Expectations are high for the Bridgewater-Raritan High School wrestling team this winter.
Bridgewater-Raritan has improved each year under fourth-year head coach Kyle Murphy’s leadership, notably including a 20-victory season last year capped off by their first trip to the state sectional tournament final since 2015-16 and sending two wrestlers to the state tournament.
One of those two individual state qualifiers: Bridgewater-Raritan senior Matt Di Eduardo, is back in 2024-25, and his squad collected its first of what it hopes to be many milestones on Friday evening, December 20.
Di Eduardo collected an astounding seven-second pin as part of seven falls for Bridgewater-Raritan (1-1) on the way to the Panthers’ first regular-season team victory: a dominating 63-15 triumph over Voorhees High School (0-2)in Bridgewater.
“We took a loss [against Delaware Valley Regional High School], but the team really wanted to turn it around,” Di Eduardo shared after the match of the Panthers’ bounce-back victory.
After Bridgewater-Raritan opened the season with a runner-up finish to Middletown High
School North in the Mike Dessino Invitational Tournament in Middlesex on Saturday, December 14, the Panthers fell by a score of 40-26 against Group 1 power Delaware Valley: last year’s state runner--up, in their dual opener on Wednesday night, December 18.
Bridgewater-Raritan rebounded strongly against Voorhees.
Joining DiEduardo with pins for Bridgewater-Raritan were Akeo Diaz at 106 pounds, Lucas Pelc at 113, Logan Levine at 138, Lerrod Smalls at 190, Trent Levash at 215 and heavyweight Gabe Medina-Coello.