By TONY BELLISSIMO
Seniors Mustafa Telab, Matt Sgro and Phil Pepe earned All-County honors by placing in the top six of their respective weight classes. Telab was fourth at 140 pounds, Sgro was fourth at 275 and Pepe finished fifth at 171. The trio helped the Spartans place 18th as a team with 45 points.
"It was our best showing at counties in a long time," Coach Tom Maddock said. "We had a rough season in terms of injuries. We expected to do well in dual meets but we had five or six kids go down at one time or another. We still had some individuals come up big. We had six qualifiers and three All-County winners so there's reason to be proud."
Both Telab and Pepe made All-County as sophomores when North competed in Division II and reached this year's semifinals along with Sgro.
Telab won 34 of 38 bouts and lost only to Lawrence's Bryan DiSabato during the regular season. He went a few months without tasting defeat until Long Beach's Eduardo Delgado, the eventual county champ, beat him in the final of the qualifying meet at Division on Feb. 14. He lost to Bellmore-JFK's Mike Maher in Sunday's semi.
"Mustafa had a tremendous season in one of the toughest weight classes in the county," Maddock said. "He's not the strongest kid around, but he out-worked and out-slicked a lot of opponents."
Pepe, who battled through tendonitis in both elbows and was limited to 20 bouts, won the qualifier at Division and lost to eventual county champ Carlos V'Estres of Freeport in Sunday's semifinal. "Phil sucked it up all season and did the best that he could," Maddock said. "It was great to see him get All-County. If he didn't get a pin, he had to rely on sheer guts to go three periods to win. That's what he did in many cases and he knocked off some good wrestlers along the way."
Sgro lost just twice during the regular season and surprisingly got a lot of action considering it's not easy for upper weights to keep busy. "Three of Matt's losses were to the top two kids in the county and one of the best from Suffolk," Maddock said. "He's got good skills and is quick for a big kid."
The Spartans had three others reach the county tournament. Junior Jon Castillo (96 pounds) won the qualifier but lost both of his matches last weekend. Junior Mike Sgro (160) was third in the qualifier and freshman Nick Satriano (112) was fourth.
