Gino Fortebuono ’01
Career Record: 136-25, D11 Champ, 2x Regional Champ, 2x State Medalist, State Champ
Tournament Championships: 2x Reno Champ, 2x Manheim Champ
2001 – 130 lbs.: District Runner Up, Regional Runner-Up, State Champ (40-3)
2000 – 130 lbs.: District Fifth, Regional Runner-Up, State Fourth (36-6)
1999 – 125 lbs.: District Runner-Up, Regional Champ, State Qualifier (31-7)
1998 – 112 lbs.: District Champ, Regional Champ, State Qualifier (29-9)
The eccentric and eclectic Fortebuono was one of the most talented, wide open, and entertaining wrestlers to come through Easton, who reversed years of Hershey disappointment by winning a classic state final to leave Easton a champion.
As a freshman, Fortebuono broke into the Easton lineup at 112 pounds and racked up bonus points in his first five varsity bouts. He came away with a medal in his first trip to Reno, taking sixth place as the Rovers finished sixth as a team. Easton made their first trip to the Mid-Atlantic Classic (now called Beast of the East) and Fortebuono became the first and only Easton finalist in Beast history when he piled up five straight victories before falling in finals. Fortebuono won his third tournament medal of the month when he earned third place at Manheim. Fortebuono lost back-to-back tight matches to future All Americans in January when Mario Stuart (Liberty) nipped him in overtime and Mark Jayne (St. Edward) won 4-2 in the Eagles romp over the Red Rovers. But that kicked off a twelve match win streak for the freshman, that included a D11 title, precariously won by riding out Brad Meichur (Nazareth) in overtime to extend “The Streak” as Easton’s only D11 champ in 1998. He’d dance through raindrops again at Regionals with a 12-10 overtime win in semis and a 10-9 win in finals to join Malcolm Purdy and Jack Cuvo as freshman Northeast Regional champions from Easton. Fortebuono’s run would end in Hershey with a tight 4-3 loss in his opening match to Mike Diaz (DuBois) before getting pinned by Mike May (Derry) on the back side.
As a sophomore, Fortebuono opened the season with an 8-3 win over state finalist Matt Edwards (North Schuylkill). Fortebuono was Easton’s only finalist at the Reno Tournament of Champions, losing to Richie Cordova (Wasatch, UT) in the finals. He made his first Manheim final the following weekend, falling to Jeremy Lucas (Bald Eagle Area) for a runner-up finish. Fortebuono came up huge in Easton’s upset of national #1 Blair Academy when he beat National Prep finalist Zac Stevens, 10-6 in a run of five straight Easton wins in the 31-23 dual meet victory. Fortebuono tasted his first local defeat in the D11 Dual semifinals when he met up in the first installment of his classic rivalry with Northampton’s Seth Lisa. As would happen many, many times in their series, Lisa-Fortebuono I went to overtime, with the KKid star scoring an overtime takedown to win 4-2. Round II took place at the D11 tournament finals, where this time Fortebuono got hit with a third period stalling point to lose to Lisa 2-1 and deny him a second D11 title. But Fortebuono’s big weekend came at Northeast Regionals, when he knocked off two-time state champion and three-time finalist Anthony Rivera (Shikellamy), 5-4 in semifinals that sent shockwaves through Pennsylvania. Lisa got upset on the other side by Jeremy Messenger (Nazareth), who Fortebuono majored 15-6 in the final, while Rivera knocked Lisa out on the backside to end his season. Fortebuono was a trendy pick to win states after the upset. But in his opening match, he was stunningly pinned, in what Rover partisans have referred to as the “phantom fall”, by Jason Meister (Phoenixville), ending his quest for a title. He’d meet fellow upset victim Mark Smith (Upper Perkiomen) in the blood round, which was maybe the bout of the tournament as the two wide open, big move wrestlers threw haymaker after haymaker, with Smith coming out on top 12-11 and leaving Fortebuono without a medal in Hershey for the second straight year.
As a junior, Fortebuono came out on a tear, going undefeated through December and winning the Rovers first title at the Reno Tournament of Champions since 1997. In Reno, Fortebuono hammered Colorado state champ and NCAA qualifier Dan Clum (Pomona), 23-12 in the semifinals. Then in a rematch of the 1999 finals, Fortebuono turned the tables on Utah state champion Richie Cordova (Wasatch), eeking out a 5-4 victory for his third Reno medal and first championship. He dominated Manheim with two techs and two majors as Easton crowned six champions and cruised to a first place finish. Fortebuono beat Zac Stevens (Blair Academy) for the second straight year in their dual with the Bucs. At Easton-P’Burg Duals, Fortebuono brought the Kirby Fieldhouse crowd to their feet with a 26 point tech against Vestivia Hills (AL), 19 points in a major against Nick Mann (St. Edward OH), a near school record 12 second fall against Steve Benes (Walsh Jesuit OH), and 20 points in a win over Nat Roman (Connellsville). He dropped to his postseason weight of 130 for a 22-6 tech against Phillispsburg as Easton ran the Stateliners out of the gym in a 42-9 win. His 26th consecutive victory was a 11-5 win over future state bronze medalist Scott Heckman (Bangor) at D11 Duals quarterfinals and number 27 came in the semis by teching Steve Habrial (Nazareth) in the second period. But in the D11 Dual Finals, Fortebuono matched up with returning state finalist Ryan McCallum (Northampton) and the Konkrete Kid won the first installment of their season series with a 3-1 overtime victory to propel the Konkrete Kids to a D11 title and an appearance in the PIAA State Duals. The District 11 tournament set up to be a war at 130, with Fortebuono, McCallum, Christian Franco (Whitehall) rated as the top three wrestlers in the state, plus freshmen phenoms Heckman and Brad Herman (Parkland), who managed to take Fortebuono down twice in a dual loss. Second seeded Fortebuono took care of business in the first two rounds, setting up a semifinal with Franco, the outstanding sophomore. In what was dubbed the pre-finals “main event”, a late Franco scored the only takedown of the bout in the first period, and hung on to a one point lead he would not relinquish for most of the match, and for the first time, Fortebuono would not be wrestling in the D11 finals. In consolation semis, he’d face Scott Heckman, and as the Bangor star would do many more times in his career, cement mixed and pinned Fortebuono while trailing to send shockwaves through the gym and knock Fortebuono down into a “win or go home” match with future state bronze medalist Brad Herman for fifth. He’d tech the Trojan to escape a nightmare weekend with a regional berth. Northeast Regionals were Districts, Part II, with Franco, McCallum, and Fortebuono all made semifinals again, with Fortebuono looking particularly sharpe with a tech and pin to get there. This time, Fortebuono drew McCallum in the semis, who snuck past Franco 6-5 the week before in D11 finals. Unlike their District Duals match up, Fortebuono brought fireworks to this match, hitting a cement mixer to put McCallum on his back and pin the Northampton star in the second period. That punched his third straight ticket to Regional finals and the state tournament and joined Jack Cuvo as the only Easton wrestlers to make a regional finals in their first three seasons. But like his match up with McCallum changed dramatically, so did the match up with Franco, as the Zephyr star doubled Fortebuono to his back for five points to blow the match wide open early, and he cruised to a 13-6 win. Fortebuono was on fire in the first two sessions in Hershey, smoking Steve DeAngelo (Spring-Ford) 13-3 in his opener, then majoring future state finalist Taylor Letters (Shaler) 17-4 to make the semifinal round and earn his first state medal. Franco and McCallum were both on the other half of the bracket as 1st/3rd place finishers, while Fortebuono drew Chris Graber (Greater Latrobe) in his semi. Fortebuono scored the first two takedowns and seemed well on his way to a state final, when Graber caught him on his back in a scramble and pinned Fortebuono, stunningly ending his run for a title. McCallum, who beat Franco in the other semi, throttled Graber in the state final, while Franco rode Fortebuono out for a 1-0 win to drop him to fourth place.
As a senior, Fortebuono became the first Easton wrestler to medal four times in Reno and joined Jamarr Billman as a two-time champ. He earned bonus points against state medalists from Oklahoma, California, and Wyoming, knocked off Oklahoma state finalist Ronnie Hopkins (Broken Arrow) 10-3, and scored all of the offensive points in a 4-3 win over California state finalist Andrew Spradlin (Bakersfield). He won his second Manheim title by teching and pinning his way through the field as Easton set the points record. He blanked state champion DeWitt Driscoll (Connellsville) 6-0 as the Red Rovers crushed the Falcons 52-9, who finished fifth at the PIAA tournament in March. He pinned Ohio bronze medalist Mike Pierce (St. Edward) in the first period of Easton’s 28-27 loss to the nation’s top ranked Eagles, then beat Ohio bronze medalist Mike Baria (Archbishop Moeller) 5-3. He’d suffer his first loss of the season in Easton’s regular season match up with Northampton, when the Konkrete Kids sent out returning state finalist and eventual two-time state champ Jeff Ecklof up to 130. Fortebuono was able to open up the defensive wizard, and the two had an action packed 5-5 match that spilled into overtime (a regular occurrence for Fortebuono against Northampton wrestlers). Ecklof scored the first point, and easily escaped from Fortebuono to win 6-5 in rideout. Two weeks later, Fortebuono would tech Billy Haydt (Northampton) as Easton ended Northampton’s streak of District Dual finals to give Easton their first title since 1995 and advance to their first ever State Duals. At State Duals, Fortebuono posted tech falls in all three of his matches as Easton ran away with the state title, winning their three matches by a combined 132-43. Fortebuono stayed at 130 for the postseason, and was joined by Seth Lisa, who he had an incredible series with when the two were sophomores. They both romped to the D11 finals, with Fortebuono pinning his way there and Lisa earning bonus points in all three of his victories. Their final was tense, with the wrestlers only trading escapes in regulation. Overtime went scoreless as well, and Lisa choose bottom in rideout. Fortebuono tried to clamp on a ride, but Lisa was able to switch and reverse Fortebuono to claim the D11 title and win his third straight against Fortebuono. The two met again in the Northeast Regional final, and once again, Lisa snuck past Fortebuono, this time scoring the bout’s only takedown in a 3-2 win. Fortebuono did become Easton’s second four time Northeast Regional finalist. But the big prize was yet to come. At the state tournament, Fortebuono was on a mission to not face the early round heartbreak that struck in his first three trips. He threw and pinned Ben Young (Downingtown) in the first period of their opening bout, then stuck Josh Schwerin (Hempfield) in 5:51 of the quarterfinal. In semifinals, he drew future four-time NCAA qualifier Ron Tarquino (West Allegheny), who could not challenge Fortebuono, who cement mixed and pinned him in the second period. On the other side of the bracket, Lisa went tech, pin, and 7-0 to pit the rivals against each other for the third straight week and in the fourth final in what would be the last bout of both of their illustrious careers. Both wrestlers came out throwing haymakers, but neither could score. With seven seconds left in regulation, Lisa shot a double off of a restart, and was in deep on Fortebuono, lifted him high, and finished what was initially awarded a state title winning takedown. The officials immediately conferred, with the mat judge (correctly, as replay would show) ruling that Lisa’s score came after time had expired. In overtime, both wrestlers initiated action but neither could come close to scoring, and they went to rideout for the second time in three weeks. Once again, Lisa scored first and chose bottom. But the Easton staff had prepared for this possibility in the week between regionals and states, and Fortebuono switched sides lining up just before the whistle and pulled Lisa back into a crab ride. They restarted three times, with Fortebuono clamping on the crab each time. On the final restart, Fortebuono stuck in a deep half and held on for dear life as Lisa kicked back as hard as he could looking for a defensive fall. The whistle blew and Fortebuono had defeated Lisa for this first and only time in their careers, winning a state title and setting off a wild celebration as Fortebuono dove headfirst into the stands at Hershey Park Arena. Easton scored a school record 112 points at that state tournament and won the state title by nearly 45 points in maybe the best state tournament performance by the Red Rovers. Fortebuono would represent Pennsylvania at the Dapper Dan the following weekend with a loss to Harry Lester (CVCA OH). Despite being one of the top ranked 130 pounders in the country, Fortebuono opted not to wrestle in college, instead attending the film school in New York City.
History of Easton Wrestling 