Saturday, February 16, 2013

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Thomas Cosgriff capped a five-match run of victories with a pin at 195 pounds for Northern Highlands, which won its first-ever state sectional title with a 35-27 win over Paramus in the North 1, Group 3 final.

ALLENDALE – In front of a nearly packed house ready to explode with the first sign of good news, it was pretty quite through the first four matches of Friday night's North 1, Group 3 state sectional final. The first four matches all went the distance, all of them yielded the minimum three team points and when they were over, Northern Highlands, the top seed and the home team, had lost three of them. While it might not have been evident on the scoreboard just yet, the tide had already turned in the favor of Northern Highlands, which was looking for its first-ever state sectional championship against Paramus, the defending champion that beat the Highlanders in last season's final.

“We were the underdog, we knew that coming in, and we needed bonus points in every match where we might have even the slightest advantage,” said Paramus head coach Steve Klass. “We did not get them and it really cost us.”

Paramus had to settle for a 9-3 lead before Northern Highlands got to the meat of its lineup. Jake Knight's major decision at 152 pounds kicked off a run of five straight victories and the Highlanders went on to a 35-27 victory that gave them their long-sought state sectional championship.

Paramus' Nick Spinoso celebrating his 1-0 win at 145 pounds.

“I can finally breath. Probably for the first time since December 1, I feel like the pressure is off,” said Northern Highlands head coach Rick Babbits. “Coaches know all the matchups and who should win at what weight, but you can't count on that stuff once the match starts. It comes down to each individual match and how well that kid wrestles on that night. You can never take it easy against a Paramus team that is well coached, that is well-conditioned and I never relaxed until it was officially over.”

After Andrew Somple opened the night with a 3-0 win at 126 pounds for Northern Highlands, Paramus got three straight wins from Justin Cochran (12-5 at 132), Laith Abwini (4-2 at 138) and Nick Spinoso, who finished off his trilogy against Highlands' Sean Kelly with a 1-0 win at 145 to give the Spartans the 9-3 lead. Spinoso won the first bout between the two in the BCCA Holiday Tournament and Kelly won in the regular season rematch three weeks ago before Spinoso took the rubber match when Kelly was hit with his second stall with 19 seconds left in the third period for the bout's only point. But that was the high-water mark for Paramus, which was behind 23-9 by the time it won its next match.

Nick Gravina, Highlands' four-time county champion and four-time state medalist, had his hands full with Paramus' Brandon Lopresti at 160, giving up the first takedown and trailing 2-0 after the first period, but rebounded for a 12-5 major decision to give Highlands the lead for good at 11-9.

Jared Ibelli's pin at 113 pounds sealed the win for No. Highlands.

Gravina, who will wrestle at Rutgers University next year, has piled up personal accolades over his four-year varsity career, got to experience the sharing of a title with teammates for the first time.

“It feels fantastic. It's fun to see the way everyone reacted to accomplishing something together. We are all ecstatic right now,” said Gravina. “Now this whole program knows that this is possible if they all stick together and hopefully they will win a lot more after I leave. But I am glad we get to share this feeling tonight.”

If there was one match that went against the grain, it was at 170 where TJ Hurwitt got the nod for Northern Highlands. When the two teams met in the regular season, a 34-22 Highlands victory, Paramus' Nick Bucci pulled a mild upset of Brandon Latierno. This time, Latierno bumped up to 182, opening the door for Hurwitt, who pulled off a four-point move midway through the first period, led 6-2 after four minutes and then fought off a late takedown attempt to pull off a 7-6 victory.

Hurwitt, a junior, has been a part-time starter this season depending on match-ups, but he seized the opportunity on Friday night to give Highlands a 14-9 lead.

Matt Tozzi's pin at 220 pounds got Paramus back to within 23-15 with four matches remaining.

“I did not expect to go out there against that kid. When we wrestled them in the regular season I saw [Bucci] beat Latierno, one of our best guys, who always beats me, so I didn't know what to expect,” said Hurwitt. “It was just a crazy feeling when I got off the mat knowing I secured that win. I was so tired toward the end of it and my lead was almost gone, but I knew I had to stick it out for my team.”

Latierno followed with a 3-2 win at 182 and Thomas Cosgriff capped the five-match run of success with a pin midway through the second period to give Highlands a 23-9 lead. Paramus responded with its only two pins of the night as Matt Tozzi pinned with 30 seconds left in the second period at 220 and Brandon Monsalvas got his stoppage late in the first period at 285 to get the Spartans back to with 23-21 with three bouts remaining.

With Joe Trovato waiting for a chance to seal any potential Paramus comeback in the final bout of the night at 120, Highlands never let it get that far. Alfonse DiMaria pinned in 3:43 at 106 and Jared Ibelli did the same late in the third period at 113 to seal the win and render Trovato's pin to end the match little more than window dressing.

“I was pretty much thinking that I had to get the momentum back for our team. We had lost two straight matches, it was close in the team score and I had to come through,” said DiMaria. “I am a cradle guy, I am always looking for it and it is my main move. I've pinned a lot of people with it, but he broke it twice on me. When I finally got it the last time, there was no way I was going to let it go.”

For Babbits, the sectional title has been a long time coming and he has big plans with his new-found success,

“We'll talk about it on The Wrestling Show, the greatest show ever,” said Babbits. “I can't wait.”

Editor's note: The Wrestling Show, NorthJerseySports.com's original multimedia series, can be heard late every Monday night/early Tuesday morning right here on NorthJerseySports.com. To catch up on previous episodes, visit our Multimedia Page.

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