It will be remembered as one of the greatest comebacks in Riverhead wrestling history. READ
Tag: Ed Matyka
Jack Taddeo of Shoreham-Wading River (right) wrestles in the 145-pound first round Friday against Joseph Clemente of LaSalle. (Credit: Paul Wager)
Update, (3 p.m.): James Szymanski and Jack Taddeo of Shoreham-Wading River both closed out their careers with the Wildcats as all-state wrestlers. Szymanski finished fourth at 132 pounds and Taddeo was fifth at 145.
Szymanski lost in the consolation finals 8-0 against Da`mani Burns of Newburgh.
Taddeo closed out the tournament with a win. He defeated Danny Murphy of Roy C Ketcham in the fifth/sixth consolation final, 7-4.
Both wrestlers will continue training for the upcoming nationals.
Update (2:15 p.m.): Riverhead senior Ed Matyka’s season came to an end with a 3-2 loss in the consolation finals against Gerard Daly of Minisink Valley. Matyka finished the tournament in fourth place at 120 pounds.
Matyka trailed 3-0 in the second period before scoring on an escape. Late in the third period, he escaped again to close within 3-2. He nearly scored a takedown a few seconds later, but they went out of bounds before he could secure the move.
Matyka closes out his career with 99 victories. He went 4-2 in the state tournament.
Update (1:30 p.m.): Shoreham-Wading River senior James Szymanski grinded out a hard-earned overtime victory in the consolation semifinals at 132 pounds. Szymanski and Evan Barczak of Monroe-Woodbury were tied at one up until the final ultimate tie-breaker period.
Szymanski was on top and needed to ride out the period in order to win. He did just that and was awarded a 2-1 win in a rematch of the first round.
Neither wrestle could gain any advantage on each other. They each scored on an escape before overtime for the only points. But those escapes were hard to come by in overtime. Neither wrestler would let the other free, leading to the final sudden-death period.
Szymanski will wrestle for third place now.
His teammate, Jack Taddeo, lost his 145-pound consolation final, 3-0 against Jake Einbinder of Bethpage, the No. 2 seed in the tournament.
Taddeo will wrestle for fifth place now.
Update (1 p.m.): Ed Matyka of Riverhead rallied back from a three-point hole to defeat Vincent Vespa of Monroe-Woodbury in the 120-pound consolation semifinals, 6-4. Matyka will wrestle in the consolation finals for third place now and also for his 100th career win.
Matyka scored a reversal with about 1:15 left in the third period to tie the match at 4 and then scored two more late in the period to win.
Matyka dominated the third period to earn his 99th career win and fourth straight at the state tournament after falling in the first round.
Update (11:35 a.m.): Shoreham-Wading River senior Jack Taddeo joined his teammate on the podium. Taddeo won a 5-3 decision in his first wrestleback Saturday against Mike Laloggia of Webster Schroeder to secure himself an all-state finish.
Taddeo, wrestling at 145, controlled the match throughout. He scored a quick takedown for a 2-0 lead in the first period. Laloggia evened the score with an escape in the first and another point in the second. Taddeo started on bottom for the third period and escaped immediately for a 3-2 lead. He added two more points to go ahead 5-2 and then held on as Laloggia got one more escape point in the final seconds.
Taddeo will wrestle twice more today.
Update (11:00 a.m.): Shoreham-Wading River senior James Szymanski earned his first all-state honors with a victory Saturday morning. Szymanski, wrestling 132 pounds, defeated Matt Seitz of Monsignor Farrell 5-2 in a wrestleback match. (more…)
Riverhead senior Ed Matyka overcame a 5-0 deficit in the final half-minute of the third period and won his first county title in triple overtime. He was also named the tournament’s outstanding wrestler. (Credit: Daniel De Mato)
SECTION XI DIVISION I CHAMPIONSHIPS
Ed Matyka had a lot to do, and time was running out. With half a minute remaining in his county final wrestling match, the Riverhead High School senior was trailing by 5-0.
How Matyka responded was, in a word, outstanding.
Riverhead senior Ed Matyka pins David Hararah of Copaigue in the preliminaries Saturday of the League III Tournament. (Credit: Robert O’Rourk)
Riverhead senior Ed Matyka earned Most Outstanding Wrestler honors after winning the 120-pound title at Saturday’s League III Championship at Smithtown East High School. (more…)
Riverhead senior Ed Matyka (right), pictured at the North Fork Invitational last year, is second-ranked in the county this season at 120. (Credit: Daniel De Mato, file)
Riverhead coach Wade “Rocky” Davey isn’t in the business of making predictions just yet. But it wouldn’t be far-fetched to see the Blue Waves as a team capable of producing multiple all-county wrestlers this season.
It’s been five years since Riverhead had more than one all-county wrestler, defined as a top-six finish in the county tournament. (more…)
Shoreham junior James Szymanski won both his matches Friday on the first day of the county tournament. (Bill Landon file photo)
Three Shoreham-Wading River wrestlers and one Riverhead wrestler advanced Friday into the semifinals of the Section XI Tournament.
All four will be vying for their first county title Sunday when the tournament resumes at Hofstra University. (more…)
DANIEL DE MATO PHOTO | Ed Matyka of Riverhead, right, pinned North Babylon’s Dav Meile-Estrella at 2 minutes 16 seconds of the 113-pound final for his second North Fork Invitational title in three years.
NORTH FORK INVITATIONAL
Ed Matyka is at his best wrestling when he is on top. That is his preferred position. That is his strength. And that it where he finished on Saturday in the 113-pound weight class of the 17th annual North Fork Invitational — on top.
The Riverhead junior had a great day in the tournament at Mattituck High School, winning all four of his bouts on pins, including his defeat of Dav Meile-Estrella of North Babylon at 2 minutes 16 seconds of their final. Earlier in the tournament, the fourth-seeded Matyka, Riverhead’s only finalist, had pinned Ithan Udell of Half Hollow Hills East, John Barrios of Connetquot and the top-seeded Alex Hin of Miller Place.
Matyka (17-4) won a title in the same tournament two years ago, but sat out last year’s event because of injury.
Two other Riverheaders, Chris Flood (106 pounds) and Cody Weiss (120), took third place in their weight classes. Flood did so with a 2-0 decision over Justin O’Neill of North Babylon in the wrestlebacks. Weiss pinned Ryan Beninlase of Connetquot at 2:24 in their third-place bout.
Mattituck/Greenport had a good showing itself, finishing second among the 10 teams with 255 1/2 points (Connetquot was first for the fourth straight year with 377 and Riverhead was fifth with 131) and sending six wrestlers into the finals. All six of them — Brian Pelan (132), Bobby Becker (138), Tanner Zagarino (152), Christian Angelson (160), Sal Loverde (182) and Connor Andersen (220) — had to settle for runner-up medals, however.
In those finals: Pelan dropped a 2-0 decision to Ed Hart of Connetquot; James Matias of Rocky Point beat Becker, 13-2; Greg Cherry of Connetquot pinned Zagarino in 47 seconds; Allon Augi of Connetquot pinned Angelson in 46 seconds; Chris Beal of Connetquot defeated Loverde, 6-2; and Brian Henn of Connetquot pinned Anderson at 3:27.
Mattituck/Greenport received a third-place finish from Ryan Bergen at 152 pounds by virtue of his 8-3 win over Justin Ortega of Bay Shore in the consolation match. Four other Tuckers finished fourth: Lucas Webb (126), James Hoeg (145), Joe Peroni (170) and Adam Goode (195).
Tommy Dutton of Rocky Point was selected the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. Dutton dominated the 145-pound final, handing Geno Titone of Connetquot an 11-1 defeat.
The Champion of Champions honor went to Sean Miller of Connetquot. Miller pinned Anthony Cirillo of Rocky Point at 4:18 of the 106-pound final.