Thursday, January 12, 2012

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Devin Garrido pinned at 106 in a surprise result that turned the match in North Bergen's favor in the way to a 39-28 win over Paramus.

NORTH BERGEN – As a freshman in an important dual meet between two of North Jersey's top public school wrestling programs, Devin Garrido's only job was to stay off of his back and avoid getting pinned and giving up bonus points. It wasn't going to be easy an task when facing this year’s BCCA champ Joe Trovato of Paramus. But Garrido, North Bergen’s freshman 106-pounder, did not seem to feel the pressure, he saw it as just another match. What happened during that match not only changed the complexion of a hotly-contest bout between two of North Jersey’s top teams, but it sent shock waves through the wrestling community as well.

Down 4-1 early in the second period, Garrido turned Trovato to his back and the crowd to its ear with one of the more surprising pins seen this year to date. That was the second of five consecutive pins that gave North Bergen the lead for good, lifting the Bruins to a 39-28 victory over Paramus on Wednesday night at North Bergen High School.

Paramus got off to a quick start with back-to-back pins at 170 and 182 from Mustafa Aslami and Matt Tozzi for a 12-0 lead. However, that lead did not last long with North Bergen answering back with pins by BCCA champ Eric McMullen at 195 and Nick Garcia wrapped around a 7-3 win at 220 pounds by Jose Nobleza of Paramus.

David Arrighi (top) won a majority decision for Paramus.

Trovato was expected to give Paramus some breathing room and seemed on his way to doing so with a 4-1 lead late in the first period. But the score was slightly misleading as Garrido was as aggressive a wrestler as Trovato has seen all year and pushed him throughout the period. Trovato attempted to use Garrido’s aggressiveness against him to pick up some back points, but got caught trying to make a move and Garrido was able to pancake him to his back with 30 seconds left before recording the pin in 1:47 to put the Bruins ahead, 18-15.

“I wasn’t thinking about anything but winning my match and helping my team,” said Garrido, who is now 6-0 with six pins. “I didn’t know much about (Trovato) honestly, but I saw how good he was early. I wasn’t scared though, I just tried to shoot and wrestle how I would normally wrestle against anyone. To go out and beat a county champion is great. It makes me feel like I can be one too.”

That got the Bruins exactly what they wanted, the lead with the heart of their order coming up. Rick Gonzalez followed with a first-period pin of his own at 113 before BCCA champs Luis Gonzalez and Anthony Giraldo notched a pair of second-period pins. Tom Maldonado capped the six-match streak with a hard-fought 6-4 decision over Nick Spinoso at 132 pounds for a 39-18 lead. Although they lost the final four bouts of the night, the Bruins stayed off of their backs in all four and completed one of the biggest victories the program has had in recent memory.

Paramus (6-3) got a major decision from David Arrighi and decisions from Joe Rizzotello, Brandon Lopresti, and Nick Bucci.

North Bergen's Rick Gonzalez (top) won by pin at 113.

With the win over the Spartans (who were atop the North 1, Group 3 power point rankings going into last night), North Bergen is still undefeated now at 6-0. With three Bruins (Giraldo, McMullen, and Luis Gonzalez) having legitimate shots at winning state individual titles and now possessing the depth the team has not had in years past, this may be the best Bruin team in the past decade. Not only is a berth in this year’s state tournament a possibility, but also the potential for getting a high seed and winning a section title is equally as attainable.

Something that is not lost on longtime North Bergen head coach Jerry Maietta.

“We know the potential we have here and now we’re seeing what we can accomplish,” said Maietta. “Devin Garrido’s match summed it up. We knew he was facing a county champ, but we also knew what we had in him. Someone who was going to keep wrestling no matter what the score was. Nothing fazes him and it showed that he came back from being taken down twice to pinning a very, very good wrestler in Trovato. Our whole team came ready tonight and we learned a positive lesson. When you don’t take shortcuts and you work hard every day, good things happen and you start seeing those results.”

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