Wrestling: SWR battles back against Westhampton
It’s not how a wrestling match starts that counts, but how it ends.
The members of the Shoreham-Wading River High School wrestling team did well to keep that in mind, but it wasn’t easy. It had to be dismaying for them to watch one of their own go down, one by one. It went that way through the first four bouts of Thursday’s Suffolk County League VI card as visiting Westhampton Beach built an early 16-0 lead.
But then Shoreham won the next four bouts to take the lead for the first time. Westhampton regained the advantage one more time before Shoreham wrested it away for good. The Wildcats went on to take five of the last six bouts, securing a 48-28 victory.
One of the pivotal wins cited afterward by Shoreham coach Joe Condon was Christian Aliperti’s pin of Westhampton’s Thatcher Cord at 1 minute, 12 seconds of their contest at 160 pounds.
That gave Shoreham (2-0, 2-0) its first lead at 18-16, but it didn’t last long. In the next match at 170, Westhampton’s Liam McIntyre made quick work of Joe Gagliano with a pin in a mere 17 seconds.
But then Shoreham pulled in front for good as Joe Miller (182 pounds), Ryan Condon (195), Logan Snyder (220) and Nick Johnson (285) had their arms raised in triumphant fashion by the referee. Miller pinned Austin Mahon at 1:29 while Condon, the coach’s son, was bumped up a weight class, where he did not look happy about not having a chance to wrestle because of a forfeit. Snyder pinned Lucas Villareale with 6.4 seconds left in the first period, and Johnson pinned Ryan Wagner at 2:43.
Shoreham also picked up a pin from Ed Troyano at 106. He stopped Jay Montagna at 4:26.
One of the most dominant performances of the day was turned in by Shoreham’s John Carl Petretti, who won by technical fall in the third period after building a 17-2 lead over Gage Rubio, his opponent at 152.
The first Shoreham points of the day were put up by Cooper Cummings, who won by major decision (14-3) over David Cable at 138.
Joe Condon liked what he saw from Sean DePhillips at 145. DePhillips was an 8-2 winner over James D’Augistino.
Westhampton (0-2, 0-2) had started things off with wins by Tyler Skala (8-0 over Dylan Meloni at 113), Daniel Purkis (6-5 over Brady Cummings at 120), Dane Mendoza (a pin of Peter Delise 5:26 into their match at 126) and Jack Ciolino (7-4 over Wes Pase at 132).
Shoreham won its league opener on Wednesday, 46-27 over Sayville, with Brady Cummings, his brother Cooper Cummings and Ryan Condon pinning their opponents.
Photo caption: John Carl Petretti, right, brought Shoreham-Wading River a victory at 152 pounds with his defeat of Westhampton Beach’s Gage Rubio by technical fall. (Credit: Bob Liepa)
