y TONY BELLISSIMO
Central, North and South all had solid showings in the qualifiers and sent a combined 23 participants to the main event. Three came away earning All-County honors: Central senior Matt Reilly (119 pounds), North senior Danny Carrizo (112) and South junior Joe Moran (103).
Reilly, who saw his junior season cut short due to a broken arm, capped a solid senior campaign by advancing to the final despite being unseeded. He beat Garden City's Joe LoFrese in the semis, 6-3, but was pinned by Chris Scaglione of Plainedge in the championship bout. Reilly was trying to become Central's first county champ in 26 years.
"Matt had a great season and was ahead in the finals 2-0 before the other kid came on strong," Eagles coach Jim Karl said. "It was a good match until the pin came midway through the third period."
Central sent seven wrestlers to the championships but only Reilly and senior Jason Simon (135 pounds) managed to win bouts. Simon went 1-2, losing twice in overtime.
Carrizo, one of six participants from North, was beaten in the semis by defending county champ Walter Sosnowski of Massapequa, 10-4. Carrizo went 3-3 on the weekend and placed sixth.
"He was disappointed after losing the fifth-place match, but he had a solid tournament," Spartans coach Tom Maddock said. "It was probably the toughest weight class in the county."
Moran just missed being All-County last season and led nine South wrestlers at the counties by placing third. He went 4-1 over the weekend to up his record to 33-10, losing 3-1 in the semis to Scott Gorman of Seaford.
"It was a tough, exciting match that was decided with 30 seconds to go," Falcons coach Chris Critchley said. "Joe was happy with his performance at the counties but not fully satisfied. He's ready to get to work on next season."
Junior Sean Tobin (145), senior Frank Vozzi (152) and senior Dan Sjoberg (189) all won matches for the Falcons but failed to advance to Sunday's action.
