Rodriguez title run paces East Meadow wrestlers

Vin Romanotto first saw potential in Matthew Rodriguez becoming a county champion during his first season as East Meadow’s wrestling coach when he moved him up to varsity as an eighth-grader. 

Five years later Rodriguez fulfilled that goal with the East Meadow senior capturing a county championship in the 160-pound division on Super Bowl Sunday with a 6-3 win against Long Beach’s Gregory Milone. Rodriguez reached the top of the podium at Hofstra’s Mack Sports Complex a year after finishing as runner-up in the 152-pound finals in the same venue. 

“When we brought him up in eighth grade I knew that if we keep pushing him he is going to do really good stuff,” Romanotto said. “Last offseason he wrestled a lot of matches and he has made great strides.”

Rodriguez reached the 160-pound finals in dominating fashion with pins of Manhasset’s Harris Ghaffari in the semifinals and MacArthur’s Michael Waters in the quarterfinals. He entered the county championships as the top seed at 160 with a 35-3 record that included also wrestling at 170 earlier in the season. 

The county crown advances Rodriguez into the New York State Wrestling Championships at the MVP Arena in Albany this weekend. Penn State commit PJ Duke  from Minisink Valley High School will be the heavy favorite at 160, but Romanotto said it will be a wide open bracket to reach the finals stage. 

“I think anyone else can make those finals and I think Matt has a great chance to do so,” Romanotto said. “He's got to show up and wrestle like he's been doing and I can see him in the state finals.”

The Rams nearly sent another wrestler to Albany with senior heavyweight Joseph Arbitello falling to Brandon Goldstein of Bellmore JFK by pin in a state tournament qualification match. Arbitello reached the semifinals and placed third in the counties with a pin of Roslyn’s Samuel Ilizarov in the consolation finals. 

“He wrestled tough but in the end it just didn’t pan out,” said Romanotto of Arbitello, who reached states last year when the top three from Nassau County qualified. 

East Meadow produced four other All-County finishers in senior Brady Hohlman (fourth, 145),  junior Matthew Motamedian (fifth, 124), freshman Nicolas Rodriguez (sixth, 131) and sophomore James Galiano (sixth, 145).

Nicholas Rodriguez, the younger brother of East Meadow’s newest county champion, also came up to varsity as an eighth-grader last winter and has potential to also reach the podium someday. Romanotto said he likely would have had higher finish this season if not for an injury during counties that resulted in forfeiting the fifth place bout. 

The six All County honorees marks the most for the East Meadow wrestling program since 2007. 

“I think it shows we are making gains where we need to and that the kids are buying into the way we're coaching,” Romanotto said. “I think a big part of it is I have a lot of help with our coaches and the volunteers who help with all the offseason work.”