SPORTS

Wrestling: Woodbridge's LaGrippo reaches final

Andy Mendlowitz
@andy_mendlowitz
Woodbridge's Bryan McLaughlin goes for the pin against Delbarton's Cole Kreshpane at 170 pounds during their quarterfinal match at the NJSIAA Individual Championships on Saturday in Atlantic City.

ATLANTIC CITY - Alex LaGrippo traveled to Atlantic City to finally win a coin toss.

In an all-Greater Middlesex Conference heavyweight semifinal Saturday night at the NJSIAA Individual Championships, Woodbridge High School’s LaGrippo nipped Sayreville’s Michael Porcaro, 3-2, in the ultimate tiebreaker. LaGrippo advances to Sunday’s 3 p.m. finals at Boardwalk Hall.

LaGrippo becomes the second wrestler in school history to make a state final and is the only GMC wrestler to advance this season. With the win, he also earned his 100th career victory.

“It’s a great moment,” LaGrippo said “I started wrestling when I was a freshman. I didn’t really think I was ever going to be on this level. I’ve been struggling all year to get where I wanted to be. Now that I’m finally here, I hope that I can win a state title.”

READ: SOUTH PLAINFIELD'S HEILMANN, DELVECCHIO PUNCH TICKET TO SEMIFINALS

MORE: BOUND BROOK SHOWING DOMINANCE AT BOARDWALK HALL

RELATED: SATURDAY'S QUARTERFINAL & SEMIFINAL RESULTS FROM BOARDWALK HALL

LaGrippo lost to Mike’s older brother, Anthony, five times and twice to Michael this season. (Anthony wrestled as a post-graduate this year at Blair Academy). In their previous meeting in the GMC final on Jan. 28, Mike Porcaro won 4-3 in the ultimate tiebreaker. On Dec. 21, Porcaro won 2-1 again in the ultimate tiebreaker.

One of the reasons came down to simple luck as Porcaro won both coin tosses. Winning a coin toss is important because whoever scores first can choose if he wants top or bottom in the ultimate tiebreaker. Since top heavyweights often are tied 1-1 entering overtime, choosing bottom in the second period to try to get the first escape point is crucial. In the ultimate tiebreaker, it's hard to ride out your opponent for 30 seconds, so most wrestlers choose bottom.

Saturday, LaGrippo did just that, escaping for the win.

“He won a coin toss, one time, finally against a Porcaro,” Woodbridge coach Mike Carbone said. “He’s lost seven coin tosses to Porcaros. … He was 0-7 against the Porcaro family.”

Part of the reason LaGrippo and Mike Porcaro have such tight matches with no takedowns is because of their styles and body types.

“They’re both big, physical kids,” Carbone said. "Mike is so big and long, and Alex is short and squatty. So they both have issues getting in on one another. Alex is not long enough to get to Mike’s legs. Mike isn’t short enough to be able to get under LaGrippo’s leverage. So, you end up in that type of, you know, bull in the ring situation where they’re really battling and trying to get points.”

The other Barrons wrestler to make a state final was Joe Bubenheimer in the early 2000s.

LaGrippo has a stomach bug and threw up during an injury timeout Saturday. It was the third time it happened during the tournament.

“I felt quicker on my feet (after it happened),” LaGrippo said. “Maybe it was a good thing.”

Other GMC semifinalists

The weekend is a two-elimination tournament. The top eight finishers earn medals and get on the podium. Winners in Wrestleback Round 4 on Saturday night were guaranteed to medal, while the losers were eliminated. Wrestlers who reached the semifinals clinched a medal. Besides LaGrippo, eight GMC wrestlers secured a medal.

In the other semifinals, the GMC had a tough round, going 0-4.

At 120, South Plainfield's Joe Heilmann wrestled Delbarton junior Patrick Glory (42-0), who is ranked No. 1 in the country in the InterMat’s national rankings. Last season, Glory finished second at 113, and Heilmann placed fifth at 106.

Glory got a takedown in just under a minute to lead 2-0 and got three back points to take a 5-0 lead into the second period. That grew into a 15-0 technical fall in 5:31.

South Plainfield's Joe Heilmann wrestles East Brunswick's Mark Schleifer during their NJSIAA quarterfinal on Saturday at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

At 160, Piscataway’s Michael Petite lost to Bound Brook’s Mekhi Lewis 16-4 in their third meeting in three weeks. Lewis pinned him twice previously, in 2:41 in the District 18 final and in 31 seconds in the Region V final. This time, Petite hung in and made Lewis work, trailing 6-2 after the first period. But the Bound Brook top-seeded, undefeated and defending champ, Lewis won at 145 in 2016, kept the pressure on throughout. He led 8-3 after the first period and took Petite to his back in the final seconds for the victory.

At 170, Woodbridge’s third-seeded Bryan McLaughlin met Delsea’s second-seeded Bill Janzer in a rematch of 2016’s third place match at 160 won by Janzer, 7-6.

After a scoreless first, in which, Janzer nearly got a takedown on the edge, McLaughlin escaped early in the second period for the 1-0 lead. In the third, Janzer escaped with 1:26 remaining. He got in on the right leg, trying to coral it in, making Janzer hop on one leg near the edge, but they went out of bounds. With under 10 seconds remaining, Janzer nearly got a takedown on the edge.

In the sudden victory, Janzer was able to shrug behind him for a 3-1 win with 18 seconds remaining. Janzer walked over and put his arm on McLaughlin as he consoled with his coaches.

At 220, South Plainfield’s seventh-seeded Zach DelVecchio upset the second-seeded Robert Melise of Phillipsburg 2-1 in the ultimate tiebreaker. That secured his second state medal in two tries, having placed seventh last season.

In the semifinal, he lost 4-2 in overtime tiebreaker one against Howell’s third-seeded Eric Keosseian in an eventful extra session. Keosseian escaped with one second left in the first tiebreaker. In the second tiebreaker, DelVecchio escaped right away to it at 2-2. The South Plainfield sophomore won the coin toss, being if it went to the ultimate tiebreaker he could have chosen bottom. But the Howell wrestler scored a high-crotch takedown on the edge of the mat in the final seconds for the 4-2 victory.

Blood round and consolations

Wrestleback 4 is known as the tournament’s blood round — a state medal is on the line. It’s also about guts, in some cases coming back from emotional, tough defeats in the previous match. In total, the GMC went 3-8 in the round.

At 113, East Brunswick’s Mitchell Polito had to shake off a 3-1 semifinal loss in overtime sudden victory to the top-seeded Anthony Mininno of Gateway/Woodbury 3-1.

The eighth-seeded junior did just that by controlling Richie Koehler of Christian Brothers to win 10-6.

At 126, fellow East Brunswick wrestler Alec Gleason, the 11th seed, beat the Highland Regional’s 25th-seeded Justin Cariss 8-4 to stop his Cinderella run.

At 145, talk about guts — Monroe’s eighth-seeded Nick Lombard bounced back from a 6-5 loss in the first match Friday to win four straight consolation matches. In the blood round, it culminated with an 8-4 over the fifth-seeded Cole Corrigan of Toms River South.

Before the semifinals, there were three wrestleback rounds before the semifinals. In Round 1, GMC wrestlers went 11-5; in Round 2 went 13-9; in Round 3 went 10-3.