This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Varsity Wrestling Opens League Play With 56-14 Victory

Phantoms take down Mattituck with five pins.

At 285 pounds, Harrison DeSousa came out in the first match of the evening and pinned Mattituck's Andrew Ennis in the first minute. It was smooth sailing from there for the Bayport-Blue Point varsity wrestling team as they opened League VII, Division II play by cruising to a 56-14 victory Wednesday evening.

The Phantoms (1-0, 11-0) won the first 11 matches and jumped out to a 53-0 lead in a win that was never in doubt. DeSousa's quick pin set the tone and was followed by two Mattituck forfeits at 96 and 103 pounds. Before you could blink, the Phantoms had an 18-0 lead.

"There were a lot of question marks with Mattituck," coach Rich Reilly said. "I don't know who some of these guys are, so you try to do a little research on your opponent but you just don't have all that information so when Harrison got out there and got the pin it was like 'OK there's six points and we have the two forfeits.' Up 18-0, the momentum is in our favor and we did a heck of a job."

Find out what's happening in Sayville-Bayportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Phantoms were without three of their starters at 103, 160 and 215 pounds, so Reilly knew going in he didn't have his his lineup at full strength. Mattituck had to forfeit at 103. At 160, Matt Mastandrea faced one of the Tuckers' best wrestlers, falling to Tomasz Flipkowski in the Phantoms' first loss of the evening. Mike Lombardi, another fill-in at 215 and up from JV, wrestled well, but was pinned by Jorge Perez in the second period.

"Mattituck is a team that's always well coached," Reilly said. "These guys come prepared and are ready to go, so with that on top of not having three starters, I'm just so proud of the guys that stepped into the lineup today. They work so hard and the opportunity was there today for them to get out there and they did a great job."

Find out what's happening in Sayville-Bayportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In one of the best matchups on the day, Brandon Thomas squared of with Mattituck's Jeff Strider at 140 pounds and fought hard to a 6-5 minor victory. Ralph Fabiani, moving up from 140 to 145, won a minor decision over Dave Martinez that put the Phantoms up 50-0 at the time.

"Brandon's not going to go out and pin everybody," Reilly said. "He was wrestling a very tough kid and he did a great job. That's what we ask these guys, to go out and wrestle to the best of their ability. A guy like Fabiani, he wrestled a guy today that's around six pounds heavier than him and he beat him. He's kind of like my unsung hero. He's doing a great job."

The Phantoms have a tournament in East Islip on Saturday, Jan. 8 at 9 a.m. before they continue league play against Hampton Bays at home on Wednesday, Jan. 12 at 4:30 a.m. The Phantoms have been cruising this season. The defending league and division champs showed they are going hard for a repeat, but that doesn't mean coach Reilly is overlooking anyone and looking too far ahead in the schedule.

"I don't take anybody for granted," Reilly said. "You don't want the guys to go out there and win but wrestle sloppy. You want them to go out there and dominate, get better and peak toward the end of the year when it all counts and we're heading in the right direction."

                                                                                                        

Weight Class Phantoms Mattituck Result 96 Joey Palma FFT FFT 103 Matt Ceglio FFT FFT 112 Justin Underwood Mynor Javier 5-2 Minor 119 Kyle McGovern Brian Pelan Pin-2nd 125 Ryan Hake David Dillon 17-2 Major 130 Kyle Underwood Andres Aldez Pin-2nd 135 Jeff Purdy Rich Koch Pin-2nd 140 Brandon Thomas Jeff Strider 6-5 Minor 145 Ralph Fabiani Dave Martinez 7-3 Minor 152 Chad Stevens Anthony Howell 4-2 Minor 160 Matt Mastandrea Tomasz Flipkowski 14-1 Major 171 Geoff Teague Chris Baglivi 5-2 Minor 189 Joe Emmel Brandon Lake 9-5 Minor

215

Mike Lombardi

Jorge Perez

Pin-2nd

285

Harrison DeSousa

Andrew Ennis

Pin-1st

*Winner is highlighed in bold.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?