Islip wrestlers beat Huntington in statement match

Traditional powers Islip and Huntington both have high aspirations for the 2013 season. It was no surprise they engaged in a series of close, exciting bouts when they squared off in a League V match on Friday night.

The final score though, that could come as a surprise.

Behind two upset wins in ultimate ride outs and another upset that could shake up the 285-pound division, Islip came away with a 51-9 victory that looked more decisive on paper than it was on the mat.

“Without question it could have been 36-30,” Islip head coach Joe Patrovich said. “There were that many close wins and we wrestled really tough. They wrestled pretty tough too but we just won a lot of close matches.”

Johnny Dipalma of Islip pulled off an upset of highly ranked John Arceri, 3-2, in an ultimate ride out at 106 pounds, while unranked Pat Sheppard also pulled off a big upset over Huntington’s highly ranked 285-pounder Anthony Puca. Bradley Wade pulled off the upset trifecta by defeated defending county champion Corey Jamison at 126 pounds, 2-1.

In another tight match and a battle of two of the top 220-pound grapplers in the county, Nick Lupi of Huntington beat Ryan Hughes of Islip, 2-1, in another ultimate ride out.

"Every one of the wins from both sides were great wins," Patrovich said.

The win put the rest of League V and all of Suffolk on notice.

"We thought we were a real good dual meet team and we have a lot of balance," Patrovich said. "We showed today that we’re starting to develop some guys who are knockouts."