The Kushner Cobras wrestling team is flying high after placing first in the North Bergen tournament this weekend.

The team arrived on Sunday morning ready to keep its momentum going after the recent win at the Morris Hills tournament. It was quite a sight, with the team members’ kippahs clearly visible in a sea of public and prep school wrestlers. Among the twenty one teams from schools all over northern and central New Jersey—High Point, St. Peter’s Prep, Kittatinny, Butler, Hackensack, North Bergen, Bergen Catholic and more—the Cobras were the only team from a Jewish school. Kushner parents in the stands were mixed in with the non-kippah-wearing parents from the other schools. One thing all the teams had in common was the desire to succeed.

As the PA system announced that all wrestlers should clear the mats, weight class brackets were posted and coaches bracket packets handed out. Some weight classes had nearly two dozen wrestlers participating, and all were formidable in size. Although most of the younger and less experienced Cobras had started to come into their own, a big question remained. Would they be able to mount a decent showing against 2 public and prep schools? They were the sole Jewish school participating, looking to prove that they could compete in a non-yeshiva tournament.

Wrestling got underway and most of the Cobras hung in through the first round. A few lost in later rounds, while others persevered, knocking off quality wrestlers with many more years of training. With 21 teams competing, the Cobras had hoped to fall in the top third, and thought nothing above that was attainable. Despite representing only 11 weight classes out of 14, because two of the team’s starters were missing, the Cobras managed to put more than half of the team into the top four medal rounds.

The best, however, was yet to come. Following one of the finals matches, Coach Dave Cilio approached the head table to watch his winning wrestler collect his trophy and bracket sheet. One of the tournament organizers stopped him, saying, “Coach, tell your kids not to leave, you may have just won the tournament.”

Cilio was stunned. “I have to admit I didn’t even consider this possibility, and neither did the kids. I knew we were doing well but winning the team title was out of the question…or was it?”

He continued, “I went back to the bleachers and told the kids not to leave, that I was just told we had a chance, to which several kids responded, ‘Are you serious?’ I have to say that I think most of the team still doubted it, right up until the scores were read.”

Finally, the voice came through the PA system from the head table as they started with fifth place, then fourth, finally naming the top three teams. “In third place, with 109 team points, Kittatinny. In second place, with 114 team points, High Point.” The Cobras wrestlers looked at each other in disbelief. “In first place, with 145 points, Kushner Academy!” The cheering and shouts of joy from the Cobras and their parents rang out through the entire gym, as the team threw off their exhaustion and prepared to accept their first place trophy. Their energy came back tenfold as they realized that they were the first ever Jewish school to win a team title at this tournament, one that had run for 42 years. Not just the team title, but individual titles as well, as three Kushner wrestlers took home first place in their weight classes.

As the team posed for pictures, they tried to take it all in. They had just won the 2017 Team Title in the 42nd Annual North Bergen Bruins Tournament, becoming the only Jewish school ever to do so. On to Wittenberg!