Hewlett's Pincus repeats as county champ

Hewlett senior Lucas Pincus repeated as a Nassau County wrestling champion last Sunday night at Hofstra when he outlasted Shane Gibbons of Massapequa in the Division I 145-pound title bout, 4-2.

Pincus, the No. 1 seed, recorded the winning points with roughly five seconds remaining in regulation. “I knew there was a short amount of time left,” said Pincus, who had two pins and one major decision victory on his way to the finals. “It’s definitely harder to repeat than win it the first time,” he added. “When you’re a defending champ, everyone is gunning for you and bringing their best to try to knock you off.”

Bulldogs head coach Stephen Jones was impressed, yet not surprised with the way Pincus stepped up in the tournament’s biggest moments.

“He took care of business this weekend,” Jones said. “He was just dominant in the semis. In the finals, we knew what Massapequa’s game plan against him would be, and they were pretty effective at running it. But, Lucas is a big game performer.

“He’s already been in such big matches, that now pressure doesn’t get to him,” Jones added. “Even though it was 2-2 with just seconds left, he stayed calm, cool, and collected like he always does. Finally, at the end he got the take down to win it.”

Last winter, Pincus captured the county crown at 138 pounds and reached the quarterfinals of the state tournament. His goal, he said, is to be among the top three in the state this time. Albany’s Times Union Center is once again the site of the NYS championships on Feb. 24-25.

“The top seeds in the tournament are going to be hard to beat, so Lucas will have to wrestle a perfect match in order to win,” Jones said. “But, in this sport anything can happen.”

This season was a rebuilding one for Hewlett’s youthful squad. However, it still managed to find success on the county stage. The Bulldogs finished 12th in the team standings, and had two other wrestlers besides Pincus make it to Sunday’s “Blood Round.”

Senior Manny Furman (160 pounds) stayed alive in the tournament into Sunday, giving his Hewlett wrestling career a memorable finish. “Manny started wrestling in 10th grade and has made a lot of progress,” Jones said. “He had a successful year. Considering what he put into the sport and when he started, he did very well.”

Also remaining in contention on the second day of the tournament 106-pound sophomore Sam Warshall. “For Sam it was a great tournament,” Jones said. “He has all the skills in the world, and also grew up a lot mentally this season. This finish should set him up really nicely for next year.”

Other county tournament standouts for the Bulldogs included 99-pound senior Jonathan Davis and 170-pound sophomore Michael Gordon. Both made it to the final round of matches on Saturday.

While there was plenty for the program as a whole to be excited about, the biggest story of the weekend was undoubtedly the crowning of the school’s first ever two-time county champion: Pincus.