By TONY BELLISSIMO
Williams, one of six repeat champions, scored a takedown in overtime to defeat Division's Joe Kavanagh, a freshman, 8-6, to claim the 152-pound crown. An hour earlier, Pecora was a convincing 9-0 winner over Seaford's Anthony Facchini in the 103-pound final.
"I had to make it exciting," said Williams, who at one point had a 6-2 advantage against Kavanagh. "He was a tough opponent and I had to dig deep. It's great to win. Now I can look forward to going to states and accomplishing something I didn't last year."
Williams will take a record of 35-1 into the New York State championships March 8-9 in Rochester. He lost a pair of one-point matches in last year's state meet. In the county tournament he was the top seed and went 4-0, with each win coming by decision. Williams beat Mepham's Joe Carbonaro in the second round, 11-3, MacArthur's Joe Chamish in the quarterfinals, 10-3, and Sewanhaka East's John Daddino in the semifinals, 2-1.
"Kerron's a winner," Baldwin coach Michael Robinson said. "His experience helped in the last two matches. You have to be a special wrestler to win back-to-back county championships."
Pecora, who placed third in the county a year ago, was nothing short of spectacular this time around as the No. 1 seed. "There probably wasn't a day ñsince last season ended that Vinny didn't work on improving his skills," Robinson said.
The only points Pecora allowed in four matches last weekend came in a 13-8 victory over Farmingdale's Luke Alber in the semifinals. "I worked hard for this," said Pecora, who, like Williams, has suffered only one defeat this season. "It means a lot to me."
The Bruins, who finished in fifth place in the team standings with 111 points, had three other wrestlers earn All-County honors. Senior Nick Azcona placed third at 285 pounds, senior Vinny Famularo was fourth at 145 and senior Will Quinn was fourth at 140.
"I don't think we could have hoped for much more," Robinson said.
Comments about this story? TBellissimo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 204.
