Seidenberg comes up short at state wrestling tourney
Raritan junior places second in Atlantic City; CBA's Favia places fifth
BY DOUG McKENZIE Correspondent
Atlantic City can be a magical place. It can also break your heart. This past weekend, the very best high school wrestlers in the state converged on Boardwalk Hall to try to stake their claims as the best of the best, as the NJSIAA State Wrestling Championship returned to the historic venue.

JEFF GRANIT staff A dejected Dan Seidenberg of Raritan High School lies on the mat after losing 3-1 in overtime to Brendan Ard of Watching Hills in the 171-pound championship bout at the NJSIAA wrestling tournament. Raritan assistant coach Eric Pritchard reacts to the loss.

For two local wrestlers, Raritan's Dan Seidenberg and CBA's Joe Favia, the weekend offered an opportunity to prove they are to be included in any discussions about the state elite's wrestlers.

And while they both accomplished that feat, neither of them was able to achieve the ultimate goal of capturing an elusive state title.

For Seidenberg, Sunday in Atlantic City ended in disappointment for the second year in a row. After looking dominant in his first three matches on Friday and Saturday, the top-seeded 171-pound junior was unable to seal the deal in the final, dropping a gut-wrenching 3-1 overtime match to Watchung Hill's Brendan Ard in the day's final championship bout. Ard took Seidenberg down with just four seconds left in the first overtime period to win, 3-1, and hand the Rocket wrestler his second straight runner-up finish in A.C.

Seidenberg entered the match undefeated, having tech falled West Deptford's Jack Flanney, 15-0, on Friday, then pinning Hasbrouck Heights' Marc Peck in 1:00 on Saturday. He then beat Madison's Kyle Kaufman, 8-0, in Saturday's semifinals to improved to 41-0 on the season, and reach the final.

In Ard, Seidenberg was facing an opponent with something in common, as both grapplers lost to Jackson's Ken Carney in last year's tournament - Ard in the semis and Seidenberg in the finals.

Once the match started, both wrestlers were feeling each other out. Seidenberg scored the bout's first point in the second period on an escape, however, Ard was able to tie the score when Seidenberg let him up in the third, hoping to set up a winning takedown.

Once the overtime started, it was Seidenberg who was the aggressor, continually shooting for Ard's leg. On his final attempt, however, Ard avoided the shot and grabbed Seidenberg's leg, eventually scoring the winning takedown just four seconds before the buzzer.

Following the match, Seidenberg was visibly upset. However, with another year to go, he will be back next year looking once again to become Raritan's first state champion.

And it's quite possible that to do it, hewill have to get throughArd,who is also a junior.

CBA's Favia came toAtlantic City hoping to emerge a champion in the state's toughest weight class.

It wasn't that the 160-pound class necessarily had the deepest collection of talent. It was the fact that Jackson Memorial's ScottWinston was sitting atop the depth chart. Winston, who went on to win his third state title with a pin of Sacred Heart's Scott Kelly in the final, finished his career 137-0, becoming the first wrestler in state history to finish his career undefeated (with 100 more wins).

Favia, however, was not ducking anyone, and was actually hoping to get a shot at Winston.

"I wanted to give him (Winston) a fight and let him know that I wasn't scared of him, but it didn'twork out thatway," he said.

As it turned out, Favia did go out a winner, but only after a heart-breaking pair of defeats earlier in the tournament.

Favia's run opened with a 6-2 win over South Plainfield's Mark Wagner on Friday. He then beat Newark Academy's John Stemlicht, 11-10 to get to the quarterfinals, where he beat Camden Catholic's Dakota Moore, 6-5.

In the semifinals, Favia took Kelly into overtime, where he got beat by a takedown, giving Kelly the shot at Winston in the final, and sending the Colt to the consolation bracket.

In his first consolation bout, Favia again fell in overtime, losing to Bridgewater Raritan's Wayne Hampton, 5-3.

It was a disappointing turn of events for Favia, who seemingly was gaining confidence with every match leading up to the semifinals.

"I was a takedown away from the finals and a takedown away from the third/fourth match, like I said, it breaks your heart," he said. "I came out here wanting to be a state champ and I knew what I was up against."

That set up a fifth-place bout with Don Bosco Prep's Nick Vetterlein, who also lost to Kelly, 3-0, in the quarterfinals.

Vetterlein proved to be a very aggressive opponent for Favia, however, the Colt senior remained poised and controlled the bout en route to a 6-3 win, and a fifthplace finish.

"I knew he was going to be a fighter, and I knew that once I took him down and got ahead he was going to try and break and do some stupid stuff," said Favia following the bout. "So I pretty much just hung in there with him and let him ram into my head knowing he's not going to go through me.

"After the first period I got that takedown in and I knew he was going to break after that. I watched him in an all-star match, so I knew that after I got the first takedown I'd be in control for the rest of the match."

Bleeding from his lip, Favia was able to put his accomplishment in perspective following the match.

"It feels pretty good," he said. "I wanted to end on a win. I came out here fighting. I lost two in overtime, and it was pretty heartbreaking, but you've got to come back and finish your business."

Overall it was a great day for the Shore Conference, as a record seven Shore grapplers earned state titles, including Winston and two of his Jackson teammates, Tyler Biscaha (103) and Sean Byrnes (145), who beat friend and rival Steve Santos, of Brick Memorial, 7-1, in the final. Howell's Joe Langel won the 112- pound title, where he beat Ocean's Mike Berardesco, while Toms River East's Vinnie DelleFave won at 119. Manchester's Jimmy Lawson became the first state champion in his school's history by upsetting Harry Turner of Howell in the final, 4-3, while Ocean's Nick Menditto won his second straight title, capturing the 152- pound crown with a 10-2 win over J.P. Stevens' Greg Zannetti.

In the consolations, Shore wrestlers went 7-3, with two third-place finishes, while a total of 22 conference wrestlers were place-winners overall.

As they did last year, Shore Conference grapplers proved once again that the very best wrestling in New Jersey is found right here in the center of the state.