47.0°,
Mostly Cloudy South Side qualifies five wrestlers
South Side had a few sure things and a few surprises among the five wrestlers who qualified for the upcoming Nassau County Wrestling Tournament at Hofstra University beginning this Friday.
The Cyclones had a tough deck stacked against them in last Saturday’s Qualifying Tournament hosted by Hewlett. One of six qualifiers held throughout the county, South Side’s draw included not only the hosts, but also Seaford, Bethpage and MacArthur, a perennial Long Island powerhouse. “It was a tough tournament for us, but we were able to get five guys in [for Hofstra],” coach Mike Robinson said.
Leading the way for South Side was eighth-grader Kyle Mosher, a 99-pounder that ripped through any competition standing in his way. After opening with a pin in just 26 seconds, Mosher needed only double that time in his next bout, recording a pin at the 52-second mark. He then improved his record to 28-4 with a championship round win over MacArthur’s Nick Goodelman by technical fall, in a bout that ended at the 4:30 mark. “He’s tough from every position,” Robinson said, noting Goodelman’s choice to take the bottom. “He turned him three times, then [Goodelman] had an injury timeout. When he came back, he turned him again.
‘[Mosher’s] very confident, but he understands there’s guys out there in Nassau County that are good and step up their games,” Robinson added.
Sophomore Cliff Cornell, also a 99-pounder, finished fourth in the weight class and earned a spot at Hofstra. He was pinned in the placing round at the 2:35 mark by MacArthur’s Christian Dougherty after winning three of his first four matches. Sophomore Marc Marasco earned a third-place finish at 106 pounds with a technical fall victory over Bethpage’s Liam Colwell at 106 pounds. “Those teams [in the bracket] have good lightweights,” Robinson said. “We were lucky to get Cornell and Marasco to push through.”
