Monday, March 11, 2013

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Anthony Giraldo became North Bergen's first state champion since 1983 after a 3-1 win over South Plainfield's Corey Stasenko in the 126-pound final.

ATLANTIC CITY – It was the last shot for North Bergen senior Anthony Giraldo. In Sunday’s 126-pound state final against South Plainfield standout Corey Stasenko, Giraldo wanted to make history not only for his school, his community, his family and his coaches, but also for himself in order to validate every ounce of blood and sweat he has put into his high school career. Inside his final shot at glory, Giralso took one more shot on the mat. Having not given a full commitment to shooting at Stasenko the entire match and with time winding down in the third period, Giraldo made a bold move and took the shot of his life. The rest, as they say, is history.

Giraldo hit his shot with 6 seconds left for the lone takedown of the match and he became the first state champion from North Bergen in 30 years and only the second in school history with the 3-1 triumph. Giraldo’s win capped a banner day for North Jersey wrestlers as, for the first time ever, a wrestler from Bergen, Hudson, and Passaic Counties each won individual titles on the same day and North Jersey finished with six titles overall, two each by Bergen Catholic and Don Bosco Prep.

“It’s an amazing feeling to know you’re a state champion,” said Giraldo. “Stasenko is a great wrestler and he is very hard to score against. I knew I wasn’t going to have more than one or two opportunities and I had to take advantage of it.”

Ethan Ramos became Hawthorne's second state champion by winning at 170 pounds.

Giraldo capped the North Jersey-dominated afternoon, but it was another wrestler in a similar situation that started things off. Hawthorne’s Ethan Ramos was in one of only two matchups of unbeaten wrestlers when he squared off with Jadaen Bernstein of Voorhees in the 170-pound final.

Ramos grabbed a 2-1 lead when he scored a takedown with 11 seconds left in the second period. The lead was still one with 30 seconds left when Bernstein had Ramos in trouble and appeared on the verge of a go-ahead takedown. Ramos went into survival mode and turned the tables to notch a takedown of his own with 14 seconds left to cap a 40-0 season with a 5-2 victory and a state title won in the final match of his career.

Like Giraldo, Ramos became only the second state champion in his school’s history and the first since Rusty Read won the 140-pound title in 1994. He also became the first champion from Passaic County since Tom Fazio of Lakeland won a title in 2005.

“I held onto his leg as hard as I possibly could because if I let go, he would have had the takedown,” said Ramos, who will wrestle at the University of North Carolina next year. “I worked too hard for this moment to let it go. I wasn’t going to give it up and I finally was able to turn it around on him. To win a state title is the greatest feeling in the world. I can’t imagine my senior year ending any other way.”

Bergen Catholic junior Johnny Sebastian won his second straight state title.

Next up was reigning state champ Johnny Sebastian of Bergen Catholic. He was the favorite to cruise through his bracket at 182 pounds and did so emphatically on his way to the final, leading all wrestlers by a wide margin in scoring a whopping 40 points combined in the quarterfinals and semifinals. But in the state final against David Williams of Hammonton, Sebastian faced a challenge like he has rarely seen in his high school career.

In the first minute of the match, Williams not only took down Sebastian (a rarity in itself) but he seemed to have a decided edge both physically and athletically.

“That was definitely a surprise. He was very athletic and really, really strong,” said Sebastian. “He was by far the best athlete I’ve ever wrestled. I had an idea of what to expect being he pinned a kid in 55 seconds in the semis. It shocked me how strong he started off, but it’s tough to keep up that pace for six minutes. I saw he was heavy on his front legs and I had to start using that to my advantage.”

The score was tied at 2 late in the second period when Sebastian hit a single-leg and was able to turn it into a double while simultaneously getting around Williams to earn the two points and a 4-2 lead. Williams escaped but Sebastian was able to hold off a takedown attempt late to earn a state title for the second consecutive year.

“The takedown I had felt real good because it was a move I didn’t really have in my arsenal last year,” added Sebastian. “The whole match was tough and you need to focus for the entire six minutes because one mistake could have cost me. It’s always awesome to win it down here, that’s what you work all year for.”

Bergen Catholic's Nick Suriano capped an undefeated freshman season with the 106-pound state title.

Don Bosco Prep took center stage in the next two finals at 195 and 220 pounds. Razhonn Gross was tied at 2 against Anthony Messner of Franklin heading into the third period before escaping 30 seconds in to take the lead. With 45 seconds left, he spun around Messner for the takedown and repeated as state champ in that weight class with a 5-3 victory. Bosco Sophomore Zack Chakonis made a late push, but could not get the go-ahead takedown in the final seconds and fell in the 220-pound final, 5-4, to Delsea’s Bryan Dobzanski.

Bergen Catholic got a second state champion, this one coming from freshman 106-pounder Nick Suriano. After sweeping the season series in three close matches against fellow freshman Kyle Bierdumpfel of Don Bosco Prep, Suriano again had to fight until the final buzzer to survive this one. He took a 3-0 lead into the final minute, but then he was hit with two stall points and an escape by Bierdumpfel would have forced overtime. Suriano was able to hang on to cap an undefeated season with a state title.

At 113 pounds, Don Bosco Prep’s Luis Gonzalez trailed by a point in the second period before hitting Kevin Corrigan of Toms River South with a double-leg takedown to take the lead. He maintained that lead, but not without some moments of trepidation. Corrigan got a hold of Gonzalez’s leg twice in the final minute, but was unable to complete the shot as the junior held on for his first state title after two near misses.

That set the stage for the final North Jersey wrestler of the afternoon, Giraldo. Against a physically imposing and overly aggressive Stasenko, just surviving the first period was going to be a tough task. In each of his matches leading up to the final, Stasenko dominated the first period en route to three easy victories.

Luis Gonzalez was one of two state champs from Don Bosco Prep as he took the 113-pound title.

“I knew for Anthony to win this match, he had to weather the storm first,” said North Bergen head coach Jerry Maietta. “We came in with a specific gameplan and Anthony carried it out. I wanted this state championship for him almost as bad as he wanted it for himself. Couldn’t happen to a nicer, more hard-working kid than Anthony.”

Giraldo did in fact survive a scoreless first period and escaped 33 seconds into the second period to take a 1-0 lead. It was just seconds after that which proved to be the watershed moment. Giraldo went with a half-shot more as a fake than anything else. He got his head caught by Stasenko for what could have been a takedown and all but match-clinching back points, but he quickly wiggled out of it.

“That was the point in the match that really opened my eyes,” said Giraldo. “He got a hold of my head and almost threw me. I knew if I took a shot, I had to commit to it and give it everything I had.”

With 1:10 left in the third period, Stasenko escaped to tie the score at 1 and nearly took the lead on a single-leg, but Giraldo was able to get outside the circle. Then with time winding down and overtime on the horizon, Giraldo finally saw an opening and went for it. He got a hold of Stasensko’s ankle and got his leg up in the air. Stasenko tried to hop his way out of bounds, but Giraldo got a hold of the other leg and secured the takedown with seconds to go and held on to become the first North Bergen wrestler since John Bott in 1983 to win a state title.

“I saw a chance to take a shot and it was the perfect time to do it,” added Giraldo. “I didn’t want to go to overtime and I hadn’t shot all match so I don’t think he was expecting it. This is something I’ve been working towards my whole life. It feels great to make my family proud. To be a state champion is something noone can ever take away from me.”

That closed out one of the best days ever for North Jersey wrestlers with six out of eight wrestlers who were in the finals winning. The two that lost were by one point, and one of those was to another North Jersey wrestler (Suriano). It is also the first time that wrestlers from Bergen, Passaic, and Hudson Counties won titles in the same year. While Central and South Jersey have dominated the tournament in recent years, this year it was North Jersey’s turn. With five of the six title winners returning next year, it may stay that way for years to come.

“This was a great day for North Jersey wrestling, one of the best,” said Maietta. “These kids work so hard and all the kids from this area really represented themselves well.”

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