Sports

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

The Observer n www.theobserver.com

9 SPORTS & RECREATION

North Arlington girls, Belleville and Kearny boys win holiday basketball tournaments

Photo courtesy of Athletic Director Josh Aronowitz

The second photo is of the North Arlington girls basketball team after winning the William Ferguson Holiday Tournament in North Arlington.

By Jason Bernstein

jason@theobserver.com

The holiday tournament week has been a successful one for The Observer Area basketball teams. Three local programs, the North Arlington girls team and the Belleville and Kearny boys teams each were the champions in the holiday tournaments they competed in. For each, it’s the latest example of the progress they have made early on this basketball season.

North Arlington girls snap skid in William Ferguson Tournament

North Arlington head coach Brendan Queenan noticed his team might have seen its confidence shaken just a touch when the Vikings entered the holiday break with consecutive losses to Rutherford and Lyndhurst.

But at its own annual William Ferguson Holiday Tournament, North Arlington shook off any lingering doubts and emerged as champions in the event for the first time since 2014.

First, the Vikings overwhelmed University Academy Charter of Jersey City, 66-6 on Tuesday. Then, the next day North Arlington held off Bergen Tech, 36-32 in the final.

“I think we were a little discouraged after (losing to) Lyndhurst and Rutherford last week,” Queenan said.” I think this just shows that when we play hard, smart and together, we can compete with just about anybody.

“It was big on a number of fronts. Bergen Tech was a team that we played in the summer league that really manhandled us. They’re a group 4 school and we’re a small group 1 so this was a real measuring stick game for us and we answered the bell.”

Junior guard Sophie Veloso was named Tournament MVP after recording 12 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals in the title. Veloso also scored 17 points in the first round, but her impact went far beyond that.

“There’s so many things that she does that don’t show up on stat sheets,” said Queenan. “She really leads by example out there and just made some clutch plays.”

Teammates Skyla Acosta (14 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals vs. Bergen Tech and Lia Cruz (13 points over two games) joined Veloso on the All-Tournament Team.

“They’re starting to see the things we’ve talked about actually coming to fruition in front of them. Now they can lay claim to winning a championship,” Queenan said. “Granted it is a Christmas tournament, but the other three teams didn’t do it, but we did.”

Belleville takes charge, defeats North Arlington for title

After graduating virtually the entire rotation from last season’s 18-9 team, Belleville head coach Jim Catalano has made it clear that this season’s group will need to excel on the defensive end if it hopes to compete. In particular, that means getting on the floor, taking charges and forcing turnovers.

“Defensively, we do a lot of different things, but everything is based on taking the charge,” said Catalano. “The one good thing so far with this group is that they’ve really bought into what we’re doing. We took seven and eight charges and that really changed the tempo in the game.”

That combined with some

Nutley wrestler Brandon Toranzo makes an instant impact

By Jason Bernstein

jason@theobserver.com

Brandon Toranzo’s initial introduction to wrestling wasn’t necessarily an easy one. Such early struggles are certainly understandable in retrospect as his first and most common early foe on the mat was his older brother Michael.

“There were days I wouldn’t want to walk into practice, especially going against my brother, who is probably the most aggressive wrestler I’ve ever gone up against in my life,” said Brandon, about Michael, a redshirt freshman at Rutgers. “And since it’s brother on brother competition, he’s never going to go easy on me. There’s a big toughness factor that he gave me.”

The start of Brandon’s high school varsity career has done quite a bit differently.

Toranzo, who transferred back home to Nutley High School from St. Joseph Regional less than two months ago, has started his junior season with a perfect 9-0 record at heavyweight for the Maroon Raiders. Six of those wins were by pin and in both the Kearny Holiday Tournament and Rahway Holiday Tournament, Toranzo was selected as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.

Toranzo’s early dominance makes him The Observer Athlete of the Week, the first recipient for the winter sports season.

The performance is all the more eye-opening when it comes with the realization that due to a torn ACL in his right knee as well as playing football at St. Joseph, Toranzo only returned to competitive wrestling about seven weeks ago.

“I knew that coming into the season I was going to be under the radar, especially coming back from a torn ACL where I missed the whole season last year and I couldn’t compete in any of the offseason tournaments,” said Toranzo. “But when I came into this season, I knew I was ready to go and I knew I had something to prove.”

Toranzo was certainly well prepared for the moment from all of his years practicing against his brother as well as his former St. Joseph teammate Jimmy Mullen, a Kearny native and two-time state champion heavyweight.

The two spent plenty of time going against each other in St. Joseph’s wrestling room and still train together three nights a week at DC Trained in Paramus.

“I’ve been wrestling with Jimmy my whole life and he’s definitely a big factor in why I’ve been doing so good in the beginning of the season,” Toranzo said. “He’s such an agile and fast heavyweight. I really am inspired to be just like him.”

All of the hours training against Mullen and his older brother Michael, who took third in the state his senior season at 220 pounds, has definitely influenced Brandon’s style on the mat.

Like them, Brandon wrestles like a lighter weight due to his exceptional quickness and agility. That, combined with his strength from years as a powerlifter, make Brandon Toranzo an especially challenging opponent.

“At a young age, I had the classic heavyweight look, but as a I saw my brother