Hasbrouck Heights soars to first NJIC wrestling title

 

HASBROUCK HEIGHTS – The Hasbrouck Heights wrestling team has experienced its share of drama over the last year.

After two-near misses last winter in championship tilts, the small Group 1 school knew it was just a matter of time before they would be celebrating a dramatic finish of its own.

The Aviators earned that on Friday night and rewrote history in the process when they defeated Manchester, 41-22 to capture their first North Jersey Interscholastic Conference title in front of an overflow home crowd in Bergen County.

“We had an opportunity for a little piece of history. Something like this doesn’t go away. We talk the same way about all the other banners in our building. When your kids are here wrestling or playing any other sports, that’s always going to be here,” Hasbrouck Heights coach Kristopher Freund said. “They’ve been motivated for that. It was one of our goals at the beginning of the year to get back to this final. I couldn’t be more proud of these guys.”

Hasbrouck Heights (18-1) lost in the NJIC final last year to Emerson-Park Ridge, 36-33 on the last bout. Until Friday, the Cavos had been the only program to claim a NJIC title, having won seven championships in-a-row.

Less than a week after that heartbreaking defeat, the Aviators came up short at Hanover Park in the sectional final, falling to the East Hanover school, 34-33 on criteria.

“The best part of our team is their perseverance and their character. We haven’t shied away from anyone,” Freund said. “We’ve been to three-consecutive state sectional finals and we want to get back to another one. We’re hungry and we work. Losses don’t put us down. They just motivate us. It’s special.”

The Aviators wasted no time marking their territory, racing to a 15-0 lead on four straight wins to open the match. Drew Eckert (106), Nicolas Carvajal (113) and Mateo Toledo (120), all came back to win tight decisions before Nico Nipitella (126) won by fall.

Toledo, a freshman, kept the momentum going when he erased a seven-point deficit and came back to win 14-11 to give his team an early 9-0 lead.

“For me, one of the biggest things is that I never really focused on winning. It was more about scoring points,” Toledo said. When I saw that I was down 7-0 I said to myself ‘let it fly’ and let the points go on the board.”

Manchester (13-4), the NJIC Colonial champions, stopped the bleeding when Adam Bagdough pulled out a 10-7 decision in overtime in his 132-pound bout against Nicholas Gonzalez.

Both teams traded wins the next two bouts with Kyle Von Seidelmann of Hasbrouck Heights winning by fall at 138 pounds and Jihaad Fulmore of Manchester earning bonus points with a 13-3 major decision in the next bout.

“It was tough. They’re (Manchester) a hard-fought team. We knew that coming in. We don’t take anyone lightly,” Freund said. “We did that against New Milford and all the teams we faced this year. We wrestle hard regardless of who it is.”

Heights took four of the final six bouts with Gabe Thomas (175) clinching the match with a fall in 2:35 to stretch the Aviators lead to 38-13.

Hasbrouck Heights won nine of 14 bouts and scored bonus points in five of them.

The Aviators, the regular season Meadowlands champions, stretched their win streak to 15 straight with its last loss at Group 3 power Old Tappan on Jan. 4.

“I think we have a great program. We continue to build. Someone like me was thinking about private schools but there was never a doubt I was going to Hasbrouck Heights,” Toledo said. “I think there’s definitely more to come the next couple of years. Hopefully by senior year I’m walking out of here with a few more rings.”

Both teams now shift attention to the NJSIAA team tournament which gets underway on Monday. Hasbrouck Heights is the No. 2 seed in North 2, Group 1 and will host No. 7 seed Belvidere in the opening round.

Manchester, the No. 7 seed in North 1, Group 2, will return to Bergen County where it will take on No. 2 seed Pascack Valley.

“When I got here I wanted to change the culture. We’ve always had state-caliber guys here, but as a team we weren’t filling lineups and we weren’t getting the noise out,” Freund said. “To see a packed crowd and seeing the fans and little guys come out on the mat for the coin toss, that’s the energy we’re trying to bring.”

Hasbrouck Heights 41, Manchester Regional 22
Weight	Summary
106	Drew Eckert (Hasbrouck Heights) over Giovanni De Jesus (Manchester Regional) (Dec 17-14)
113	Nicolas Carvajal (Hasbrouck Heights) over Hamza Hemaid (Manchester Regional) (Dec 10-6)
120	Mateo Toledo (Hasbrouck Heights) over Ayden Cruz (Manchester Regional) (Dec 14-11)
126	Nico Nipitella (Hasbrouck Heights) over Elias Correa (Manchester Regional) (Fall 0:33)
132	Roberto Vargas (Manchester Regional) over Nicholas Gonzalez (Hasbrouck Heights) (SV-1 10-7)
138	Kyle Von Seidelmann (Hasbrouck Heights) over Adam Bagdough (Manchester Regional) (Fall 1:28)
144	Jihaad Fulmore (Manchester Regional) over Nicholas Haines (Hasbrouck Heights) (MD 13-3)
150	Joshua Vasquez (Manchester Regional) over Jake Olivero (Hasbrouck Heights) (Fall 2:11)
157	Emil Belyayev (Hasbrouck Heights) over Narell Ford (Manchester Regional) (Fall 1:09)
165	Eoin Maloney (Hasbrouck Heights) over Nate Boston (Manchester Regional) (TF 16-0 0:00)
175	Gabriel Thomas (Hasbrouck Heights) over Jeremyah Davis (Manchester Regional) (Fall 2:35)
190	Khaleel Santiago (Manchester Regional) over Harris Krommenhoek (Hasbrouck Heights) (Dec 8-7)
215	Kishon Hamilton (Manchester Regional) over Daniel Amendola (Hasbrouck Heights) (Fall 0:51)
285	Noel Cruz (Hasbrouck Heights) over Maximilan Martinez (Manchester Regional) (Dec 9-2)

                    *Individual Match Results courtesy of TAPinto Hasbrouck Heights/Wood-Ridge/Teterboro