Arceri Leads Blue Devil Wrestling
into New Season
Two-time Suffolk champion John Arceri will lead the Huntington High School wrestling team into battle this winter as the Blue Devils look to improve upon last season’s fourth place league finish.
Arceri will be joined by fellow returning league champions Kyle Mock and Joseph Puca. League place-winners Ethan Dwyer and Jorge Villela are also coming back. Jared Leake, Will Thomas and Carlos Pereira, who all won first round league tournament matches last season are also back in the fold. These eight wrestlers form the core of the Blue Devil line-up, which is strong in the lower and middle weights before thinning out up top.
Arceri compiled a 35-3 record as a sophomore and is 101-19 over the past three seasons on the varsity. He is the only Huntington freshman to ever win a Suffolk wrestling crown.
Puca returns to the mat after going 31-5 with 21 pins en route to a fourth place finish in the county tournament at 152 lbs. Mock is back after a sensational season last winter that saw him compile a 32-3 mark with 18 pins. Dwyer and Villela are expected to be in the mix for All-County honors this season.
Huntington is 57-19 over the past seven seasons. During that span the Blue Devils won the league dual meet title in 2008, were co-champs in 2009, finished third in 2010 and 2011, placed fourth last year and fifth in 2012. The team finished fourth in the league tournament in five of those seven years, was second in 2010 and third in 2013.
“Our goal is the same every year; league, county and state championships,” second year head coach Travis T. Smith said. “The competition will be very tough, just like it is every year. We expect everyone on the team to work hard every day in practice.”
Huntington tallied 81 points in last year’s Section XI Division I tournament to finish 11th in the team standings. The Blue Devils went 5-3 in dual meets and scored 155 points in the Suffolk League V tournament to place fourth, one point behind third place finisher Kings Park.
A perennial state power for four decades, Huntington has struggled to fill out every weight class in recent seasons. The lack of depth has cost the team dearly. “We have had some very strong individuals, but we haven’t had enough depth throughout the entire lineup to win a dual meet or post-season championship,” Smith said.
Huntington has compiled a record of 570-163-7 (.775) in 65 seasons of competition. The Blue Devils have won 31 dual meet championships, been second nine times and third in five other seasons. Huntington has also won 23 league/conference tournament titles, finished second 12 different times and third in 10 seasons.
Huntington has won nine Section XI team crowns, been runner-up eight times and third 12 times. The Blue Devils have finished in the top five of the county tournament 43 times and in the top ten in 55 different seasons.
Huntington won the New York State Intersectional Tournament in 1973, 1976, 1980, 2002 and 2004.
“We are optimistic about the coming season,” Smith said. “We have some of the best wrestlers in the state.”