Six Blue Devils Head to Suffolk Tournament
Six Huntington High School wrestlers have qualified for the Section XI Division I tournament at Stony Brook University this Friday and Saturday. Corey Jamison, Anthony Puca, Kevin Mendez, Nick Lupi, John Arceri and Joe Puca are all headed to the county meet.
Jamison (113 lbs.) and Anthony Puca (285 lbs.) won weight class titles at last weekend's League 5 tournament at Bellport. Jamison pinned Kings Park's Joe Paterno in the quarterfinals in 1:39 and then captured a 6-3 major decision over Comsewogue's Anthony Hirshfield in the semifinals. The Huntington dynamo topped Eastport-South Manor's Jimmy Leach in an exciting match in the finals, 3-1.
Puca pinned every opponent he faced, including Comsewogue's Jon Friedman (0:53), Bellport's Reggie Sinclaire (2:40) and Islip's Pat Sheppard (1:39) in the finals.
Mendez finished second in the league at 132 lbs. He opened the competition by pinning Bellport's Phil Gray (1:36) and Kings Park's Vincent Savacchio (1:27) before dropping a 6-4 overtime decision to Kings Park's Dominic Montemurro.
Lupi finished second in the league at 220 lbs. He pinned Islip's Nick Bayne in the quarterfinals and then nipped Kings Park's Christian Sabia in the semifinals, 1-0. Islip's Ryan Hughes edged Lupi in the finals in overtime, 3-2.
Arceri finished third at 99 lbs. He grabbed a 9-2 decision over Kings Park's Taylor Picciano in the quarterfinals before dropping a 5-2 verdict to Kings Park's Joe Atkins in the semifinals. Arceri then battled past Islip's John Palma in the consolation bout, 3-1.
Joe Puca also took third place, going 3-1 at 138 lbs. Puca pinned his first two opponents, Comsewogue's Ozzy Durmas (0:59) and Bellport's Jason Behlen (1:26) before falling to Islip's James Ianaconi in the semifinals, 5-3. Puca fought back to decision Kings Park's Kyle Sheehan in the consolation round, 4-0.
The Section XI tournament will kick-off on Friday at 10 a.m. with pigtail and preliminary round matches. The quarterfinals are set for 2:30 p.m. Competition will continue into the evening hours. The semifinals are slated for Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Consolation round matches will be wrestled on Saturday beginning at 1:15 p.m. with the finals to follow at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the door for $6 per session.
Final team scores: 1. Islip-253.5 points; 2. Kings Park-209; 3. Eastport-South Manor-149.5; 4. Huntington-117; 5. Harborfields-102; 6. Bellport-80; 7.Comsewogue-69.5; 8. East Hampton-30.5.