By TONY BELLISSIMO
The Marines have lost their share of dual meets by the slimmest of margins so far, but coach Ray Adams is optimistic about their chances to qualify as many as 12 individuals for the Section VIII tournament on Feb. 23-23 at Nassau Community College.
We put together a tough schedule with the idea of getting the kids the best competition to help prepare them for what I call the Ônew' season, Adams said. I'm very happy with the work ethic of the kids and I'm excited about the end of the year.
Adams had a coming home party last Friday evening. The 1988 Baldwin graduate guided the Marines to a 38-24 victory over the Bruins and former high school teammate Mike Robinson, who took over as Baldwin's coach this season. Both Adams and Robinson were members of Baldwin's 1985-86 county championship team.
It was a special night, Adams said. We won eight of the 13 matches against a very solid team. With a few breaks, we'd be 5-1 in the conference instead of 2-4.
Senior Deone Williams, junior Thomas Moriarty, senior Stephen Jones, junior Jose Rodriguez, senior Travis Brush, senior Thomas Murphy, senior John Beese and junior Matt Jordan emerged victorious for the Marines.
To the kidsâ credit, they've stayed focused after a few frustrating losses, Adams said. We gave away wins against Freeport and Massapequa, losing both by one point and because of penalties. If not for that, we'd still be in the running for the conference title.
In losing each of their first four Conference I dual meets, the Marines were outscored by merely a 130-115 margin. They lost 33-31 to Farmingdale, 34-23 to East Meadow, 30-29 to Massapequa and 33-32 to Freeport.
They finally broke the snide last week at Lawrence, winning 43-18. Impressive wins were turned in by eighth-grader PJ Gillespie, senior Sandeep Kumar, Moriarty and senior Mark Kosta.
This is the time of the season you want to be at your best, Adams said.
Long Beach competed and placed well in five tournamentsÑthe maximum allowed by Section VIII is sixÑand kept its dual meet schedule to a minimum.
We're a much better tournament team than we are a dual meet team, Adams noted. I think we can finish in the top three in the county if everything falls into place.
Following their win at Baldwin, the Marines had nine wrestlers with at least 15 victories, led by Williams (130 pounds) and Rodriguez (140) with 24 apiece. Williams has only one loss, while Rodriguez has six.
Deone is ranked number-one at his weight and we're looking for him to keep his momentum going, Adams said. Jose was a county runner-up last season and he's bound to benefit from the tough competition he's faced.
Jones is 22-2 and will be a force to be reckon with at 135 pounds, and the same goes for Moriarty (16-4) at 130, Kosta (23-5) at 140, Murphy (20-7) at 171, Kumar (19-7) and Gillespie (20-8) at 96, Jordan (15-10) at 215, Brush at 160, and senior Marvin Chaupiz at 125.
We have a lot of tough kids that I'm hoping can attain All-County status, Adams said.
Long Beach will host Freeport, Lawrence, Valley Stream South, Westbury, North Shore, Hicksville and Syosset in a county qualifying tournament on Feb. 15.
