Has. Hts.-Wood-Ridge loses final

TOMS RIVER — Hasbrouck Heights/Wood-Ridge struck a blow for Bergen County before striking out in the Group 1 wrestling final.

After a stirring comeback over North Warren in the morning semifinals, Paulsboro hammered the Aviators, 59-10, to win its 24th straight Group 1 title Sunday at the Ritacco Center.

"They are awesome," said Aviators coach Mike Scuilla. "What we have to do is we have to take it one step at a time, and the first step is to wrestle the best, then you train to beat the best.

"Next year, I expect to be down here again, hopefully, with a better shot to dethrone them."

Yet Scuilla couldn't help but be proud of his team for battling back to beat North Warren to reach its first Group 1 final.

"Not too many North Jersey schools have ever won a match down here," said Scuilla. "I just wanted to make the argument that maybe we should be ranked in the state, and be considered for that Bergen County Group 1-2 Team of the Year."

Against North Warren, the Aviators got crucial wins early from Mike Sweeney and Dan Davenport to build a 21-9 lead, but the Patriots won the next five bouts to go on top, 33-21, and were one win away from clinching the win. They wouldn't get it.

145-pounder Kyle Antoine got past Luke Stefanacci, 5-2, to pull the Aviators to within 33-24, then Scuilla got creative.

He bumped up Andrew Nass, a returning district place-winner, to 152, even though Nass has been a sub for most of the season.

Nass responded with his biggest win of the year, pinning Dan Lasso in the second period, cutting the Patriots lead to three points.

This meant the match would hinge on the result at 160, and, instead of using senior captain Bob Calderone, Scuilla bumped up Marc Peck, his normal 152-pounder, to face Shane Crone.

"[Bob] is a captain, he is a team player and we were going to use him if we just had to stay off our back at 160, but we needed the two wins, and we knew we had a better chance to win at 152 with Nass," said Scuilla.

After a scoreless first period, Peck got a takedown late in the second, which was important because it meant the Aviators would win on criteria if the match ended in a tie.

But Peck eased all doubts as he headlocked a desperate Crone at the buzzer for a five-point move and a 12-2 major decision.

"We were telling him, you only have to win and we'll win," said Scuilla.

"But it's nicer to win by a real margin and not have to go to a tiebreaker. We beat them on the mat, 34-33."