Wrestling – Dan Nobbs’ Pin in the Final Bout Complete’s Point Boro’s 34-32 Comeback Win Over Point Beach

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POINT PLEASANT — Down by four points to rival Point Beach with the fate of the match in his hands on Senior Night, this was the dream scenario for Point Boro’s Dan Nobbs, and there was no way he was going to let it slip away.

The Panthers’ star senior pinned Point Beach’s Jacob Clement in 46 seconds at 126 pounds, completing a furious rally by Point Boro over the final seven bouts for a thrilling 34-32 Shore Conference nondivisional victory on Friday night at Memorial Middle School.

“I don’t even have words right now,” Nobbs said in the moments after his match-deciding pin. “Senior Night of my senior year and it coming down to me, this is something I’m going to remember for the rest of my life.”

“It’s fitting that it was Senior Night and the last home match, Point Boro versus Point Beach, you couldn’t draw it up any better than that,” said Point Boro head coach Pat Brady. “That’s the stuff that happens in movies.”

Nobbs’ pin in the final bout just about brought the house down, as the gym was near capacity an hour before the match began and was standing-room only by the time Lehigh introductions began. And it wasn’t just the ending that followed a Hollywood script. This match was a dandy from the start.

In order for the Panthers to get the match to Nobbs, they needed some heroics elsewhere after trailing 29-3 after the first seven bouts. Freshman Gabe Fattizzi provided that at 195 pounds, earning his first varsity win in exclamatory fashion when he pinned Point Beach freshman Vincent Storino in 2:29 to ignite Point Boro’s comeback. The Panthers would go on to win six of the final seven bouts, including five straight to close out the match.

“I knew I had to win for the team, and I knew I had to get the pin,” Fattizzi said. “It took the air out of the entire Beach crowd and brought the air back into ours.”

For a freshman new to the sport of wrestling and thrust into a pressure-packed situation, Fattizzi never wavered on his intentions.

“I knew I had to get the pin to get the energy back in the crowd and start the comeback, and that’s what I went out there to do,” Fattizzi said.

“When he started cranking the Beach wrestler over I pretty much jumped out of my shoes,” Brady said.

Fattizzi just began wrestling this season at the urging of his father, who wrestled at Cliffside Park during his high school days.

“My dad was the captain of his team and he really pushed me to do it,” Fattizzi said. “I didn’t think I was going to thrive, and in my first year this is definitely one of the happiest moments of my life.”

Point Beach won the coin flip and decided to run its lineup up starting at 132 pounds, bumping sophomore Roddy Rupp up to face Jack Erhardt. The Panthers junior jumped all over Rupp with two takedowns in the first period, including one at the buzzer, for a quick 4-1 lead. Erhardt had the only offensive points of the bout and went on to win by 9-3 decision to give Point Boro (14-5) a 3-0 lead.

Point Beach would win the next six bouts, however, to open a 26-point lead halfway through the dual. Standout junior John Finnerty won by 23-8 technical fall in 5:42 over Point Boro junior Cory DeFeo at 138 pounds, and junior Giancarlo Crivelli won by 15-5 major decision over junior Cortland Hackel at 145 to give the Garnet Gulls (17-1) a 9-3 advantage.

At 152 pounds, senior Zach Schaller scored with an escape and a takedown in the second period for a 3-1 win over Pete Gencarelli to make it 12-3 before a pair of falls in the next two bouts appeared to seal Point Boro’s fate.

Cory Gross threw Brandon DeFeo to his back and pinned him in 1:35 at 160 pounds, then Jack Baker hit a gator roll on Gene Franceschini at 170 pounds for a fall in 20 seconds. In the blink of an eye, Point Beach had pushed its lead to 24-3 after six bouts.

Senior Jake Fioretti kept the ball rolling with a 25-10 technical fall in 5:21 over Point Boro freshman Ryan Sansone at 182, giving the Gulls what looked to be an insurmountable 29-3 lead through seven bouts.

“Honestly, I thought we were out of it,” Nobbs said.

“We needed something to happen, that’s for sure,” Brady said.

And that’s where Fattizzi came through. He and Storino were tied up near the boundary when he tossed Storino to his back early in the second period and finished off the momentum-swinging pin, cutting Point Beach’s lead to 29-9.

Point Beach junior Forrest Gardner gave the Gulls their seventh win of the match when he scored a third-period takedown to edge Josh Vitale, 5-3 at 220 pounds, and extend his team’s lead to 32-9 with six bouts left. But the Panthers were closing with strength, and both sides knew what that could possibly mean.

“When Fattizzi pinned it started going through me and Pete Gencarelli’s heads that we could come back and win now,” Nobbs said.

Junior Dom Infante pinned Cade Watkins in nine seconds at heavyweight, bringing the crowd to life so much that the whistle signifying his pin could barely be heard. It was now 32-15 with four weights coming where Point Boro was expected to get bonus points, and of course the Panthers had their superstar waiting in the final bout.

Freshman Ben Sabo won by 13-4 major decision over fellow freshman Will Jarvis at 106 before junior Blake Dale pinned freshman Aiden Kelly in 1:41 at 113 pounds to trim the deficit to 32-25. Point Boro was close, but still needed sophomore Dylan Davies to win at 120 pounds to get the match to Nobbs. He did his job, winning 6-0 over Point Beach freshman Jared Hoehler to make it 32-28 and set up Nobbs for the win.

Nobbs wasted no time throwing Clement to his back, turning him mere seconds after the opening whistle. Clement got back to his stomach, but Nobbs turned him once more, stacking him up in the middle of the mat as the home crowd roared behind him. He pressed Clement’s shoulders to the mat 46 seconds in, completing the amazing comeback for the two-point victory.

“I’m going to be talking about this 20 years from now, 30 years from now with all these guys, remembering when we beat Beach by two points in the last match,” Nobbs said. “This was awesome. This was a great night.”

The sectional tournament seeds have already been announced with both teams qualifying for the state tournament, so nothing was on the line in that respect. Point Beach and Point Boro aren’t in the same division, so it had no bearings there. What Friday’s match meant to each program is bigger. The atmosphere in the gym painted a picture of a time when a sporting event could envelop a pair of towns.

There were no overarching ramifications stemming from Friday night’s match. Except if you live in Point Boro or Point Beach.

“This is for bragging rights for who runs the town,” Nobbs said. “We painted the boardwalk black tonight.”

Box Score

Point Boro 34, Point Beach 32

132: Jack Erhardt (Boro) d. Roddy Rupp 9-3

138: John Finnerty (Beach) tf. Cory DeFeo 5:42 (23-8)

145: Giancarlo Crivelli (Beach) md. Courtland Hackel 15-5

152: Zach Schaller (Beach) d. Pete Gencarelli 3-1

160: Cory Gross (Beach) p. Brandon DeFeo 1:35

170: Jack Baker (Beach) p. Gene Franceschini 0:20

182: Jake Fioretti (Beach) tf. Ryan Sansone 5:21 (25-10)

195: Gabe Fattizzi (Boro) p. Vincent Storino 2:29