This Week in Wrestling #13: 02/09-02/15
Wrestling Recap:
-Brentwood, Connetquot, East Islip, West Babylon, Hauppauge, and John Glenn Wins Respective League Titles: Last week, the postseason officially kicked off in section XI with the six league tournaments. Leading the charge in League I was Brentwood, whose four champions and two runners-up were enough to edge out second place Longwood by a margin of 10 points. Winning individuals titles for Brentwood were Alex Gomez (119), Mario Calderon (135), Jonathon Falconi (145), and Josue Mendez (141). While all championship efforts are important, perhaps the two most important title victories were the ones posted by Gomez and Mendez. In those bouts, they defeated opponents from Longwood, thus allowing their school to win the battle of head-to-heads, 2-1 (Longwood won at 215)….Longwood, who finished nearly 50 points ahead of third place William Floyd were led by the championship efforts of the Rasheed brothers, Corey and Malik (96 & 103), as well as Ernest James at 215 who won the final head-to-head battle between the top-2 schools. Other Champions included Ward Melville’s Dan Gray (112), Patchogue-Medford’s Jimmy Russell (125), Sachem East’s Dan O’Malley (130) and Chris DiLorio (160), a trio of William Floyd Wrestlers, Mike Hartman (140), Jon Goulding (152), and Marcus Muelthaler (189). Rounding out our list of Champions is Lindenhurst’s Sean Walsh (285).
Over in League II, the team race was nearly as close, as Connetquot, behind two champions and seven runners-up cruised to the title by a margin of nearly 80 points. Claiming individual glory for Connetquot were James McCabe (125) and Connor Gribbin (135). Crowning the most individual champion was the host school, Northport, with four—-Justin Gneister (96), Dan Gorman (145), Anthony Crivello (152), and Rick Nardelli (152). Two Commack wrestlers walked away with individual hardware—Justin Constantatos (171) and Rocco DeForca (215). Sachem North also had a pair of champions in the persons of Mike Piro (130), and Nick Ciafone (285), as did Walt Whitman—Vinny Punzone (112) and Adam Troy (125). Alan Gomez (103) and Andy Rodriguez (140) were titlists for Central Islip, with Adrian Mack (189) being the lone champ from Bay Shore.
Equally as single team dominated was the action in League III. Accounting for nearly half the individual champions, East Islip ran away with the team title, finishing approx. 130 points ahead of second place Smithtown East. Winning titles for East Islip were Dave Dellavecchia (103), Nick Ventiere (119), Alex Brown (135), Tyler Conway (145), Erik Vik (152), Nick Arma (171), and Andrew Slawson (285)….Runner-up Smithtown East were themselves the proud owners of three titles—Kyle Eagen (130), Ryan Kopiske (140), and Kevin Cassidy (215). Hills East won three title bouts—-Anthony Abidin (112), Matt Genchi (125), and Vic Lazares (189). West Islip and Copiague each crowned a single champion in the persons of Steve Coppola (96) and Ty Morrison (160).
Emerging with top team honors in League IV was the squad from West Babylon. Crowning a quintet of champions on the afternoon, West Babylon held off Riverhead, 272-219 to claim league supremacy. Winning individual titles for West Babylon were Robert Berkowitz (112), Michael Richardson (125), Frank Speights (171), Marvin Titus-Casseua (189) and John Wilkinson (285). Winning their respective classes for runner-up, Riverhead, were Edwin Perry (135), Ryan Rheaume (152), and Myles Buhner (160). Also claiming three titles were Kings Park—Max Soria (96), Jeff Snair (119), and Louis Esposito (140). Not to be outdone, the team from Deer Park was also successful in laying claim to a trio of titles—Eric Wiener (112), Rich Lugo (145), and Joe Bilello (215). Jon Mercado (130) out of Eastport-South Manor fame completed the list of champions.
In perhaps the most highly anticipated league tournament, it was Hauppauge, rebounding from their dual loss to rival, Huntington, who went out and good the job done, winning four weight classes in an 80 point victory over second place finisher, Rocky Point to claim the top spot in League V. Getting the tournament finals off on the right note for the eventual winners was 96-pounder, Nick Mauriello, who pinned an opponent from Sayville to put an exclamation mark on his title victory. Two weight classes later, it was 2008 NYS Champion, Ken Collado who made it 2-for-2 for Hauppauge, avenging a loss to Huntington’s Nigel McNeil. Accounting for Hauppauge third and fourth individual titles were Kevin Panebianco (140), and Eric Wooley (215). Also winning four titles were third place Islip—-Troy Mashkow (119), Kyle Wade (130), Matt Egan (152), and Cody Hinrichs (285). Taking home three individual titles were the young men from Rocky Point, led by NYS favorite, Stephen Dutton, the champion at 135. Joining Dutton as champions for RP were Anthony Volpe (145) and Billy Coggins (160). A week removed from locking up the league V dual title, Huntington left the friendly confines of Harborfields HS with three champions to their name—Damon McQueen (103), Anthony Lupi (171), and Chris Sandoval (189). The host school’s Andrew Colamussi was victorious in the remaining weight class, taking the title at 125 points.
Showing why they are considered to be the deepest team on Long Island, John Glenn crowned five champions to go along with six runners-up, to win the League VI title by just under 200 points. Reigning victorious for the eventual champions were Ken Massa (96), Nick Meinsen (125), Matt Fusaro (130), Nick Terdick (140), and Chris Carlucci (152). Almost equaling JG’s finals success were the young men from Shoreham Wading River, as the League VI runner-up finished with four titlists—John Keck (103), Steven Keith (119), TJ Neidhart (160), and Corey Schweitzer (215). Finishing third despite having only one individual champion, Pete DeTore (112), was Westhampton-Beach. Finishing the afternoon with a pair of champions were Amityville, Mark Jerrick (135) and Jermaine Jacobs (145). The M&M&M schools rounded out the list of titlists with Mattituck’s Sean Heaney (171), Miller Place’s Zach Buonaiuto (189), and Mount Sinai’s Brian Slattery (285) all winning their respective weight classes.
-St. Anthony’s Wins NSCHSAA League Crown: After eight long years of waiting, the Friars of St. Anthony’s have finally brought the league title home to Huntington. Led by seven champions (including three consecutive at 96-112) and three runners-up, the Friars were in total control of the tournament from the onset, defending second place Chaminade by an impressive 111 point margin. Winning titles for the Tony Walters led team were Chris Brienza (96), Jimmy Morris (103), Grant Greene (112), Brandon Meisner (145), Ricky Randazzo (152), Collin Pryor (171), and Nick Auriemma (285). In the latter finals bout, it was the senior, Auriemma, besting his teammate Jonathan Desir in an All-Friars battle for the title. The defending six time CHSAA Catholic State Champion Chaminade Flyers did not fare too bad themselves, finishing with a quintet of champions on the afternoon. Leading CHS were captains Ryan Neugebauer (119) and Sal Rizzo (160). Troy Sampson (125), Matt Sagen (130) and Brendan Fowler (215) also found themselves in the winner’s circle for the Mineola based school. Finishing third in team race with a pair of individual champions were Kellenberg Memorial High School–Anthony Alesandro (135) and Andrew Pappas (140). Rounding of the list of Champs was the host school, Holy Trinity’s, Anthony White (189).
-Hofstra Drops Final Home Dual of 2009, 27-12 to Cornell: Leading 10-4 after three bouts, host school, Hofstra University appeared to be well on their way to making it a dual for the ages against #3 Cornell University. Following a 10-2 loss by Steve Bonanno to the Big Red’s Troy Nickerson to start the dual, the Pride got huge efforts out of Lou Ruggirello and Justin Accordino. Ruggirello, zero for his career against Cornell’s Mike Grey heading into the battle of top-15 wrestlers, used a pair of takedowns coupled with an escape point and the riding time advantage to pitch a 6-0 shutout to get the monkey off of his back. RS freshman, Justin Accordino, would follow by rallying from an early deficit to throw Cornell’s Corey Manson to his back for second period fall. However, the aforementioned would be as good as it good for HU, as Cornell proceeded to run off a six match winning streak to seize firm control of the dual.
Initiating the comeback for the Big Red was sophomore DJ Meagher who took advantage of a Pride injury at 149, pinning backup Fran O’Brien in 2:06 to cut the team deficit to a single part. Defending National Champion, Jordan Leen, would give the #3 team in the nation their second lead of the night, pinning Jon Bonilla-Bowman with 16 seconds remaining in the bout to provide the visiting school with a 15-10 lead at intermission. Leen was leading 8-0 (not including RT) at the time of the fall. In battle of super sophs at 165, it was returning All-American, Mack Lewnes, who managed the only takedown of the bout, to defeat Ryan Patrovich 3-1 in SV. In a match pitting a pair of top-10 seniors against one another, it was Cornell’s Steve Anceravage earning his third win in the past two seasons over the Pride’s Alton Lucas. For Lucas, this was the last time he would wrestle in front of the home crowd. Hence, it goes without saying that he would have liked to have had a much better showing in his swan song. A 6-2 Justin Kerber decision followed by an 11-4 decision by Cam Simaz over Ben Clymer and Anthony Tortora (who continues to fill in for Joe Fagiano) helped the lead grow to 28-9.
Finally, in the last bout of the evening, true freshman, Jordan Enck, managed to escape the grasp of Cornell’s Zach Hammond in the second 30 second rideout period to emerge with the 2-1 TB decision….Prior to this match, Cornell was docked a team point for a bench misconduct. This accounted for the final tally.
-MacArthur and Wantagh Win Nassau Dual Titles: Winning 10 of the 13 matches contested, the Generals from Levittown MacArthur claimed the Nassau County Class A Dual title with a 35-14 victory over Massapequa. Spurning the team onto victory were Sean Kempf (112), Ariel Guerrero (130), Frank Mederios (135), and Joe Giametta who all scored bonus points in earning their victories. Other winners for the Generals were Chris Perez (112), Mike Palermo (125), Vin Coiro (140), Tyler Dunne (145), Brian Herold (152), and Brian Mullholland (160). Posting wins for Massapequa were Lanzillotta (103), Wetzel (189), and Hoffman (215).
In Class B, it was the Wantagh Warriors cruising to a 49-12 victory over Plainedge. Leading the way for the eventual champions were county ranked wrestlers, Quimes DelaCruz (140), John Greisheimer (152), Joe Kavanaugh (171), Matt Loew (189), and Tom Hall (215). Others wrestlers getting their hands raised in a winning team effort were McDevitt (103), Albert (119), and Friscia (125)….Fischer (130), Spurgeon (135), and Minnici all posted victories for the Plainedge
The Nassau County qualifying tournaments will be contested on February 14th, with the county tournament scheduled for the following weekend (Feb. 20th-21st).
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Matt, the Hofstra article was a great article. Those of us who were present all witnessed what you wrote about. If you wrote it differently, we’d all have noticed.
I, also, reacted in horror to JBB’s match when I saw his arm uncontrollably shaking in spasm as he was grimacing in pain after a very brutal headlock by Leen.
As you know, I saw it a little differently as to whether it was unsportsmanlike, but you made a point that makes me rethink my position when you write, “While I do think that it is a wrestler’s duty to make it as uncomfortable as possible on his opponent, I also believe that there is a difference between hurting one’s opponent and injuring them. While certainly not his intention, I viewed Leen’s aggressiveness as walking a fine line between the two.”
I think there is a difference too, and perhaps Leen crossed that line. One could reasonably argue that he certainly came close to it. Not only is your writing entertaining, but you make us think. Thanks.
I’m happy to learn that JBB will be back in the lineup shortly. How about PJ? Will he be back shortly?