By TONY BELLISSIMO
Of the three area teams, South had the most impressive showing last Saturday. The Falcons, who went 9-9 in dual meets, brought 11 wrestlers to Long Beach and crowned two champions and had three others reach the final. They finished third behind the host Marines and Freeport. Senior Joe Moran captured the 103-pound title and senior James Bishop took the 189-pound championship.
"We almost got everyone through," South coach Chris Critchley said. "I couldn't ask for more than that. It was a beautiful day."
Moran raised his record to 27-3 and heads into the county tournament as one of the favorites to go all the way. Bishop takes a 26-4 mark into the biggest event of the season.
Seniors JonMarzella (125), Nick Gericitano (140) and Sean Tobin (145) reached the finals but came up short, all to opponents from Long Beach. Seniors Chris Carbajal (third at 119), Rich Sensale (fourth at 130) and Paul Conrad (fourth at 215) also qualified for counties.
"We'll try to keep our momentum going," Critchley said.
North seniors Chris Sgro (160) and Mike Mattone (275) reached the finals of their respective weight classes and lost hard-fought battles.
"Both wrestled strong finals," Spartans coach Tom Maddock said. "Chris lost 1-0 and Mike lost 3-2. Both bouts could've gone either way."
Also for North, senior Adel Telab was fourth at 215 pounds and junior Jon Solis was fourth at 275.
Central, coached by Jim Karl, had the unfortunate draw of going to defending champion MacArthur for its qualifier. The Eagles pushed three kids through, including 145-pound champion Bhupendra Bist, a junior. Senior Rich DeJesus was runner-up at 189 and junior Kyle Antonelli was fourth at 112.
The county tournament begins on Saturday at 9 a.m. and goes well into the evening hours. The semifinals and finals are Sunday beginning at Noon.
