Northern Highlands back on top with league title by Sean Farrell of The Record
ALLENDALE – Five years later, the title is coming back.
Northern Highlands held its championship banner high after going through two years near .500 and one with just a single win. The Highlanders took another step of Friday night with a 54-20 home win over Ramapo that makes them division champions for the first time since 2013. With a share of the Big North Freedom already locked up, the Highlanders easily took care of business on Senior Night to capture the outright title.
“Not being co-champions with someone else really proves to North Jersey, to our league and everyone around us that we’re capable of competing with some of the best teams,” junior Anthony Sciuto said. “We’re not to be taken lightly. We don’t have to share that title with anyone.”
Northern Highlands (11-7) is making progress under first-year coach Dan Rehain, who won 107 matches during his wrestling career in Allendale and was a two-time state qualifier. And Rehain started the night by thanking everyone on down to the stat keepers for bringing the program back on track. The Highlanders had a little extra motivation after just missing the state tournament and went out to prove a point.
“We beat three teams in the state tournament and we missed it by 0.2 points,” senior Gabe Robles said. “[We beat] Paramus, Old Tappan and Hackensack. It just made us hungrier to get that league championship. You see that last year we lost on the fifth tiebreaker to Paramus and we didn’t want that to happen again, even to share it with them. We wanted it more this year than last year.”
The turning point came at 152 with Ramapo holding a five-point lead.
Northern Highlands’ Joel Hemintakoon was losing by a 7-4 score when he pinned his opponent with just 30 seconds left in the third period. Then the Highlanders pulled away with Sciuto and Robles, two county runners-up, coming away with victories. Five of the last six rounds went to the Highlanders by forfeit.
“It really means a lot to me,” Sciuto said. “I grew up in this program. I love Highlands wrestling more than anything. Winning a league title means the world to me.”
Dumont becomes a champion
A breakout season got even better when the Huskies (10-10) became league champions for the first time in 17 years, capped off by a 48-21 win over Fort Lee. Both teams came into the night at 3-0 in Big North American play.
Coach Michael Rooney’s squad has already doubled its win total from a year ago with the help of Bergen County finalist Gianni Manginelli. That turnaround allowed Dumont to make the sectional tournament for the first time since 2000 and earn a first-round matchup with Hackettstown.