11 Photos
Bayman Angel Valverde fends off Mariner Gabe Lopes.
Southampton's Gabe Lopes pins Angel Valverde of Hampton Bays.
Cooper Shay of Hampton Bays and Southampton's Dylan White compete against one another at 215 pounds.
Esteban Montoya of Hampton Bays and Bobby Fichera of Southampton battle it out at 102 pounds.
Cooper Shay of Hampton Bays takes down Southampton's Dylan White.
Cooper Shay of Hampton Bays takes down Southampton's Dylan White.
Mariner Johan Moraxtitla works on pinning Bayman Clint Vasquez.
Southampton's Alex Boyd goes toe to toe with Kevin Saa Pacheco of Hampton Bays.
Mariner Cole Fox and Bayman Christian Garcia shakes hands just before their match.
Mariner Cole Fox takes down Bayman Christian Garcia.
Mariner Cole Fox takes down Bayman Christian Garcia. RON ESPOSITO
The Southampton wrestling team defeated crosstown rival Hampton Bays, as expected, on Friday night. But what wasn’t expected, was how close the match was.
The host Mariners feature a number of upperclassmen and have a lot more mat experience this season compared to their Baymen counterparts, and although they won the match with some room to spare at 42-29, it was a competitive match from both sides.
A big swing in the match came at the 102-pound and 132-pound weight classes, where Baymen Esteban Montoya and Raul Lopez, respectively, each scored six points with pins in matches they were each losing at the time by 10 points. That helped Hampton Bays have the edge in contested victories, 5-3. The problem was, the Baymen forfeited four matches.
Still, Hampton Bays head coach Mike Lloyd liked what he saw from his team overall.
“We’ve been continuing to reiterate the importance of focusing on and mastering the basics since the team is so young, and for some of our guys it has started to pay off,” he said.
As for the Mariners, head coach Lester Ware said his team still wasn’t at full strength in the match with Hampton Bays, still dealing with a few COVID cases left over from the previous week. They had a few more wrestlers at their disposal than they did two days prior at Bayport-Blue Point, where they lost, 49-21. Ware felt that if his team was at full strength, it may have won or it would have at least been a much closer match. That said, two positives came out of it in the upper weights with Dylan White (215) and Johan Moraxtitla (285) each winning via pins.
Riley Lenahan, who had missed the past two weeks or so, returned to action Saturday to place second at 189 pounds at the Rick Herrmann Tournament at Bellport. He lost the championship match, 7-5, and Ware chalked up the loss to Lenahan having to miss the past few weeks. He had won his semifinal match in overtime, Ware said, and may have been a bit gassed in the finals and gave up considerable size to his Bay Shore opponent.
Bobby Fichera and Juan Pachardo both placed fourth for the Mariners and Alex Boyd placed fifth. George Gutierrez defeated Bayport’s Erick Benevides at 285 pounds, turning around a loss to him earlier this month at East Hampton’s Sprig Gardner Tournament.
Ware said he entered three of his wrestlers at 215 pounds, hoping to get one of them to place, but he said it may have been the most competitive 215-pound weight class he’s seen at a tournament in some time. In fact, he said it was a very competitive tournament overall, with wrestlers from some tough programs in Bay Shore, Bayport, Bellport, Centereach, Patchogue-Medford and Syosset.
Southampton hosted Center Moriches on Tuesday and was expected to wrestle at Babylon in a dual meet the following day before the holiday break. Hampton Bays is scheduled to host Center Moriches this Thursday, December 23, at 6:30 p.m., before taking its holiday break.
