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In the wake of one its wrestlers refusing to compete against a girl earlier this season, Farmingdale Athletic Director Jeanne Berkoski told Newsday that the school will look at the protocol should a situation like this happen again.
Berkoski noted that wrestling head coach Ken Garcia and J.V. coach Darrin Simons, who was there at the time of the incident, would be involved in the discussion.
Hey everyone. Just a quick few tidbits from tonight's matches, including Islip's 31-24 win over Sayville last night. You can see video clips from the match here (just scroll down a little), or just look to the right side of your screen.
The Sayville loss, coupled with Rocky Point's win over Harborfields, put Rocky Point in sole possession of second place behind Huntington. Sayville has Huntington in its League V finale on Friday, and a Sayville win would give Rocky Point a share of the league title (so long as the Eagles take care of East Hampton). But I can't see that happening.
Also tonight, East Islip and West Islip both won setting up a battle of the undefeateds at West Islip Friday night. The Lions are a little nicked up, so they better be at their best or they could get picked off.
Also, Connetquot, Commack and Northport all won tonight to improve to 4-1 in League II. Connetquot visits Northport on Friday night, and Commack hosts C.I. If Commack loses, the winner of the other match will be the league champ, otherwise it will be shared.
Quick recap of this week's poll question before I go: It seems that a small majority is in favor of realigning the leagues based on geography or ability, rather than enrollment. My thought is that the current system is probably the best way, because the only real downfall is long bus trips for some. And think of it this way, a road trip over an hour is the norm for some teams upstate. So teams really can't complain all that much.
Sure, some schools just don't have interest in some sports, but that's just going to happen sometimes. Normally, the elite teams in a league change from year to year.
Okay, that's all for now. Should be a fun weekend of wrestling.
See you on the mats!
So I was just browsing ESPN.com and I came across this very odd story about a high-school wrestling coach in Pittsburgh who bit one of his wrestlers during practice.
The attorney for the coach says it was done in jest, but it seems like this coach has some deeper issues here.
I encountered an incident once where a young wrestler bit a sparring partner during practice. Unfortunately, that boy had some learning disabilities and he didn't know exactly what he was doing.
This coach, who says he has been around the sport all his life, should certainly know better.
Hey everyone, hope you all had a nice weekend.
Let's talk about what went down on the mats. You'll see in this week's Wrestling Insider that the top teams in the rankings have basically remained the same. I know that might seem boring to you guys, but there really isn't much debate about the top-5—Brentwood, MacArthur, Hauppauge, Longwood and Huntington.
There really isn't much debate over the next group either, which includes Glenn, Wantagh, West Islip and Rocky Point. So that leaves only No. 10 as a point of contention. Sayville gets it this week, but that can certainly change in a hurry.
Also, eight of the 10 teams on the list are from Suffolk, but it's justified. Overall, Suffolk has fared well against its Nassau opponents. Think of it this way, Sayville, the No. 10 team on the list has lost to West Islip (No. 8) and Rocky Point (No. 9) this season, but has beaten Plainedge. Sure, Plainedge wrestled Wantagh tough, but it isn't worthy of a top-10 spot. Nassau has some tough teams on the cusp - namely Plainedge, Uniondale, East Meadow, Baldwin, etc., but none are better than Sayville, and thus, not worthy of a top-10 spot.
Brentwood is clearly the best team, having beat MacArthur, and now Longwood. If you want to argue that Hauppauge or Huntington can beat them, fine, but you really have no basis there.
Not only did Brentwood win Friday night, it also won the Islip Cup Tournament. West Islip had a good showing with five champions, placing second. But again it was Brentwood with the best performances.
Freshman Alex Gomez continued his assault through the 112-pound weight class with a 3-1 win over Jake Benedetto.
This weight is certainly the toughest class in the county with a former state champ (Steven Keith last year at 96 pounds), and three state placewinners (Escobar beat Donatelli in last year's 103 county final and the 103 state consolation match, while Benedetto was fifth at 96 as a sophomore with East Islip).
The scary thing for all those guys is that Gomez, who was fifth at 103 pounds last season as an eighth-grader, has matured and is probably the best of this group right now. This will be a great class to see duke it out at the counties.
Okay, back to the Islip Cup...the 135-pound match between Joe Nunez of Deer Park and Andy Rodriguez of C.I. was a down-to-the-wire battle with Nunez earning a 6-5 win. These are two of the best wrestlers at 135 along with Keith Collado. It's good to see these guys reach the final, because you don't often hear about them because their respective teams aren't at the top of the county, or even their league.
As I said, West Islip also had a nice showing. Sean Messina is a pinning machine (he had four in 6:39, which is an average of a first-period pin every match. He stuck Travis Calderon of Brentwood in 13 seconds in the 130-pound final. That's just unheard of.
Matt Donovan (103), Anthony Bacchi (145) and George Hatzel (285) won as a light-, middle-, and heavy-weight for the Lions, but the West Islip wrestler I was most impressed with was Pat Bell, who pinned Plainedge's John Makastchian at 171 pounds. Makastchian (no, I don't even need to look up how to spell that anymore) was fifth in Nassau last season at 160, and Bell handled him pretty easily. Solid win for Bell, who should be jumping Josue Mendez in these rankings pretty soon after Mendez finished third at Islip.
Just one last thought about Islip, I think that, like 112, 215 is actually a pretty stacked weight class. Carl Korpi of Miller Place is definitely the favorite, but any one of five or six guys can win at this weight. Jahsua Marsh beat Alex Fernan in the 215-final at Islip in a battle of two of the guys in that group.
Watching lightweights is fun, but watching skilled heavyweights (not out-of-shape loads) is second to none in my mind.
Back to Friday real quick, as Wantagh became the first visiting team to win under the Dugo Dome. Even Chaminade's stud 125-pounder Troy Sampson was no match for Paul Liguori, who won in 1:31. It's amazing this kid is only a junior. He's certainly going to go down as one of the greats, a la Jesse Jantzen, when all is said in done in his high-school career.
The Suffolk League II race continued to be a mess. I thought Sachem North was the team to beat, but I guess Commack squashed that. Now Commack seems to have the upper-hand, even with its 25-24 loss to Northport earlier in the month. Commack has just Whitman and C.I. left on the schedule, but you can't count out the Connetquot/Northport winner on Friday. I made that a Suffolk match to watch this week. Should be a good one.
Also, East Islip and West Islip took care of business, potentially setting up a crosstown battle for the League III title on Friday at W.I.
E.I. still has Copiague on Wednesday, but it'll be a great atmosphere if these teams come in undefeated against each other.
Oh, wait, hold on. Do you hear that? Yup, it's all the Glenn haters eating their words . Nick Meinsen's first-period pin of Pete Detore showed he is for real.
Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Rocky Point's 30-26 win over Sayville. It's pretty clear right now that the order in League V is Huntington, Rocky Point, Sayville then Islip. That could change in this last weekend, with Sayville taking on Huntington and Islip, but the Blue Devils should emerge as the class of what I think is the best league on Long Island (with Nassau Conference 1A a close second).
Rocky Point's win was a classic, and the 152-pound match between Shawn Mazzarone and Billy Coggins (a 3-1 in for Mazzarone) is our Suffolk match of the week.
In Nassau on Friday, Massapequa earned a 39-22 win over East Meadow, and then came back Saturday with a victory over Copiague, 30-24. Our Nassau match of the week (even though one of the participants is from Suffolk) came at 145 pounds, as Massapequa's Shane Strumwasser (defending Nassau champ at 125) beat Christian LaPersonerie (fourth in Suffolk at 130 last year), 4-2.
Also on Saturday, Mattituck's Ryan Connell blitzed through the 140-pound bracket at the North Fork Tournament, including a 38-second pin in the final, and was named Champion of Champions.
Huntington won the Big Ten Tournament in Albany (named after the host team's conference, there were actually 16 teams at the event).
Glenn easily won its two matches at its own Double Duals, as did Mount Sinai (scroll down on the last link). Glenn and M.S. didn't wrestle, because they are in the same league (Glenn beat them earlier this year).
And I think that's about it, but in case I missed anything important, you can check it out here.
Okay, big week coming up with Suffolk Leagues II, III, V still realistically up for grabs, and the Nassau dual-meet championships at the end of the week.
See you all on the mats as we near tournament season!
**Update: Make sure to vote on this poll question about league alignments. Thanks!
Sorry this is the first post all weekend, but I had some technical difficulties and this is the first time I've been able to log on.
I'll be back with a complete recap of this weekend tomorrow, but just to throw a couple highlights at you right now—Brentwood won the Islip Cup Tournament yesterday behind four champions, Alex and Ricardo Gomez (112 and 119, respectively), David Manzueta (189) and Jahsua Marsh (215).
Brentwood's win came one night after it schooled Longwood in League I action, which all but wrapped up the League I title.
Also on Friday, Huntington beat Islip, 26-19, handing the Bucs their second League V loss of the year.
Okay, that's all for now, but check back tomorrow evening for a complete wall-to-wall recap from the weekend. Also, look out for my Wrestling Insider, which comes out Tuesday. It's only online, because in case you didn't notice, a lot of talk will be about a certain football game next weekend in Arizona.
Hey everyone, not much wrestling to report on this past week because of midterms and other state exams, but this weekend teams will be back on the mats with an eye towards the county tournaments in a few weeks.
On this site, you can see all the matches (scroll down a little).
Some of the highlights for tonight are Brentwood at Longwood at 6 p.m., Huntington at Islip at 4:30, Glenn at Westhampton at 6, Sachem North at Commack at 7, and Rocky Point at Sayville at 7:45.
Tomorrow, look out for the Double Duals at Bethpage (Uniondale, Bethpage, Seaford, Long Beach), the Islip Cup (Brentwood, West Islip, Plainedge, Sachem North, to name a few), and the Double Duals at Glenn (East Islip, Glenn, Mount Sinai, Locust Valley).
I'll be back periodically throughout the weekend to give you updates from these events, and also on Monday afternoon/night to give a full recap of the weekend's events.
That's all for now. See you all on the mats!
A couple days ago I posted that most people who answered my poll question about wrestling a girl said they wouldn't have a problem with it, albeit with few responses.
But now more people have voiced their opinions , and it seems that the majority now would have a problem taking on a girl.
Let's get some comments up about how you readers feel about wrestling a girl. I'm interested to hear.
Though the regional proposal has been shelved for the time being, it is still being ironed out. One of the areas of concern is wrestlers potentially "tanking" matches at the regionals after securing a berth in the state tournament.
The New York State Wrestling Coaches Association sent me an essay it composed about the validity of these concerns.
After researching three states (Illinois, Michigan and Pennsylvania), the Coaches Association concluded that "tanking" rarely occurs in regionals elsewhere, mainly because the state tournaments are seeded (or partially seeded) based on them, and because there are formal rules against purposely defaulting youself. Either way, they believe "tanking" won't be much of an issue.
If you wish to read the entire essay, you can find it below. What are your feelings on what they have to say?
BY CHRIS MASCARO
Howdy everyone. Hope you all had a nice three-day weekend. Before I get to this past weekend, let me get a couple of things out of the way...
I am enjoying reading all of your comments from the my post below about pins being worth more team poins than techs. Keep up the debate.
Also, part of my Insider that came out today dealt with a Farmingdale wrestler refusing to take on a girl at a recent tournament. I put up a poll question asking if you readers would be comfortable wrestling a girl. Currently, most of you say that you would be okay with it, but there haven't been that many responses, so get out the vote!
Personally, I have mixed feelings on the topic. I have no problem with girls wanting to wrestle and be part of the team, but I would feel awkward wrestling one because as a boy it is kind of a lose-lose situation. If you win, you beat up on a girl, and if you lose, you will be humiliated in front of your non-tolerant high school teammates. I encountered plenty of girls wrestling while I was in high school, and each time it was the only thing people could talk about. Again, I don't have a problem with it, but I can understand somebody's hesitations. That being said, I would have wrestled a girl if I was scheduled to face one.
Also, in this week's episode of the N-Zone, you can catch Farmingdale's win over Massapequa last week in Nassau Conference 1A and hear from Massapequa's Shane Strumwasser.
Okay, on to this past weekend...
In Conference 1A, Baldwin defeated Farmingdale but the story in the league was Uniondale, which beat Syosset to take the league crown. Uniondale finished its conference slate undefeated, and found a spot in my top-10 this week.
Rocky Point and Uniondale replaced Sayville and Plainedge in my top-10. I know Sayville had guys missing in its loss to West Islip in the final of the Bayport-Blue Point Duals, and that Plainedge kept its match with Wantagh tight, but I will give credit to two teams that are getting hot at the right time of year.
Okay, back to Nassau, to Conference 2A, where MacArthur dominated Long Beach to finish undefeated in the conference. This conference was a breeze for MacArthur, so it'll be fun to see the Generals get a bit of a challenge from Conference 1A foes in the Nassau duals - hopefully a showdown with Uniondale.
In Conference 3A, we all know about Wantagh beating Plainedge for the title, but Garden City and Lynbrook also scored nice wins.
Just to get back to Wantagh real quickly, one match that got slightly overlooked on Friday was the 135-pound bout, which Quimes Delacruz won for the Warriors. He beat Steve Spurgeon, who won a Nassau qualifier last season. Delacruz won 12-8 and was in control most of the match. This was our Nassau match of the week.
And in Conference 4A, Locust Valley continued its solid wrestling.
Over to Suffolk on Friday, as Brentwood continued its dominance on Joe Campo Night. As I've said already, the best match for Brentwood will be Friday at Longwood, so stay tuned for that.
In League II, there's a complete mess of teams still vying for the league crown. Here's the standings courtesy of sectionxi.org (as of today):
LEAGUE II (contest details)
Sachem North 3-1-0 4-1-0 0.000
Connetquot 3-1-0 7-1-0 0.000
Walt Whitman 2-1-0 2-4-0 0.000
Commack 2-1-0 9-3-0 0.000
Northport 2-1-0 10-1-0 0.000
Bay Shore 0-4-0 1-8-0 0.000
Central Islip 0-3-0 6-7-0 0.000
Sachem North visits Commack on Friday, and Whitman takes on Northport, so much is left to be settled.
In League III, West Islip, Half Hollow Hills East and East Islip are on top. I see the Lions winning, but we'll know for sure next week when they take on Hills and EI on Wednesday and Friday, respectively.
In League IV, West Babylon has proved it is a legitimate threat, but still lost to Hauppauge 46-9 earlier this year, which just goes to show how tough the Eagles are.
League V is the best top to bottom in the county, and Rocky Point is emerging as a threat. Not only did the squad beat Islip, but it also won the Commack Duals with a win over the hosts in the final. Brandon Escobar, Matt Ross, Anthony Volpe, Jerry Ceccio and Billy Coggins have been leading the charge, and the best thing about this group - only Escobar is a senior, so everyone will be back next season.
Volpe's 3-1 overtime win over John Lamonica at 135 pounds is our Suffolk match of the week.
Huntington already beat Rocky Point, so they will probably take the league title, but look for Rocky Point to beat Sayville this Friday to stake claim to second.
Glenn is in charge of League VI, and had a fantastic showing at the Lindenhurst Tournament. Glenn should take care of Westhampton on Friday, and has a non-league match against East Islip and Locust Valley the following day.
In Suffolk League VII (Division II), Babylon took down Port Jeff, and is the L.I. small school leader right now.
In CHSAA action, Chaminade won the CHSAA Duals, going 4-0 on the day.
Also over the weekend, Huntington won two matches at its Double Duals, Longwood dominated the L.I. Classic at Center Moriches, and Hauppauge did the same at the Sachem North Tournament.
Okay, that's all for now...big week ahead, so check back often. See you all on the mats!
BY CHRIS MASCARO
There are a few things about high school wrestling that bother me. A few of them include: no riding time (which is kept on the college level), the fact that a Division II even exists, and that technical falls are worth only five team points instead of six. I'll try to post about all of these over the course of the season, but let's start with the last one because it affected a recent match.
I'm not sure exactly when the rule about techs changed, but when I was in high school (which isn't that long ago, because I graduated in '02), they were worth six.
Last night at Plainedge, this rule made the 171-pound match take a weird twist. John Makastchian was leading by 13 late in the second period with the wrestlers in the neutral position. Plainedge coach Rob Shaver specifically told Makastchian not to take his opponent down. Why? So he could choose top to start the third period and attempt to pin him and get an extra team point. Makes sense.
He did as his coach said, but was unable to turn Wantagh's Mike Sanchez, who hung tough despite clearly being overmatched. Realizing time was running short, Shaver decided to cut his losses and tell Makastchian to let Sanchez up and take him down twice to get the tech.
Makastchian just barely got the last takedown he needed seconds before the buzzer sounded (which was vehemently disputed by Wantagh coach Jim Murphy because he thought Makastchian had pulled on Sanchez's headgear).
Now, I can't fault Shaver for this strategy. Why wouldn't he want the extra team point?
The difference in the match last night was 12 points, meaning that if you took one pin away from Wantagh and gave it to Plainedge the score would have been tied. That extra point Makastchian failed to get could have decided the match.
Personally, I feel like a technical fall should count the same as a pin. If anything, it's harder to beat a guy by 15 or more (the criteria for a tech), than to put him on his back. Beating somebody by 15 means you completely dominated him. Yes, it could mean that you were unable to put your opponent to his back, but it means, at the very least, you owned him on your feet.
Taking a guy down and letting him up is an age-old tactic that you don't see as much as you used to because of this new rule. Again, personally, I love watching a real master tactician on his feet show off his stuff. I can remember one great match in particular when this happened. It was a guy named Jantzen (Jesse) doing this in the county final against Casey Beach. (Or at least a couple times in between crab-ride tilts.)
No matter, my point is that it still would make sense to have techs count the same as pins.
But that's just one man's opinion...
What do you readers think?
**Update: I also dislike referees who try to make themselves the show. Last night at Plainedge, the ref banged Plainedge senior Tito Ortiz twice for stalling (the latter resulting in a point) to give Wantagh's Matt Loew an 8-0, major decision win at 189 pounds. The second call came with just seconds remaining in the match, and provided the final eight-point margin. Mind you, an eight-point win is a major decision and counts as four team points, while a regular win counts as only three.
I'm not saying that a ref shouldn't properly call a match, but this was clearly a ref just wanting to make a big call in a big spot. The kid wasn't stalling any more or less than he had been earlier in the match, if at all. That one extra team point could have cost Plainedge the match (see above).
This ref also asked me after the match if we had a photographer at the match, so he would know if he'd be appearing in the next day's paper.
Hey ref, stick to watching the matches. Don't worry if your pretty face will be in the paper or not.
BY CHRIS MASCARO
Hey everyone, just a quick post on this busy Saturday of wrestling...
Wantagh went into Plainedge and finished off a perfect Conference 3A season last night. Here's the story from today's paper.
I picked Wantagh on this blog a few days ago, but I can't toot my own horn that much, because this match could have gone either way. It was a joy to be there to see it live.
It's also funny how the coaches are such close friends. Wantagh's Jim Murphy was a 1987 graduate of Island Trees, while Plainedge's Rob Shaver got out a year later. Both were all-county wrestlers.
Shaver has been with his current team for 11 years, so he is more accomplished as a head coach, with five conference titles under his belt. This is Murphy's first after losing it to Plainedge in each of the last two seasons, but this rivalry should be good for the foreseeable future.
Also, couple things from Suffolk. Yesterday evening, Brentwood hosted its Joe Campo Night, and you can read more about the coach in this week's Insider, which comes out on Tuesday.
Also, not to toot my own horn again, but I also predicted a Rocky Point win over Islip, and that came to fruition last night.
Rocky Point is an extremely tough team from top to bottom and will certainly give Sayville fits next Friday when they travel to the South Shore.
The highlight of last night's match though was an Islip win. Jake Benedetto beat Brandon Escobar, 5-0, at 112 pounds in a matchup of former county champions.
Benedetto has had some great wins this season, including a victory over Steven Keith of Shoreham-Wading River (which Keith avenged in the Eastern States final). He finished fourth last season at 112, and though the weight class is littered with talented wrestlers this year, I think it may come down to he and Keith at the end. We shall see.
Okay, that's all for now. I'll be back Monday with a recap of the weekend. See you all on the mats!
Here are some highlights from the Farmingdale-Massapequa match:
BY CHRIS MASCARO
Hello ladies and gents, I just wanted to give you a little recap of last night's action...before talking about this weekend.
Let's start at Chaminade's new Activity-Athletic Center, where I was last night for the annual battle between the Flyers and Kellenberg. Wrestling-wise, it was a good match despite the lopsided score. Chaminade was clearly the better team, and should prove that again at the Catholic states. Kellenberg was a bit nicked up, but just doesn't have enough depth to challenge the Flyers—now or at the end of the year. Chaminade is 2-0 in league, and it'd be shocking to see them lose in the CHSAA this season.
Also, just a couple of words on the facility. Newsday has already done plenty of articles about the building—from the gym, to the wrestling room. But I must say that it far exceeded my expectations. The gym rivals something at a Division I college, and though the wrestling room is sort of small, it provides a great atmosphere to watch a match. Yesterday afternoon it was standing room only on both sides. Also, while the wrestling match was going on the boys basketball team was facing Uniondale, so the main gym was packed as well.
The AAC (which is right off Jericho Turnpike in Mineola) is a great thing for the student-body. There were scores of boys in shirts and ties and girls in skirts there to cheer on their peers, which is a wonderful thing to see.
Okay, moving along to Nassau (we'll go conference by conference), as Baldwin took care of Syosset, Farmingdale edged Massapequa, and Uniondale dominated East Meadow.
Last week I said Rocky Point would be No. 11 in my top-10, well, Uniondale is 11a. They're 4-0 in the conference, and have completely dominated everyone. Lesean Mack and Troy Sterling are beasts, and the team should wrap-up an undefeated conference record tomorrow afternoon at home against Syosset.
The surprising team in this conference is Massapequa, which has been clearly outmatched in losses to MacArthur (non-league), Uniondale and now Farmingdale. Mike Doria and Shane Strumwasser are a great 1-2 punch at 135 and 140, respectively, and both would be a good bet to repeat as county champs, but this team simply doesn't have much talent after them.
The Vincent Pecora (Baldwin)-Danny Arnel (Syosset) match is one of the best you'll ever get.
In Conference 2A, MacArthur beat Calhoun, and should cruise to the conference title. Another win should come tomorrow night in Long Beach.
Conference 3A has come down to the usual suspects yet again, as Plainedge and Wantagh will battle in Plainedge tomorrow night. These matches have been spectacular the past couple of seasons, with Plainedge coming out on top. This season, I see Wantagh coming out on top.
Call me crazy, but Wantagh has four weight classes where you can essentially guarantee victory every time out. Paul Liguori has won 100 matches in a row (enough said), and Steven Bonanno (119/125), John Greisheimer (145/152) and Matt Loew (171) are as close to automatic as they come. Sure, Plainedge has their studs too in Matt Rich (119), Jesse Sgaglione (125), Rocky Cervini (140) and John Makastchian (171), but those guys haven't been as robotic in their winning ways as the Wantagh crew. We'll see - especially with some of those guys facing each other - but certainly stay tuned for this one. I sure will be.
The other great thing about this conference is that Bethpage, Island Trees, Lynbrook and Garden City are all, at the very least, decent teams, so no match is a pushover. All four have returning All-County wrestlers, so all of the matches between these teams have some highlights.
In Conference 4A, Seaford wrapped up its fifth straight title with a win over North Shore.
Okay, heading over to Suffolk, where there really is no use talking about League I until a week from Friday when Brentwood takes on Longwood. Nobody else can come close to these two teams. Sachem East and Ward Melville aren't bad, but can't hold a candle to either of the top teams. Props though to Conor Pryor, who got his 100th career win last night. Also, don't forget about Joe Campo night at Brentwood tomorrow night. Should be a wonderful evening for a great coach.
In League II, Northport recorded a come-from-behind win against Commack. That most likely wrapped up the league title for Northport, but Connetquot—despite a three-point loss to Commack earlier this season—will probably have something to say about that when the teams meet on February 1.
West Islip takes on Centereach tonight in a League III battle. I'll say it again, I can't see West Islip losing in league action. Sure, the Lions have their flaws, but the league as a whole is having a little bit of a down year. Look for the Lions to romp through. The only excitement we'll get out of this league is the East Islip-West Islip match on February 1. WI should win, but it's always entertaining when these teams get together.
In League IV, Hauppauge continued its winning ways, and don't expect that to change anytime soon. West Babylon has showed some fight lately, and is probably the second best team in this league, but Hauppauge already beat them, 46-9, on January 4.
League V really gets cooking tomorrow night with Islip at Rocky Point. Islip got beat up by Pat-Med in a non-league match on Saturday, and I really think that Rocky Point has the talent to take them down tomorrow. We'll certainly be keeping an eye on that one.
In League VI, Glenn kept rolling , and Westhampton Beach took down Shoreham-Wading River, 48-27. Some of you think that WHB has a chance to knock Glenn off. I don't, but we shall see a week from tomorrow when they meet in Westhampton at 6 p.m.
Just a quickie in Suffolk Division II, Port Jeff defeated Hampton Bays to remain undefeated, and will welcome Babylon to town tomorrow night at 6 for a match that will most likely decide the League VII crown.
Okay, that's all for me. See you all out there on the mats this weekend!
BY CHRIS MASCARO
So I put two poll questions up regarding Glenn's chances to win League VI and to place in the top-5 in the county tournament, and as a whole, all of you think they will do—neither one.
Almost 70 percent of you believe that Glenn will not win the league title, while 71.6 percent think Glenn has no shot to finish in the top-5 in Suffolk.
Personally, I'm not so sure about the top-5 in the county either, but I would be shocked if the Knights didn't win League VI. Sure, upcoming matches with Westhampton Beach and Amityville won't be easy, but the rest of the schedule should be a cakewalk. Plus, they've already beaten Mount Sinai and Miller Place.
I don't think WHB or Amityville has enough firepower to hang with Glenn, but you readers obviously think otherwise. Any particular reason why? Please post your comments.
BY CHRIS MASCARO
Okay, let's get down to business on this past weekend. We're now in the heart of league schedules and we had some great matches over the past few days. Maybe I shouldn't do this, but I'm going to go chronologically rather than with the best matches. However, I will be certain to point out the good ones. As a new addition, I'll even point out a Suffolk and Nassau Match of the Week.
We'll start in Suffolk on Friday night, as Huntington edged out Rocky Point. The Eagles are essentially No. 11 on my top-10 right now. So if they continue to improve and can knock off either Islip (this Friday) or Sayville (next Friday), they're most likely in.
The interesting weights in this match were 103 and 112. At 103, Jose Vasquez dominated Rocky Point's Matt Ross, 17-0. The wrestlers were second and fourth in the county last season, respectively, at 96 pounds. Granted, Ross is still at 96 pounds, but wrestles up in dual meets. Still surprising to see him get completely manhandled though.
At 112, Brandon Escobar was given all he could handle by Huntington's Nigel McNeil, who lost in overtime 4-2. This weight is ridiculously good in Suffolk, so even a kid like McNeil goes unranked—for now.
Elsewhere in Suffolk, Walt Whitman beat Central Islip by a point, but sophomore Adam Troy lost to classmate Andy Rodriguez at 130 pounds. Both are ranked first at 125 and 135, respectively, but met in the middle on Friday, and Rodriguez took a 4-2 decision.
Otherwise in Suffolk on Friday, all the favorites won, including Brentwood (over Lindy, 53-16), Hauppauge (over Deer Park, 43-13), Longwood (over Sachem East, 38-23), and West Islip (over Smithtown East, 43-15).
In Nassau, Garden City beat Lynbrook, 33-27, and Spencer DeSena continued his dominance at 215. You can see Spencer at the end of this week's N-Zone. Garden City won despite Nick Preziosi getting pinned at 145 pounds. The returning all-county competitor was up in the match, 16-5, but got headlocked and was pinned late in the third period.
Also, Plainedge took down Island Trees, behind Rocky Cervini's 7-2 victory over Matt Eberlein at 140 pounds in a battle of defending all-county wrestlers.
A great match in Nassau was Uniondale's 41-23 win over Baldwin, highlighted by Lesean Mack's triple-overtime win over Baldwin's Kerron Williams at 160 pounds. Williams was last year's Nassau champ at 140, while Mack was third at 152. This is the Nassau Match of the Week.
Also, Wantagh beat Bethpage, 39-24. When Wanagh has the middle of its lineup clicking on all cylinders, watch out, because they are tough to beat. Also, look out for sophomore Matt Loew at 171 pounds. He pinned Jimmy Isnardi of Bethpage, who was the county runner-up at 160 last year. Loew has burst onto the scene this year and is a threat to win it all.
Moving on to Saturday, West Islip got whacked by West Babylon , but was without some of its top wrestlers. The Lions took a hit, but I still can't seem them losing any League III matches.
Chaminade defeated East Meadow , 33-27, at the Mineola Duals to remain undefeated on the season. The Flyers will take on Kellenberg tomorrow in a match that will most likely decide the CHSAA title.
We also had the fantastic Rocky Gilmore Tournament at East Islip, where Brentwood dominated with five champions, including freshman Alex Gomez, who beat two all-state wrestlers—Glenn Donatelli of BBP and Brandon Escobar of Rocky Point—in successive rounds to win the 112-pound crown.
Also, Paul Liguori of Wantagh earned his 150th career win in the 125-pound final, and his 100th in a row. Another amazing feat for an amazing wrestler.
This tournament was littered with quality wrestlers, just browse the names of those who lost and you'll be impressed—Anthony and Ray Powers of Mount Sinai, Keith Collado, Jon Senese and David McGarry of Hauppauge were all runner-ups at their respective weights.
171 was a stacked weight with many up-and-comers—junior Josue Mendez of Brentwood took the title, sophomore Jake Smith of Smithtown was second, and Loew was third.
The Wheatley Tournament also had some solid talent on Saturday, but the other marquee event was the Eastern States Tournament (which I talked about below). The Benedetto/Keith match was our Suffolk Match of the Week, even though it wasn't actually in Suffolk. haha...
Okay, well that's all from this weekend, looking forward to another great week of grappling. See you out there on the mats.
BY CHRIS MASCARO
What's up everyone? I hope all of you enjoyed my Insider today about Glenn.
There were a few things I didn't have space for in my article, so I will post them up here on the blog.
-Mike Castellano is 16-1 on the season and 116-19 for his career. His only loss this year came to Islip's John Lamonica, who was fourth in the county at 125 pounds last season. Talking with Castellano, he really senses that this is his one and only year to shine, and that some of what he accomplished at the Division II level won't mean as much of he doesn't place at the counties this season. When I asked him if he thought he would be an all-county wrestler, he said: "I really hope I am. I think I will be."
-As a team, Glenn struggled until last season—even in Division II. The Knights hadn't won their league since 2001, and only the past two years finished high in the D2 tournament.
-Even though Glenn dominated the county tourney last season, it had trouble at the D2 states, placing 38th. This shows how watered down Division II is on the Island, and how many more D2 schools there are in other parts of the state. Said coach T.J. Brocking about this: "It's very, very difficult [for a Division II L.I. team] to compete at states. It's a different animal upstate."
-I mentioned in my Insider how the core group of sophomores are really the heart of this team. Well, that group, which also includes Matt Gannon and Alex Rosenberg, has been wrestling together since the fourth grade in the town's Kid Wrestling program. The program is second to none on the Island, and takes the kids to tournaments all over the state to prepare them. Looks like it worked.
-Brocking figured that the move up would benefit that group of sophomores in two years when the became seniors, but they've found success already. Speaking of grooming the sophomore class, Brocking had customized a special J.V. schedule for them last year, so weren't wrestling D2 J.V.'s, which rarely can even field an entire team.
-On the move up for Glenn, it isn't atypical to see the D2 champ move up the next season. Eastport-South Manor moved up after winning in 2003-04 (first season D2 existed), as did Shoreham-Wading River, Mount Sinai and Glenn after the following three seasons. It's left a pretty weak Division II in Suffolk.
You can find current enrollments for Long Island high schools on the NYSPHSAA's website. Go to "Classification Reports" on the left sidebar. You can search by sport or by enrollment. The minimum for getting into Division I in any individual sport is 600, but Glenn isn't the only school in Suffolk that is under that cap and in D1. Bayport-Blue Point (536) is also in Division I. Mattituck (415) is under as well, but pushes over the it with Greenport and Southold.
-One last thing with Glenn, when Brocking started as the head coach, he brought in longtime Kings Park coach Bill Davey (101 career wins) as an assistant. Davey is a master tactician on the mat. As Castellano said, "Coach Davey knows every single move you can do in wrestling."
Castellano also had high praise for Brocking. He is one of the few that went through the coaching change two seasons ago.
He said: "We had good coaches, but they never pushed us to do anything extra. Coach Brocking took me under his wing. He puts a lot of extra time in to make us better."
Okay, enough on Glenn. I'll be back in just a little bit with a recap of this weekend's matches.
p.s. There are some poll questions up about Glenn on its chances to win League VI and place in the top-5 in the county. So get out the vote!
BY CHRIS MASCARO
Ladies and gents, here are the final results from the Eastern States Tournament. MacArthur was the top Long Island team, finishing in a tie for 10th place with 91 points.
One interesting match to note, SWR's Steven Keith got his revenge on Islip's Jake Benedetto in the 112-pound final, winning 3-1 in overtime. Benedetto had defeated Keith at the Smithtown Invitational , 12-8. Tomorrow I'll try to get a comment from SWR coach Joe Condon about how things went down. From the look of the score, it sounds like an instant classic.
In fact, we've got plenty to talk about from another wild weekend of wrestling on Long Island, so stay tuned.
BY CHRIS MASCARO
Hey everyone, here are the results from the Rocky Gilmore Tournament at East Islip. What a great event with fantastic teams and individuals.
I'll be back with more analysis from the weekend either tomorrow or Monday. Probably Monday because I will be busy writing an Insider tomorrow, and there's this football game I wanted to check out too. You know, the one with the quarterback who dates Jessica Simpson, and the other who is from a famous football family.
BY CHRIS MASCARO
Thanks to reader FYozzo for posting the first-day results from the Eastern States.
Thus far, MacArthur is the top Long Island team (fifth place), and the potential Steven Keith (SWR)/Jake Benedetto (Islip) rematch from last week at 112 pounds is still in the making. Keith won by technical fall in the first round and scored an 11-0 decision in the second, while Benedetto had wins of 6-0 and 8-2.
In this morning's quarterfinals, both wrestlers face fellow Long Island counterparts. Keith will take on MacArthur's Sean Kempf (the seventh seed), while Benedetto faces off against Justin Esposito of Farmingdale (the eighth seed).
Should be a fun day of wrestling today!
BY CHRIS MASCARO
I wrote about this topic in last week's Insider.
According to the New York State Wrestling Coaches Association, the draft proposal for the adoption of regional tournaments to determine state meet berths has been shelved for the time being so the Section Chairmen can discuss it further with the coaches in their respective areas.
The interesting thing about the article I linked to from the Coaches Association is that it clearly states that the proposal they made public on December 19 was developed with the aid of N.Y.S.P.H.S.A.A.'s Wrestling Committee.
When I did my Insider, Lloyd Mott, an Assistant Director at N.Y.S.P.H.S.A.A., refused to say if his organization had a hand in the process. He did say that members of the Coaches Association were also on his Wrestling Committee, but we didn't know for sure if those people also worked on the draft proposal.
Now we know they did.
BY CHRIS MASCARO
The great thing about the weekends once the league schedules kick off is that there are great matches on Friday and great tournaments on Saturday.
Today things get cooking soon after that final school bell rings.
Let's start out in Suffolk, where at 4:00 p.m. Westhampton visits Amityville in a battle of who will finish second to Glenn in League VI. Oops, did I just say that? I mean the team that will challenge (yea, right) Glenn for the top spot.
While we're on Glenn, just one quick blurb about its match last night against Miller Place. I was pretty confident that the Knights would win—and they did—but I was surprised to see how close the score was, given Miller Place's seventh-place finish at the L.I. Challenge.
The way Miller Place stayed in the match was by dominating the upper weights, with four straight wins from 160 on, including man-child Carl Korpi's pin at 215. I guess the only way to matchup with Glenn is to hit them blow-for-blow in the higher weights. Yet, I don't see anyone in League VI that has enough firepower. Hence the reason I think the Knights will run away with the league title.
Okay, back to the future (hahaha). At 4:30 things really get sizzling, with Rocky Point at Huntington. I've said it before, and I'll say it again—League V in Suffolk is ridiculously competitive with Huntington, Islip, Sayville and Rocky Point vying for the title.
Rocky Point has been nothing short of spectacular this season, with its only loss coming against Hauppauge. So here's its opportunity to show the cream of the crop what it's made of...and maybe, just maybe, jump into our top-10 (hint, hint). Now there's a carrot they can chase after.
This should be an absolutely fantastic match...just look at all the individual talent, especially in the lower weights (note: I don't necessarily endorse those rankings, but they are a decent barometer of "who's good").
Moving along, at 6:15 p.m., catch Longwood visiting Sachem East. As I've said before, Sachem East is an up-and-down team that is very dangerous when its on one of its up ticks. I still think Longwood is the better team, but watch out if the Flaming Arrows bring the "A-bows" ...I mean "A-games." Bad joke? Yea, okay.
Elsewhere in Suffolk, Brentwood visits Lindenhurst at 7, Hauppauge welcomes Deer Park at 6:15, and West Islip hosts Smithtown East at 6:30.
In the Brentwood match, look out for the 189-pound match between seniors David Manzueta (B'wood) and Elliot Marx (Lindy)—two guys that are in the All-County hunt, possibly more.
In the Hauppauge match, you're going to get two Collados (Haup.) and three Lugos (DP). This family stew will come to a boil at 140 pounds, where senior Keith Collado is expected to take on freshman Rich Lugo. Let the games begin.
Over to Nassau on Friday, where Plainedge will welcome Island Trees to town at 5:30 in a Conference 3A showdown. Expect Plainedge to continue its bounce back after the L.I. Challenge.
Also, Baldwin meets Uniondale at 6:30. If Uniondale wins, it will stake its claim as the top challenger to Massapequa, which beat Baldwin by a point, in Conference 1A. (Baldwin took down East Meadow, so Uniondale would be the team left standing, with Syosset and Farmingdale not too far down the line.)
The battle between Kerron Williams of Baldwin and Lesean Mack of Uniondale at 152 pounds should prove to be a county final preview.
Elsewhere in Nassau, Wantagh plays host to Bethpage at 7, and Lynbrook visits Garden City at 4:15.
On Saturday, you only need to know about two events, both of which I mentioned in this week's insider. First the Rocky Gilmore Tournament at East Islip, which begins at 9 a.m. (finals should be around 5 or 6 p.m.), includes Brentwood, Hauppauge, Rocky Point and Wantagh to name a few.
The other top teams will be at the Eastern States at Sullivan County CC in Loch Sheldrake, N.Y., including MacArthur and Sayville, former "top-10ies" Islip and Massapequa, and Baldwin, Farmingdale, Long Beach, Monsignor Farrell, and Shoreham-Wading River.
The seeds for the event are posted below. All three No. 1 seeds from the area are seniors—Islip's Jake Benedetto at 112, Massapequa's Shane Strumwasser at 135, and Sayville's Shawn Mazzarone at 145.
An interesting twist at 112—SWR's Steven Keith is the second seed, leaving the possibility open for a rematch from last week's battle at Smithtown West in Saturday's final. Stay tuned.
Okay, that's all for now. See everyone on the mats this weekend!
BY CHRIS MASCARO
Here are the seedings of the local wrestlers at this weekend's Eastern States tournament at Sullivan County CC courtesy of Michael Vetrano of Sayville:
Seed Weight School ID Last Name First Name Grade
3 103 BALDWIN BAL PECORA VINNY 11
18 130 BALDWIN BAL QUINN GERARD 11
10 140 BALDWIN BAL QUINN WILL * 12
15 145 BALDWIN BAL FAMULARO VINNY 12
5 152 BALDWIN BAL WILLIAMS KERRON * 12
9 103 FARMINGDALE FAR ALBER LUKE 10
8 112 FARMINGDALE FAR ESPOSITO JUSTIN * 12
13 189 FARMINGDALE FAR JACKSON THOMAS 11
1 112 ISLIP ISL BENEDETTO JAKE * 12
16 130 ISLIP ISL WADE KYLE 9
4 135 ISLIP ISL LAMONICA JOHN * 12
5 96 LONG BEACH LB KHOURY JOHN * 12
4 96 MacARTHUR MAC GRANT ALEX 11
7 112 MacARTHUR MAC KEMPF SEAN 11
13 119 MacARTHUR MAC GUERRERO ARIEL 11
7 130 MacARTHUR MAC CATALDO JOHN 12
14 135 MacARTHUR MAC HEROLD BRIAN 11
10 145 MacARTHUR MAC MULHOLLAND BRENDAN 11
17 152 MacARTHUR MAC PIPERNO CHRIS 11
16 171 MacARTHUR MAC MACALUSO ANTHONY 12
10 189 MacARTHUR MAC DALY ANTHONY 12
14 119 MASSAPEQUA MAS KAUFMAN ERIC 11
3 130 MASSAPEQUA MAS DORIA MIKE * 12
1 135 MASSAPEQUA MAS STRUMWASSER SHANE * 12
17 140 MASSAPEQUA MAS MADDOCK JOSH 11
11 160 MASSAPEQUA MAS ISNARDI NICK 11
8 103 MSGR FARRELL MF BENINGO RICH * 12
12 125 MSGR FARRELL MF VILLARET BEN 10
12 189 MSGR FARRELL MF NEWMAN JOHN * 12
17 119 SAYVILLE SAY SLEVIN TJ 10
5 135 SAYVILLE SAY PITRE TRAVIS 10
1 145 SAYVILLE SAY MAZZARONE SHAWN * 12
14 152 SAYVILLE SAY MARTEL EVAN 12
2 112 SHOREHAM SWR KEITH STEVEN * 11
17 130 SHOREHAM SWR FLYNN DAVE 11
5 145 SHOREHAM SWR NEIDHART T.J. * 11
Here are some highlights of the Garden City-Island Trees match:
