9 Photos
Westhampton Beach freshman Andrew Lewis gets his arm raised after winning a match. Lewis wrestled back to place third at the Hills East tournament. DREW BUDD
Westhampton Beach sophomore Carmine Esposito. DREW BUDD
Two points for Westhampton Beach sophomore Carmine Esposito. DREW BUDDDREW BUDD
Carmine Esposito checks how much time is left in the period. DREW BUDD
Carmine Esposito tries to get his opponent on his back. DREW BUDD
Hurricane Fernando Osorio works on pinning his opponent. DREW BUDD
Hurricane Fernando Osorio works on pinning his opponent. DREW BUDD
Westhampton Beach freshman Dylan Blenk works against his Kennedy opponent. DREW BUDD
Westhampton Beach freshman Dylan Blenk works against his Kennedy opponent. DREW BUDD
After losses to East Islip (53-13) and at Eastport-South Manor (47-24) on December 20 and 22, respectively, the Westhampton Beach wrestling team fell to 0-3 in League V dual meets.
When it comes to tournaments, though, it’s almost like the Hurricanes are a different team.
Earlier this season, Westhampton Beach placed second at the Manhasset Invitational, and last week, it took third place in the highly competitive Sal DiFazio Holiday Tournament at Half Hollow Hills East High School on December 28-29. While there are many different makeups of a team that can make it more of a tournament-style team than a dual-meet team, Westhampton Beach first-year head coach Jakob Restrepo said it’s more about timing than anything else when it comes to his team..
“With us particularly, while I do think we could have been more competitive with East Islip and Eastport, it’s the nature of the sport where you have injuries and people are getting sick at the wrong time,” he said. “We haven’t been at our full force for every dual meet, whereas on the weekends we seem to be okay where we go in healthy and we compete and perform well.”
The Hurricanes placed third with 216.5 points behind first place North Babylon (382) and Commack (299), and did so, quite impressively, with only one wrestler, Bobby Stabile, reaching the finals of his respective weight class. But what they lacked in finalists, the ’Canes more than made up for in the consolations, where they had eight wrestlers finish.
After a first-round bye, Stabile pinned his way through to the finals of the 138-pound bracket, where he faced Valley Stream North senior Nicola Petruccelli and lost a major decision, 11-0. Andrew Lewis, had arguably the best showing at the tournament, having to wrestleback all the way to the consolation finals where he met East Hampton sophomore Alex Cabrera. The two went into multiple overtime periods before an ultimate rideout would determine the winner. Lewis refused to let go of Cabrera’s foot and won the match, 5-4, to claim third place at 152 pounds.
Dylan Blenk, a freshman, lost his consolation final at 101 pounds by technical fall to North Babylon eighth-grader Xavier Seabury. Darren Cangelosi, another freshman, placed fourth after he was pinned by Valley Stream North sophomore Andrew Poh. And junior Joseph Carasiti placed fourth at 160 pounds after being pinned by Hills West senior Hamza Kahn.
Nicholas Hochhauser, a freshman, pinned Bellmore-JFK freshman Wyatt Saldarelli in 3:57 to place fifth at 116. Tadhg Green (138), another freshman, pinned Bellmore-JFK freshman Miles Bachisin in 2:47 to place fifth, sophomore Carmine Esposito pinned Harborfields sophomore Ryan McGay in 4:39 to place fifth at 160, and Connor Rodgers (190) defeated Harborfields senior Noe Aguilar, 6-2, to place fifth.
“Looking at this tournament last year, we had scored 120 points in total for both days. After the first day this year, we scored 142, so that first day was telling,” Restrepo said. “I told the boys beforehand, behind two tough losses to East Islip and ESM, now is the time to put in some solid work and everyone wrestled hard. They were all scrapping hard for every point, and what’s impressive about it is that the freshmen really pushed us in this tournament and battled hard. The upperclassmen did what they were expected to do for the most part, but it was the freshmen that got us to take third.”
Westhampton Beach hosted Rocky Point on Wednesday and is scheduled to wrestle at Hauppauge this Thursday, January 4, at 6 p.m. before hosting their annual Cory Hubbard Duals on Saturday. Westhampton Beach will be facing East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton/Ross in the very first match of the day starting around 9 a.m. Just prior to the match, East Hampton head coach Ethan Mitchell will have some words about the tournament’s namesake, Cory Hubbard, a former teammate of Mitchell who is a Westhampton Beach graduate and former Hurricane coach.
After battling East Hampton, the ’Canes will wrestle Patchogue-Medford, then Center Moriches. Hampton Bays, Sayville, Newfield and Bellport will appear in the other block of dual meets. Westhampton Beach alumni are asked to meet up at Westhampton Beach Brewing Company at the conclusion of the tournament, at about 5 p.m., to continue the fundraising efforts for Live Your Cor Foundation, created in memory of Hubbard, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver while crossing the street in College Park, Maryland, in 2014.
