‘Brothers’ face off as Franklin Regional wrestling continues its roll with win over Plum

By: Josh Rizzo
Wednesday, January 7, 2026 | 9:44 PM

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Franklin Regional 152-pound junior wrestler Michael Ruane was rivals with Plum’s Owen Campbell for six minutes Wednesday night at Franklin Regional High School. Not long after Ruane’s 8-2 win during the Panthers’ 66-0 Section 9 victory, their friendship, which has spanned well over five years, resumed.

Ruane said competing against Campbell, with whom he trains at club practice, is like wrestling a brother.

“It really is,” Ruane said. “Everything he does, I’ve seen before. Everything I do, he’s seen. We just talked about it. Everything we did was like what we do in practice.”

Ruane, who is 20-3 this season and 11 wins away from 100 in his career, turned the match with a late takedown in the second period. Campbell had prevented takedowns in a few scrambles by grabbing hold of Ruane’s ankle to work to a neutral position.

“Coming off a double leg, Owen is good at keeping his legs apart and not letting you capture both legs,” Ruane said. “If I can capture both of his legs and take him to a hip, then I can come up with some points.”

Campbell picked up a reversal with 53 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to two points but wasn’t able to find the right combo to grab the win. Campbell, a senior, has 111 career wins.

The pair wrestled twice in the offseason, and Campbell beat Ruane in a matchup in middle school, but this was the first time they faced off in varsity competition.

Plum coach Mike Supak anticipated a close match.

“When you are wrestling your daily practice partner when they go to clubs, you guys know each other pretty well,” Supak said. “It makes it hard to open each other up.”

The Panthers (12-0, 2-0) have rolled through their recent dual meets. Since beating Moon, 33-25, on Dec. 10, Franklin Regional has won its last eight dual meets by 39 points or more.

Against Plum, the Panthers got pins from Salvatore Colangelo (107 pounds), Chase Smith (139), Max Firestine (145), Ethan Cartwright (172) and Kaydon Ferrell (215).

“Our chemistry as a team is through the roof,” Ruane said.

Panthers sophomore John Montgomery took on a tough challenge. He was asked to wrestle Mustangs heavyweight Frank Grazulis, who weighed in close to the 285-pound limit. Montgomery came in at 211 pounds.

“I’m extremely proud of John,” Franklin Regional coach Matt Lebe said. “Their kid is really good, and we are always looking for ways to get our guys better. That was the right challenge for him in that match. We wanted to put him in an environment with a tough kid.”

Grazulis, who is 17-3 this season, took the lead in their heavyweight matchup with an escape in the second period. Montgomery evened things up by shooting off the whistle and earning an escape in the third period.

Montgomery (18-3) and Grazulis were jostling for position on the feet for much of the third period before Grazulis was hit for stalling and Montgomery got the win.

“He trains hard,” Lebe said. “We take pride in that. That’s him living the way he trains.”

Tags: Franklin Regional, Plum