Thursday, February 9, 2012

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Nick Gravina's 5-0 win at 152 poundsin the last bout of the night gave him the 100th of his career and gave Northern Highlands a 31-29 victory over Wayne Valley in the North 1, Group 3 semifinals.

ALLENDALE – Northern Highlands junior standout Nick Gravina is no stranger to the history of the Northern Highlands wrestling program. Upon walking into the school’s gymnasium all he has to do is glance up and see how some of the great Highlander teams of the past have won numerous league and district titles. But the one void in the program's history is that it has never won a section title. With Gravina wrestling last and his team down by one against Wayne Valley, Gravina put his team one step closer to the ultimate goal and made a little history of his own in the meantime.

Gravina dominated from start to finish at 152 pounds to earn a 5-0 decision and accomplish a few milestones along the way. The win was the 100th of his career and the 200th in the career of his head coach, Rick Babitts. More importantly, it capped a seesaw affair with second-seeded Northern Highlands coming away with a berth in the section final via a 31-29 victory over Wayne Valley on Wednesday night in Allendale.

“I couldn’t ask for a better way to end the night and I loved feeling that pressure on me,” said Gravina. “Being one of the leaders on this team, I have to set an example. While there was a ton of pressure going into that match, my job was to relieve it and dictate the tempo of the match. I was so pumped up before the match, but I had to harness that and use it to my advantage.”

Nick DellaFerra scored a technical fall fo score Wayne Valley its first points of the match.

Every point counted all night long and it started with the very first match when Brandon Latierno scored on a takedown with five seconds left to earn a technical fall and pick up an extra bonus point. Then at 171 pounds, Tommy Cosgriff scored a takedown with under a minute to go in the third period and held on for a 3-2 win to give Northern Highlands, which had beaten Wayne Valley in a dual meet, 36-29, back on January 4, an 8-0 lead.

After Wayne Valley’s Nick DellaFerra scored a technical fall of his own, Kyle Myers and Anthony Landberg locked horns in one of the night’s most competitive bouts. The score was tied and the match was destined for overtime when Myers hit Landberg with a dump and quickly turned him for a pin with just 21 seconds left for a potential nine-point swing that put the Highlanders up 14-5.

“I saw a little opening and just went to hit him with a dump,” said Myers. “I didn’t hit it as cleanly as I would have liked to, but it worked and that’s all that matters. I thought I came out a little flat, but I was able to weather the storm until I could get some momentum. I didn’t want to let my team down and that was a huge motivation for me going into the third period.”

Wayne Valley has been one of the most improved teams in North Jersey since the beginning of the season, including a victory over Emerson/Park Ridge last week. The Indians had no quit in them and used a surprising pin to help take the lead. Heavyweight Justin Walker avenged a loss in the dual meet earlier in the season by scoring a first-period pin over Mike Motacki to tie the match and Tyler Hrycak’s pin at 106 put the Indians ahead for the first time, 20-14.

Northern Highlands' Dylan Myers hit a dump for a key pin.

The Highlanders responded with a major decision by Matt Murphy and Matt Vogel hit a single-leg takedown with 38 seconds left at 120 pounds to win 8-7 and put the home team back in front, 21-20.

“They won all the close matches and got the bonus points they needed, that along with the coin toss, was the difference,” said Wayne Valley head coach Gavin Bannat. “If just one match swung the other way, we would have come out on top. But to come from where we came from to get to this point with five sophomores and two freshmen in the lineup is an accomplishment in itself to be proud of.”

The Indians took the lead back on a 47-second pin by Sam Tareky and held it all the way until the final bout of the evening when, after a major decision by Dylan Myers, Gravina raced onto the match with his team down by two points to square off against Anthony Duncan. Less than a minute in, Gravina secured a takedown and that was all she wrote. Gravina rode out the remainder of the first period and then did the same for the entire the third period to earn his 100th career victory, Babitts’ 200th, and the school’s first section final berth in over a decade.

“You always feel comfortable putting the match in the hands of a kid like Nick,” said Babitts. “Wayne Valley was not the same team we wrestled back in January and they honestly put as good a scare into us as we expected. We went over every possible scenario and for the most part, it all broke the way we hoped that it would.”

Tyler Hrycak's pin at 106 gave Wayne Valley its first lead.

John Citro also won by decision for Northern Highlands (17-5). The Highlanders now move into Friday night's North 1, Group 3 section final and will travel to face top-seeded Paramus. It will be a rematch of a meeting three weeks ago when Paramus notched a 32-21 triumph. Although the match will be won or lost on the mat, one team will likely have a decided edge before the match even starts.

“The coin toss will be extremely important to either team’s success because the winner of that will be able to dictate the matchups while the other simply has to react,” added Babitts. “We know how tough Paramus is and they will be even better than when we faced them the first time. We’re a better team too and we feel just as confident going into the match. To win a section title is an incredible team accomplishment because it shows off the depth of a lineup and the balance that lineup has. Regardless, we’re going to bring our best to the mat on Friday and give it our best shot.”

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