Phantoms Dominant in 60-9 Win Over Miller Place

The Bayport-Blue Point varsity wrestling team won its first ten matches en route to an impressive 60-9 win over Miller Place at Wednesday evening.

Wrestlers squared off in a dark gym under a lone spotlight above the mat, which created an intense atmosphere. After the Phantoms won at 285 pounds by forfeit, Joey Palma defeated Alex Hin, 8-1, at 96 pounds. After two more forfeits, Kyle McGovern got the first pin of the evening over Nick Feliciano at 119 pounds. Ryan Hake won a minor decision at 125, Kyle Underwood took care of business at 130, Jeff Purdy won by pin at 135 and before you knew it the score was 41-0 Phantoms.

"These boys are working extremely hard in the room," head coach Rich Reilly said. "We drill, drill and drill and try to tell them what we do in this room will transpire onto the mat when you go out there and compete and you can see it. They didn't stop moving, no matter the position they were goers. They kept going after the guy and that's all you can ask for. I'm very, very proud of these guys."

Up next it was time for newcomer Brandon Thomas to show off his skills at 140 pounds. When Thomas moved to the district from Sachem East at the beginning of the year, Reilly knew he had some impressive new blood on the team, and Thomas proved that against Miller Place with a quick pin in impressive fashion over Miller Place's Nick Cronin barely a minute into the match.

"He's just one of those kids whose personality's contagious," Reilly said. "He's a breath of fresh air. He comes in, does a nice job in the room working hard and you see him on the mat yourself. He's got talent obviously, he fits in beautifully and I'm just so pleased and blessed to have someone like him moving to the district. It's great and it makes us that much stronger."

After Thomas won, Ralph Fabiani defeated Kenny Keanan by major decision before the Panthers finally got on the board thanks to two minor decisions in a row. After Geoff Teague won at 171 pounds, Joe Emmel won by pin at 189 in the second period to make it 60-6. The Phantom's night ended with a loss at 215 by Jim Alles.

"You'll see some guys in the light and middle weights are more of my experienced guys," Reilly said. "I have some tough guys up top as well but there are some guys filling in other weight classes that don't have as much mat time. They're going through the process of getting better and the way you get better is getting on the mat and wrestling matches."

The defending champions placed second overall in tournament action this past weekend, with 15 medals and two champions, and with a strong start to the season clearly have their sights set on a second straight league title, something the Phantoms have not accomplished in 30 years. Both Reilly and his team know it won't come easy if they don't put in the effort.

"I think we have 15 or 16 seniors and we knew going in, it's hard enough to win a championship, it's twice as hard to repeat, so that's kind of been our battle cry in the preseason," Reilly said. "We know we can't just go out there and be complacent and go through the motions, we know we have to go in the room, drill hard, work hard, and do all the little things right."

The Phantom's season continues this weekend with a Dual Meet at Jericho beginning on Saturday, Dec. 18 at 9a.m. Reilly has already singled out Hills West to be the team to beat, and hopes that in serendipitous fashion, they square off in the finals.

"We've won [this tournament the last few years] and this year Hills West will be in it for the first time and they're tough," Reilly said. "They're coached by Mike and Joe Patrovich, who have a great resume and always have their guys prepared and ready to go. I'm hoping…we meet in the finals. That would be a nice little barometer for us at this stage in the season to see where we're at and the boys are pumped for the challenge."