Losing is as much a part of wrestling as winning. For every match there’s a winner and a loser.
“Wrestling teaches you to overcome adversity and deal with pressure,” said Shoreham-Wading River coach Joe Condon.
Two of his wrestlers, who have done a good deal of winning this season, ultimately had to deal with defeat Friday night in the L. Robert “Doc” Fallot Section XI Division II Championships at Center Moriches High School. READ
Going from hunter to hunted is a big change. Connor Pearce likes it.
That metamorphosis in Pearce’s wrestling career took place last season when the Shoreham-Wading River High School wrestler won the Suffolk County Division II championship at 113 pounds and went on to compete in his first state tournament. It was an experience to remember. READ
Malachi Boisseau doesn’t waste time. When the whistle blows to start a wrestling match, he goes right to work, bringing energy and a sense of extreme urgency. He wants to end the match in the first period, and for good reason.
“His biggest strength is the first period,” Mattituck/Greenport/Southold coach Cory Dolson said. “His biggest weakness is the third period.” READ
When numbers are down like this, it can be a challenge not to get down.
Riverhead High School has a small enough wrestling team as it is with numbers, so when a spate of injuries struck the Blue Waves, they really hurt. READ
Wrestling is a passion for Jake Benedetto. It has been ever since he took up the sport as a youngster. It was a focal point for him as high school wrestler for East Islip and Islip, and then at the collegiate level with SUNY/Oneonta.
Benedetto carried that passion over to coaching. He was an assistant coach for Unatego in upstate New York for one season, coached two seasons at Bayport-Blue Point (one year as the head coach) and then coached the Longwood and Riverhead junior varsity teams.
And now Benedetto finds himself as the successor to Tom Riccio, a National Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee who became Riverhead’s varsity coach in 2015.
“This has been a long journey for me,” said Benedetto, 28. READ
Two Shoreham-Wading River wrestlers, senior John Carl Petretti and freshman Connor Pearce, didn’t get what they went to Albany for.
The two Wildcats, both competing in their first state tournament, suffered Division II quarterfinal losses Friday in the 56th annual NYSPHSAA Championships at the Times Union Center in Albany. READ
Connor Pearce was a fitting representative of a young Shoreham-Wading River High School wrestling team that consists mostly of freshmen and sophomores, with only three seniors. Yes, Pearce is young, but he has come such a long way. READ
“Shocking.”
That, in a word, summed up Riverhead wrestling coach Tom Riccio’s feelings about what his two newly crowned league champions had accomplished moments earlier. READ
