WASHINGTON TWP. -- The Graziano name is no stranger to Sussex County wrestling.
But senior Gage Graziano has carved his own path within the Hopatcong-Lenape Valley program -- winning his second career title in style with a flashy pin at 144 pounds on Saturday afternoon in the District 7 Tournament at Warren Hills Regional High School.
Graziano, who was nearly taken down to his back, was able to roll through and deck Passaic Tech senior Ali Abuharthieh with a headlock in 1:07. Graziano is the Patriots' 79th champion overall and the first to win at least two since state medalist Daniel Haws (2019, '20, '22) got his third after Eric Falleni won in consecutive seasons in 2019-20. Incidentally, he's the second Graziano to win two district titles as Doug Graziano (no relation) went back-to-back in 1997-98.
"It's definitely a big win," said Gage Graziano (33-5), a three-time district finalist who won at 138 pounds in 2023, whose father, David, wrestled for Roxbury. "Coming off last year taking third. It means a lot."
Hopatcong-Lenape Valley, which has been a co-op for the past three seasons, advanced three to next weekend's Region 2 Tournament at Mount Olive High School. Joining Graziano are senior Marc Pavese (138), also a member of the 100-wins club, and junior Alexzander Bachtler (175), who both finished third. Bachtler was involved in the wildest bout of the day -- a 26-24 win over Wayne Valley's George Calgua in the consolation round.
Graziano, now 108-32 overall, matched assistant coach Paul Grogan (108-31 from 2003-07), a two-time district champion, along with state medalists Gary Mikolay (108-17 from 1994-98) and Derek Nagy (108-22 from 1994-98) for ninth place on the Pats' all-time wins list.
But it wasn't easy as Graziano's latest finals win was perhaps the most harrowing and nearly ended in disaster.
"I don't know what happened, but it worked out," Graziano said with a laugh. 'I went for an outside trip [against Abuharthieh] and it did not go well. Once I fell, I knew I had him as weird as it was."
It made being a two-time district champion -- one of 23 to win at least two titles for the Pats -- all the more satisfying to do so with such a flourish.
"It's pretty big," Graziano said, "since getting 100 wins and all of that. I wrestled some good guys, got bumped up [in the lineup for dual meets]. Lost some, won a lot more, so it's definitely big for me [winning a district title]. Probably the highlight of my wrestling career."
Graziano, who didn't advance past the first round of wrestlebacks in three previous region appearances, is aiming a bit higher to cap such a notable career.
"My goal is to place top 12 at states," he said. "First, I have to get down there. Not a lot of guys know me, know my moves. It's definitely my goal."
District 7 results
Team standings
1. Wayne Valley (WV) 207 1/2; 2. Passaic Tech (PT) 158; 3. Warren Hills (WH) 138; 4. Roxbury (R) 133 1/2; 5. Cedar Grove (CG) 130; 6. Hopatcong-Lenape Valley (HLV) 64 1/2; 7. Mountain Lakes (ML) 54 1/2; 8. Dover (D) 45; 9. Parsippany (P) 20.
Region 2 qualifiers by school
Wayne Valley 4+2+3=9; Passaic Tech 2+3+4=9; Warren Hills 3+2+1=6; Cedar Grove 1+3+2=6; Roxbury 2+3+0=5; Hopatcong-Lenape Valley 1+0+2=3; Mountain Lakes 1+0+1=2; Dover 0+1+1=2; Parsippany 0+0+0=0
Championships
175 -- 1-Sr. Rinaldo DiGiacopo (37-4), ML, p. 2-Sr. Anthony Fedorchak (24-8), R, 3:42.
190 -- 1-Sr. Sean Van Dalinda (27-2), WV, md. 2-So. Nicolas Costantini (28-8), CG, 15-6.
215 -- 1-Sr. Adam Noufal (26-6), WV, p. 3-So. Patrick Shivas (17-15), R, :53.
285 -- 1-Sr. Jason Dixon (18-4), PT, d. 3-Jr. Benedetto Cooper (19-13), WV, 5-3.
106 -- 1-Fr. Rocco Caputo (33-3), CG, tf. 3-So. Alex Holdfield (27-6), WV, 17-1, 4:17.
113 -- 1-Jr. Augie Szamreta (31-3), WH, d. 2-Jr. Muhammad Abuhadba (25-9), 7-2.
120 -- 2-Sr. Daniel Visha (29-4), R, d. 1-Sr. Charlie Piccione (30-3), WH, 9-6.
126 -- 1-Jr. Davey Rhinehart (29-5), WH, p. 2-Jr. Malik Abuharthieh (17-16), PT, 3:52.
132 -- 1-Sr. Tyler Redfield (32-3), WH, d. 2-Sr. Connor Kerney (28-8), CG, 1-0.
138 -- 1-Sr. Noah Zindaki (32-2), WV, md. 2-So. Aidan Webb (26-9), WH, 15-4.
144 -- 1-Sr. Gage Graziano (33-5), HLV, p. 3-Sr. Ali Abuharthieh (24-10), PT, 1:07.
150 -- 1-Sr. James Conklin (31-5), PT, tf. 2-Jr. Charlie Bacinsky (28-5), R, 15-0, 1:46.
157 -- 2-Sr. Nicholas Kemmerer (26-6), R, md. 4-Jr. Pierce Asfalg (26-10), CG, 13-5.
165 -- 1-Sr. Alexander Perez (31-3), WV, md. 2-Sr. Angel Bonilla (25-10), D, 14-0.
Outstanding Wrestler Award -- Daniel Visha, Roxbury.
Coach of the Year -- Todd Schroeder, Wayne Valley.
Assistant Coach of the Year -- Rami Ratel, Wayne Valley.
Third-place consolations
106 -- 2-Fr. Nicholas Nguyen (25-11), PT, d. 4-Fr. Jaedon Montalvo (21-8), R, 3-2 UTB.
113 -- 4-Sr. Jayden Mendez (31-8), D, p. 3-Sr. Francesco DeMary (30-2), P, 1:54.
120 -- 4-Jr. Rayan Mohammad (22-13), PT, d. 3-Fr. Johnny Pignataro (21-11), WV, 5-4.
126 -- 3-Jr. Richie Galioto (20-16), CG, d. 5-Fr. Justin Tuhari (16-14), WV, 10-8.
132 -- 3-Jr. Dominic Lally (29-7), WV, md. 5-Jr. Trace Roberts (12-21), R, 12-0.
138 -- 3-Sr. Marc Pavese (27-12), HLV, d. 4-Jr. Gerard Immersi (23-13), CG, 6-3.
144 -- 2-Sr. Cole Perry (23-10), WV, d. 5-Sr. Ethan Drazek (15-19), WH, 12-5.
150 -- 3-Sr. Adam Suzay (29-4), WV, tf. 4-Jr. Jerry D'Alessio (15-17), CG, 19-4, 2:00.
157 -- 3-Jr. Tyler Whartnaby (26-9), PT, p. 1-Sr. Jakob Bell (16-15), HLV, 2:51.
165 -- 3-Sr. Tyler O'Neill (26-12), WH, p. 4-So. Nolan Monaghan (13-11), R, 5:27.
175 -- 3-Jr. Alexzander Bachtler (14-9), HLV, d. 4-Sr. George Calagua (8-9), WV, 26-24.
190 -- 6-So. Joe DiPompeo (16-15), ML, p. 4-Sr. Jeffrey Almendarez (15-17), D, 2:21.
215 -- 4-Sr. Brandon Ramirez (11-7), PT, p. 2-Sr. Sebastian Borie (14-9), ML, 3:22.
285 -- 2-Jr. Jake Saraiva (22-13), CG, p. 4-Jr. Mostafa Abdelhamed (22-12), P, 3:44.
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