Seaford wrestling wins Conference IV-A title

The stage was set at Seaford on Friday night.

For the second consecutive year, the dual meet between Seaford and Island Trees would crown a Conference IV-A champion. And for the second consecutive year, the meet came down to a match between Seaford’s James O’Hagan, the consensus top 285-pound wrestler in the state, and Island Trees Vinny Manna, one of the serious threats to O’Hagan’s reign in Nassau County.

“The whole week we were saying to just keep us in reach with O’Hagan,” Seaford assistant coach Rob Takseraas said. “He’ll bring it home and we’ll hop on his back and ride him to the county championship.”

Once again, O’Hagan did what he had to do, securing an 8-2 major decision over Manna to score the final four points in Seaford’s dramatic 34-33 victory. O’Hagan entered the third period up 10-2 and was able to ride Manna out in the final round to pick up the win.

O’Hagan wasn’t the only Seaford wrestler who came up with a big performance. After falling behind 24-4 in the early going the Vikings needed a spark.

Adam Weissberg started the rally at 132 pounds when he secured a pin in 3:31 over Miguel Dilone of Island Trees. Seaford also got important wins from co-captains Anthony DiMonda at 145 and Dan Colantonio at 152.

Despite the comeback, the Vikings still trailed by 11 points heading into the meets final three bouts.

John Lauretti, one of Seaford’s other co-captains, picked up a technical fall at 195 and Tom Flynn came away with a dramatic 7-6 decision at 220 in a match that went back-and-forth in the final moments. Flynn won the match with an escape at the last second.

“Flynn won a tough match against Island Trees last year and he’s a gamer,” Takseraas said. “He performs well under pressure and he’s been someone we could rely on in that past.”

That once again left it up to O’Hagan, Seaford’s fourth co-captain, to bring home the conference championship.

“They’ve been the best leaders on the team and really got everybody fired up for the match,” Takseraas said. “That’s really what won the conference title for us.”