Wrestling: Edison's Povolac looking to ride the momentum

ATLANTIC CITY – Billy Povalac, who has proved to be among the state's most entertaining grapplers, epitomizing Edison High School's style out of the neutral position with flair, is making a remarkable run through the NJSIAA Tournament wrestleback rounds.

The 145-pound senior rebounded from Friday night's devastating 8-7 preliminary round loss to Don Bosco Prep's Dominick Mandarino by winning four consecutive bouts on Saturday to position himself for at least a sixth-place finish.

Povalac (41-5) joins Monroe 132-pounder Sal Profaci and Sayreville heavyweight Anthony Porcaro, who both lost in the semifinals, as the lone Greater Middlesex Conference wrestlers in medal contention.

Edison teammates Robert Cleary (120) and Keith Serio (285) advanced to the third round of wrestlebacks, where each endured a loss and finished one win shy of making Sunday's medal rounds.

"We came down here with the intention of not being fans, but with the desire to come here and compete to the best of our level," Edison head coach Tom White said. "We like how the lineup shook out and how we had a guy low (Cleary), middle (Povalac) and high (Serio). We are showing that our style of wrestling can compete at this level. It's great for Edison. It puts us in the spotlight a little bit."

Fellow league members Bryan McLaughlin (Woodbridge 152-pounder), Michael Petite (Piscataway 160-pounder) and Michael Gargano (Old Bridge 182-pounder) also fell one win short of taking a spot on the podium.

The consolation finals will be wrestled at 11 a.m. at Boardwalk Hall, followed by the championship bouts at 3 p.m.

After immediately falling into the loser's bracket, Povalac decisioned Hanover Park's Christian Bassolino 5-3, Delbarton's Travis Vasquez 3-2 and avenged the preliminary round loss to Mandarino by pinning him in 3:02 in the wrestleback quarterfinals.

Vasquez scored a 1-0 decision over Povalac in last year's consolation semifinals. He went on to place third, while Povalac finished fifth. Povalac eliminated Vasquez from this year's tournament with that 3-2 decision in the third round of wrestlebacks.

"We weren't sure how he was going to respond," said assistant coach Scott Gerba of Povalac's mindset following Friday night's loss. "He showed up today with a great attitude. He wanted to wrestle. To beat a kid who beat you in the first round is a tough thing to do mentally, and he definitely performed and he did it with an exclamation point.

"Not taking first or being in the finals is disappointing, but he's beating high level quality people on the wrestleback trail. When a guy like Profaci doesn't make the finals, this is a very difficult tournament."

Povalac said he entered the wrestleback rounds feeling little pressure.

"After the first loss I got down on myself," he said, "but things happen. Once I got on a roll from the first match, it was all downhill from there. I just kept going and going."

Staff writer Greg Tufaro: gtufaro@mycentraljersey.com