Gabe Heaney just knows how to win.

Undefeated this season, Heaney came through in crunchtime during the finals at the Jim Thorpe Christmas Tournament on Wednesday.

Wrestling in front of his home crowd, Heaney rallied to force overtime before securing a takedown against Berks Catholic’s Carmine Lenzi to claim the 152-pound title with a 5-3 decision.

“That was probably the closest, most exciting match I’ve had in high school,” said the Olympians’ senior. “Going into overtime, I just knew I had to get the shot. I knew I wanted it more. I just had to push.”

Down 3-0 near the end of the third period, Heaney showcased the ability that led him to the doorstep of the state tournament a year ago.

“In the beginning it was pretty close, we were going back and forth on shots,” said Heaney, who was third at districts last season. “The second period, he rode me out pretty good; I couldn’t do much. In the third period, he got out and took me down, and with real short time, I got an escape and a takedown to tie it up and send it to overtime. I think I got the escape with about 12 seconds left and the takedown with four (to go).

“Going into overtime, I was honestly really nervous because I just wanted to win the tournament so bad, and I was so close to it. But I calmed down, and I just wrestled and did what I had to do.”

Heaney, who is now 11-0 this season, registered four pins to reach the finals at the two-day tournament, which featured over 20 teams.

The overtime win is his second of the season. Heaney defeated Loyalsock Township’s Kaden Rodarmel with an 8-6 decision in sudden victory at the Meadowbrook Christian Holiday Duals on Dec. 18.

Against Lenzi, a freshman who is 12-2, Heaney stayed calm to deliver another sudden victory triumph.

“It was probably about 20 or 30 seconds in,” said Heaney. “He actually shot on me, and I countered him with a funk roll, and then just came up and came on top and had him on his back.

“In the first period he had one or two shots on me, and I got my hips back pretty good and I was in good position. So I knew if he shot on me, I’d probably be able to fend it off pretty good.”

Tamaqua’s Gabe Erbe also reached the finals at 113 pounds. The sophomore was pinned in 1:05 by Luke Sirianni of Abington Heights, who is undefeated at 14-0.

Like Heaney, Erbe (8-2) also collected four pins on his way to the finals.

The tournament was another building block for Erbe, who won his true second-place match at districts to advance to regionals wrestling at 106 pounds a year ago.

Erbe placed second at Bloomsburg’s Darren Klingerman Invitational earlier this month, dropping a 4-3 decision to Shamokin’s Wade Alleman at 120 pounds.

“In Gabe’s situation, he got five matches in this week, which is great,” Blue Raiders’ head coach Jim McCabe said of Erbe. “And every match is experience under his belt, because although we had a season last year, he didn’t get a true varsity experience. So this tournament helped. At Bloomsburg, he only had three matches because there were 21 teams there, but there were only 15 kids in his weight class and he was the top seed, so he got the bye.

“But this tournament benefits him. In the finals, he met a good wrestler, who is a AAA state sixth-place winner. That’s what we need to focus on. I like us to focus on who is better than us, and we need to wrestle them ... so that we can get better.”

McCabe liked the effort he saw throughout his lineup.

“We did a good job. We’re still young, and we’re still somewhat inexperienced, but I saw improvement today,” said McCabe. “I saw matches where we were down 10-0, a freshman that’s down 10-0, Levi Kunkel, that can easily finish it off, and it ended up 10-5. He got a takedown, some back points and made the match interesting. And that’s what we want to do. We want to start winning situational matches, or situational positions, where we can score points.”

In addition to Heaney, Jim Thorpe also had Cam Tinajero, Jared Newhall and Caleb McDermott place in the tournament.

Newhall (172) and McDermott (189) both placed fourth, while Tinajero (160) recorded a fifth-place finish.

The results helped the Olympians tie for ninth in the team standings with 104 points.

“I’m very proud of our team,” said first-year Jim Thorpe head coach Dan Heaney. “I think we’re doing really well. They’re working hard, every kid shows up and works hard; on their technique, and they’re improving. There were a lot of positives to take from the tournament. Sometimes, obviously Gabe’s my son and he’s been successful, and some of the other guys that have been with me have been successful, and they do well. But sometimes when I see the new guys, when I see them have success, I like to see that.

“When I see a kid get his first or second win that is new to the sport, sometimes I think those are better than the big matches. It’s not always the finals matches; maybe it’s a wrestleback match where it’s a first win for one of our new kids. They’re as exciting for me as the big wins. We have a great group of kids. They’re very positive. They really like what they’re doing, and they understand where we’re trying to go. They put the time in and they’ve been working hard.”

CHAMPS

... Abington Heights won the team title with 230 points, followed by Berks Catholic (187.5) and Wallenpaupack (138). Tamaqua was 16th with 63 points.

CENTURY MARK

... After going 25-4 last year, Heaney is on his way to a stellar senior season. Despite missing the first tournament of the year at Catasauqua with the flu, Heaney has another milestone approaching. “I want to hit my 100 wins, I’m about 14 away right now,” said Heaney. “I’m really hoping to get that soon.”