounds), freshman Antonio Maiden (132) and sophomore Sean Vichez (175) were the other region competitors for Nutley at the region tournament, which consisted of the top-three finishers in each weight class from the districts 9-12 tournament. NHS hosted District 10 on Saturday, Feb. 17.
Finkelstein and Vilchez both went 0-1 and Maiden went 1-2 in the region tournament.
Last year at the region tournament, Toranzo remained undefeated on the season going into the semifinals, but lost by injury default to John Wargo of Phillipsburg. The injury also forced Toranzo to withdraw from the wrestleback semifinals against Gabriel McCulloch of Bloomfield, denying his chance at going to Atlantic City. Had he won in the wrestleback semifinals. Toranzo would have sealed a berth for the state tournament (the top-four finishers in the regions move on to the state tournament). Toranzo, who transferred to Nutley from powerhouse St. Joseph Regional of Montvale last year, was reportedly carried out of the West Orange gym. It was later learned that Toranzo had a torn ACL.
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