Youthful South Side makes noise

After a tough start to the season, the South Side wrestling team appears to be back on track thanks to the performances of some young grapplers that could one day emerge as future stars.

After beating Hewlett for their first dual win of the campaign Dec. 11, the Cyclones headed to the Sprig Gardner Tournament in Bellmore a few days later and finished eighth out of 13 teams with 124 points. Freshman Frank DiBenedetto won the 170-pound weight class and senior Garren Fisher and junior Jacob Arias finished third in the 190 and 285 brackets, respectively.

The results were a stark contrast from the opening week of the season in which South Side lost 47-22 to Oceanside on Dec. 4 before placing 12th out of 14 teams during the Battle at the Beach tournament at Long Beach the ensuing weekend.

“We’ve got a very young group,” coach Mike Robinson said. “My expectations weren’t that high and then we went in and beat Hewlett. We started a seventh grader at 108 [pounds], three freshmen and a sophomore, so I don’t know if they realize what they’re doing.”

DiBenedetto drew a first-round bye at the Sprig Gardner and pinned fourth-seeded Tyler Mordente of Bellport in just over three minutes to advance to the semifinals. From there, he stunned Bethpage’s Joseph Ellinger, the top seed of the bracket, with a pinfall 1 minute, 46 seconds into that match before stopping No. 3 Nico Nuccio of Calhoun with a 12-1 major decision victory for his first-ever varsity tournament triumph.

“Frank was outstanding,” Robinson said. “Very aggressive. He goes out there and beats Ellinger from Bethpage in the semifinals and he was the No. 1 seed and he beats the fourth seed in his first match and he beat the three-seed in the finals. It was an outstanding performance by a freshman.”

Fisher bettered his fifth-place finish at Long Beach with pinfalls in 35 and 87 seconds before falling in the semifinals. In the consolation bracket, he pinned Mepham’s Jack Weber in just over two minutes and recorded a 11-3 major decision victory over Bellport’s Orion Beadle in the third-place match.

Fisher, a team captain, has been one of the more consistent grapplers this season and was one of four Cyclones to post wins against Oceanside by pinning Ronny Medrano in 1:32 during their 215-pound bout.

“Garren put the work in in the offseason,” Robinson said. “He’s been dominant in most of his matches. He lost in the semis and bounced right back and finished third this weekend.”

Arias rallied from a first-round pinfall loss by pinning Mepham’s Declan McArdle and posting a 6-3 decision over Bellport’s Arjohn Williams to finish on the podium.

Seventh grader Benjamin Yin (108) and sophomore Richie Lanciers III (131) dominated their fifth-place matches and freshman Casey Testa and junior James O’Connell each placed seventh. Junior William Horan and sophomore Ryan Perry (124) both advanced to the quarterfinals in the 124-pound category.

Yin has not been phased on the mat despite his age and also pinned Oceanside’s Alexander Schoenfeld in just 71 seconds.