MacArthur's O'Shea wins county title

When the clock hit zero MacArthur senior Ryan O’Shea pointed to the large crowd of General supporters chanting his name at the Nassau Division I individual wrestling championships with a big smile on his face knowing he was now a county champion. 

O’Shea won the 285-pound title last Sunday night at Hofstra University’s Mack Sports Complex in thrilling fashion with a 3-2 come-from-behind overtime win against Wantagh’s Gavin Casey. The championship for O’Shea was extra sweet a year after he fell just short of the title in a 3-2 OT loss to Hewlett’s Mike Curiel.

“It’s probably the best feeling in the world,” said an exhausted O’Shea moments after his dramatic win in which he trailed 2-1 in the overtime period. “[Casey] gave me a really good fight and props to him. He is a great wrestler and it was a great match.”

O’Shea entered the finals at 30-1 and was in a hard-nosed battle against a strong neighborhood opponent. He held a 1-0 lead before Casey quickly evened the bout with an early third period escape. After Casey took a 2-1 lead in the OT session, O’Shea knotted the score again and then pulled out an escape of his own before holding his position for the title.

“He is a great kid and deserved to win,” MacArthur coach Rob Paletta said of O’Shea. “He has been working his butt off.”

It has been a memorable senior year for O’Shea, who on the football field during the fall captured the Martone Award for the county’s top offensive lineman. O’Shea’s focus now shifts to the New York State Championships on Feb. 24-25 where he will look to build on his experience last year reaching the quarterfinal round under the bright lights of the Times Union Center. Paletta said O’Shea’s added weight should help his chance for a higher placement in the heavyweight division.

“He has a great chance to perform well at the states this year,” Paletta said. “He is a fierce competitor and he always gets better at the end of the year.”

O’Shea was among 20 Generals to qualify for the counties after he pinned Freeport’s Donavan Watson in the qualifying finals on Feb. 4 at MacArthur. Steve Powell also earned a qualifying title at 145 pounds with a 5-4 decision versus Henry Burns of Port Washington.

 “We’re a young team,” Paletta said. “We’re going to be better next year, but we’ll miss Ryan though.”

 Paletta was impressed with O’Shea’s focus leading up to what was the final match of the night before a packed arena. O’Shea, who plans to play football in college next year, has shown determination throughout the winter to end his high school wrestling career with a county title.

“He followed the game plan to the tee to perfection,” Paletta said. “He said he was going to be county champion and he did it.”