Nine Blue Devils Head to Suffolk Wrestling Championships
Going into the Suffolk League V wrestling championships the Huntington coaching staff knew it would be an uphill climb to win the team title that has eluded the Blue Devils since their last such crown in 2001.
But, while Huntington did falter in the team standings, amassing 179 points to finish fourth in what many consider to be the county’s toughest league, the Blue Devils pulled off several upsets and won a series of close decisions, qualifying nine wrestlers for this weekend’s Suffolk Division I Championships at Stony Brook University.
In all, three Huntington wrestlers won individual titles and six others placed second or third to give the Blue Devils a strong county tournament contingent. “We’re happy with how the team wrestled,” head coach Lou Giani said. “You always wish a few other kids had made it through, but you never get everything you want.”
A crowd of about 750 packed into the Islip High School gymnasium to see the finals, which included several exciting matches, including the 103 lb. bout where Blue Devils Jose Vasquez and Nigel McNeil squared off against each other. The pair wrestled to a scoreless tie through the first four minutes before Vasquez used a third period escape to claim a 1-0 victory.
Francisco Pereira, who became Huntington’s all-time wins leader when he passed both Stef Sair (136 wins) and Steven Palacios (137) during the tournament, captured the 119 lb. title, pinning all four of his opponents including Sayville’s TJ Slevin in the finals. Pereira’s four victories give him 139 over his five year varsity career. He is 36-1 this season with the lone loss coming in overtime at the Windsor tournament.
Dashaun Thomas claimed Huntington’s third crown of the day by edging Nawid Saddiq of Harborfields, 3-2 at 285 lbs. Thomas advanced to the finals after pinning Sayville’s Julian DiGiovanni in 1:12. “Dashaun wrestled a very smart match in the finals,” Giani said.
Damon McQueen lost a hard fought 7-5 decision to Matt Ross of Rocky Point in the 96 lb. final. McQueen fell behind early in the bout and never managed to gain the advantage. “Damon dug himself a hole and found it’s hard to get out of it against a tough opponent,” Giani said.
Finishing in third place for Huntington were Omar Santiago (130 lbs.), Louis Puca (140), Anthony Lupi (160) and Morris Romero (189). All four of them will advance to the county tournament this week. Ryan Fox lost a heartbreaking 4-3 decision to Harborfields’ James Denicola at 145 lbs. to finish fourth and effectively end his season.
The Blue Devils appear to be well positioned to be among the top teams in Suffolk Division I this weekend. “We’ll work hard all week and see what happens,” assistant coach Travis T. Smith said.
Final team scores: 1. Rocky Point-223 points 2. Islip-210.5 3. Harborfields-208 4. Huntington-179 5. Sayville-154 6. Eastport-South Manor-47 7. Comsewogue-29.5 8. East Hampton-16.
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