For years, it has been the shared sentiments of many New York State wrestling aficionados that our scholastic teams do not get the credit and recognition that they deserve in regard to the various national rankings services. Time after time (compliments to Cyndi Lauper), a team emerges that has the NYS populace excited, thinking that perhaps [...]

Last April, when the news broke that then 2x New Jersey State champion (he has since added a third crown), Andrew Campolattano, had elected to bypass wrestling on the collegiate level and instead accept an offer to play football for the Scarlet Knights of rising EIWA contender, Rutgers University, the hearts of nearly every division [...]

On Friday January 21st, the Steppers of of Brooklyn Tech completed thier unblemished season by reigning victorious over Grand Street Campus, 43-24, in the finals of the PSAL A Dual Meet tournament, held on the campus of Martin Lurther King Jr. High School.
2011 PSAL A Dual Championship Match: Brooklyn Tech vs. Grand Street Campus

96:
01. Dylan Realbuto (Somers)
02. John Stramiello (Pine Bush)
03. Anthony D’Onofrio (Longwood)
04.  Kevin Jack (Danbury)
05.  Jesse Porter (Shenendehowa)
06.  Blaise Benderoth (North Rockland)
07.  Steven Sewkumar (Long Beach)
08.  Joe Ginley (Warwick Valley)
09.  Bryan Lantry (Wayne)
10. Nick Barbaria (New Rochelle)
11.  Justin Cooksey (MacArthur)
12.  Ben [...]

“If you don’t believe, than you don’t belong.” So are the words that adorn the homepage of the St. Anthony’s High School wrestling website. The concept of belief in one’s self is a trademark in the wrestling room of the South Huntington based perennial Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) powerhouse. However, in all honesty, [...]

All I can say is finally ! For those of you who loyally read all of these recruiting press releases, you know that in the past two years, I have written about just about every demographic possible; I’ve covered a Minnesota kid taking his act to Buffalo; I’ve highlighted back-to-back #1 recruits opting to become [...]

Like any sport, wrestling is a pyramid where only the very elite are able to successfully make the jump to the next level. For this reason, it is a major honor when a school, town, or for that matter a wrestling club is able to send even one student-athlete to the NCAA Division I level. [...]

What: #1 Cornell vs. #6 Central Michigan
When: Friday November 19th, 2010
Time: 6:30 pm EST
Where: Friedman Wrestling Center (Ithaca, NY)
Coverage: FloWrestling.com 

Last week, Lighthouse Wrestling was proud to promote the Sprawl & Brawl Duals, organized by the Journeymen Wrestling Club, under the leadership of Frankie Popolizio. However, as deep in talent as that event is, the 2010 Northeast Duals, also sponsored by the JWC, might just be the best accumulation of talent in one place at [...]

Scott Green, the legendary New York State Junior Coach, as well a former assistant coach at Binghamton University and the current head coach at prep powerhouse Wyoming Seminary, recently made the comment on his facebook profile that it is starting to “smell like wrestling season.” For many enthusiasts, with matches officially kicking off this past [...]

After weeks of sitting back and watching as their neighbors stock-piled blue-chipper upon blue-chipper, New Jersey struck back hard on Tuesday night, landing one of the top unsigned talents in the Empire State when 2009 NYS DI runner-up, Steven Rodrigues of Fox Lane High School in Section I, announced on his facebook that he had [...]

A quote from one of my favorite movies of all-time, “Prefontaine,” stated that the protagonist’s drug was winning at everything. Apparently, this is a personal philosophy that Cornell University Head Coach, Rob Koll, also subscribes to. The owner/operator of the preseason #1 team in the nation, Koll continued his pursuit of the top-ranked [...]

The latin phrase “Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae”, translated as “truth for Christ and the Church,” may not mean much to many of us, but today it takes on a much greater significance for one of our native sons, Wantagh High School senior Joe Barbato. As the motto of Harvard University, this is a slogan [...]

To say that the recruiting front has been kind to New York State DI institutions the past 48 hours would be a minor understatement. With Empire State fanatics still buzzing with excitement over the announcement that the #19 recruit in the land, Nick Gwiazdowski, would be staying home and attending Binghamton, today was a [...]

If you ask the best coaches in the country, a lot of them will tell you that the key to any successful DI wrestling program, is the ability to keep the instate talent home. In recent times, no body in the Empire State has been better at that than Binghamton Head Coach, Pat Popolizio. Today [...]

I like Cornell University Head Coach, Rob Koll; I really do. However, if he continues to make these recruiting press releases a daily ritual, than I am afraid I am going to have to end our friendship….While it goes without saying that the previous statement was obviously meant in good fun, the one thing that [...]

Just 10 days after getting verbal commitments from a pair of NYS DII Champions in the persons of the Scott twins, Cornell Head Coach, Rob Koll had cause to celebrate again when 2010 Michigan State Champion, Joe Rendina, the #65 ranked recruit in the land according to InterMat, announced live on Wrestlingaddix.com that the Big [...]

The Banachs, the Brands, the Altons, and now the Scotts. For as long as I can remember, the sport of amateur wrestling has been no stranger to its fair share of historic tales involving twin brothers who have gone on to lead their respective schools to national prominence. For Cornell University Head wrestling [...]

Earlier this morning, Tioga High School rising senior, Derak Heyman, a 2x NYS DII finalist and 2009 State Champion, was named as one of the top-10 members of NYS’ class of 2011 as a part of the InterMat Wrestling-49 series. This was only the start of the good news for this immensely talented young man [...]

Saturday, August 28th was a good day if you fancy yourself as both an amateur wrestling and mixed martial arts fan. That is because, on this day, in front of a packed house at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, four prominent former DI wrestlers turned MMA elite fighters stepped into the octagon as part of [...]

Those of you who have followed my writings from local message board icon (kidding, of course) to freelance wrestling journalist know that I have always had a special place in my heart for the New York State Catholic League. It was the place of origin of my now well established affinity for the world’s [...]

If you are an avid reader of Lighthouse, it is likely that you recall that every other week it seemed that I was writing a press release announcing that another blue-chip recruit had committed to wrestle for coach Rob Koll and staff at Cornell University. In fact, so deep was the 2010 recruiting class [...]

Friday July 9th was a good night for Hofstra University Head Wrestling Coach, Tom Shifflet, as he learned that the Pride had just picked up their first recruit from the class of 2011 when 2010 NYS DI 171-pound State runner-up/2x Nassau County Champion Joe Kavanagh of Wantagh High School informed the fourth year coach of his decision to [...]

Hey All,
It’s been a while since I last had the chance to sit at the old laptop and pound out an article for my loyal readers. Therefore, with graduate school set to resume next Tuesday, I knew that it might be long and far between before I had the opportunity to write. Hence, I decided [...]

On Monday May 17th, InterMat released the names of the student-athletes who make up the class of 2014 at Johns Hopkins University. Among this list of distinguished wrestlers was a local face, 3x All-Suffolk/2007 DII County Champion, Matt Fusaro, a key member of the John Glenn High School squad that won back-to-back Division I team [...]

Tyler Beckwith of Greene (N.Y.) High became the first four-time National High School Champion as the 21st annual NHSCA National High School Seniors Wrestling Championships presented by the U.S. Navy concluded tonight at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.
After falling behind 2-0 on a first-period takedown, Beckwith reversed Isaiah Williams of Haverhill (Mass.) High to his [...]