Hurricanes Fracapane, Stabile Place Second at League V Championships, Qualify for Counties

Westhampton Beach had a pair of its wrestlers reach the finals of their respective weight classes at the League V Championships, which were held at Rocky Point High School on Saturday.

Both Bobby Stabile (132 pounds) and Sal Fracapane (160) were in the mix for league titles, but ultimately finished as runner ups. After winning his first three matches of the day somewhat handily — Stabile had a good semifinals match that he won, 4-0, over Eastport-South Manor’s Luke Zadrazil — he lost his finals match by technical fall to East Islip’s Logan Alfalla, the top seeded wrestler at 132 pounds in the tournament.

Similarly, Fracapane won his first three matches easily — he won his first two matches by pins that lasted less than three minutes total — and then he won his semifinals match in a major decision. But in the finals, Fracapane met East Islip’s Stephen Coleman and he got caught in an awkward position and was pinned in 2:45.

The second-place finishes for Fracapane and Stabile were more than enough to qualify for the Suffolk County Division I Championships, as wrestlers need to place in the top four of their weight classes in order to advance. Counties are this Monday and Tuesday, February 13-14, at Stony Brook University.

Westhampton Beach head coach Pete DeTore was happy to see both Fracapane, a senior, and Stabile, a junior, reach the county tournament, and although he wasn’t necessarily disappointed with the rest of his team, he did admit he was expecting a little more. He would have liked to have seen what Dylan Razzano and Nate Brandi could have done, but both were hurt and out with season-ending injuries, and even Liam Anthony, who did wrestle, was battling an injury himself as well.

Bruno Maffei (152 pounds), one of three seniors on the team with Fracapane and Dylan Specht, had a strong season, but lost his quarterfinals match, 6-5, to Rocky Point’s Kyle Moore, who wound up placing third.

“We were hoping to get him through,” DeTore said. “It was a good match, for the most part. He had a tough time on bottom, and that was the difference.

“Bruno went from a 3-10 wrestler last year to coming into the tournament with the most wins on our team,” he added. “He’s a great example to the younger wrestlers that if you put the time in, in the offseason, you can do great things. I’m proud of him. No one was expecting him to do what he’s done and it was because of all the work he put in on his own. A lot of the time in the offseason, you have to be able to push yourself to work in this sport and he did that.”

DeTore is excited to see what Fracapane and Stabile can do at counties. It will be Fracapane’s second straight appearance at counties and DeTore thinks if he can go in with the right mindset he can fare well.

“If he brings his high intensity, physical style to the mat, no one in the county can stay with him,” he said. “But he needs to bring that intensity into every match. If he can do that, and if he can stay consistent, he’ll have a really good tournament.

“Bobby has a tough weight class, but we’ll see where he lands in the bracket,” DeTore added. “He’s a competitor, he battles and he’s one of the few guys like Sal who will always put their best effort in and never quit. At the end of the day, no matter where you are in the tournament, you still have to beat the best, so you always have to bring your ‘A’ game, and most importantly, you have to be willing to battle and embrace the battle. You can’t let the name of the tournament get to you. It’s just another wrestling match. Sometimes the bright lights are too much for some guys, and it’s your responsibility to expose that in the other wrestler.”