South Side qualifies five wrestlers

Posted

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.”

Perhaps no wrestler has been as big a surprise—or displayed more grit—than senior Matt Turner, a third-place finisher at 152 pounds. After winning just a handful of matches as a junior, Turner has bounced back like a superball this winter, running his record to 22-11 after a 10-1 majority decision over MacArthur’s John Bachas in the placing round. “He was a strong kid coming in last year,” Robinson said. “And he spent a lot of time on the mat wrestling and going to clinics. Now he’s a force.”

At 285 pounds, senior Jason Dantona was in a unique bracket. Among his competitors were several members of the Hewlett football team’s offensive line, and Dantona, one win away from earning All-County honors as a junior, bulled his way back to Hofstra with fourth-place honors. Phil Marasco didn’t finish top four in the 132-pound weight class (he was fifth), but based on his strong campaign and deep bracket of competition at Hewlett, Robinson was hoping the senior would earn a wild-card spot. “That was the toughest bracket in the tourney,” Robinson said. “He had three All-County wrestlers in the bracket.”