A New Blue Devil Wins Leader
Wrestling teams thrive on consistency and reliability and Francisco Pereira gave Huntington High School both, wrapping up his Blue Devil career with his third consecutive all-county performance and moving into first place on the program’s all-time victory list.
Pereira completed his senior year with a 39-2 mark. The two losses came in the finals of the Windsor and Section XI tournaments. In all, he won 142 matches over a five year varsity career that included three straight seasons of at least 31 wins.
“It was fun,” Pereira said about his time in the Blue Devil program. He said that the trips to upstate tournaments and the team’s constant focus on being the best in the state made for enjoyable experiences.
The only thing Pereira won’t miss is cutting weight. “I hated it,” he said. “Hated it,” he repeated for emphasis. But, by never missing practice and working hard he conquered the “worst part” of wrestling and became a champion, too.
Pereira started the year eleventh on the all-time Blue Devil victory list but was soon passing many legendary Huntington wrestlers, including Adrian Bonilla, Pat Flynn, Drew Jackson, Charlie Paar, Shawn Riley, Mike Picozzi, Gene McNeil, Jeff Thomas, Stephon Sair and Steven Palacios.
“We’re going to miss Francisco,” head coach Lou Giani said. “He’s a great kid.”
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