Jean Carlos Almendarez stays determined, Brentwood stays undefeated

Part of Jean Carlos Almendarez wanted to give up.

The Brentwood senior wrestler was nearly pinned in Wednesday night’s dual meet against Patchogue-Medford, as his team trailed the Raiders by two points.

Before the third period of his match, tied with his competitor in an opposing gymnasium, Almendarez caught his breath.

“I had to push through for my team,” Almendarez said. “Physically, I was drained. But mentally, I was there.”

Almendarez scored five points in the final period of his match and earned a pivotal three points toward Brentwood’s dual-meet score. After Brentwood suffered a pin in the previous weigh class, Almendarez regained his team’s lead.

Brentwood (9-0) didn’t trail after that, en route to a 33-23 win over the Raiders (7-3).

“That was great because it pushed my team to do better,” Almendarez said. “I had to step it up and show my team that we could get back in the game.”

Brentwood has won the last two Suffolk dual meet wrestling titles and is still the standard in League I.

The school’s 138-pound wrestler, Diego Martinez, stopped Patchogue-Medford’s momentum after the Raiders celebrated their first fall of the dual meet. Julien Perez closed the contest with Brentwood’s only other fall of the night at 215 pounds.

“[Patchougue-Medford] had all of the momentum,” Brentwood coach Ralph Napolitano said. “We needed Jean Carlos to come in and get the momentum back. He wrestled a great third period for us."

Brentwood strung wins together in three consecutive weight classes from 110-126 pounds and grabbed a 15-5 lead.

But Patchogue-Medford, who won the Suffolk League I dual-meet championship in 2020, then won four of five matches, bookended by Zack Ginas’ fall at 132 pounds and Cameron Travis’ fall at 160 pounds.

“We wrestled hard,” Patchogue-Medford coach Tom Anello said. “It’s a long season, but any time you wrestle Brentwood, they’re a hard team. They’re well-coached, they’re a great program and we have battles every year with them."

Brentwood closed this battle with three straight victories, starting with Almendarez’s win and ending with Perez’s fall. Brentwood also earned a crucial six points in the 285-pound division due to a forfeit, where the Raiders did not have a wrestler fit to compete.

“At the end, I knew our heavyweights were going to come through for us,” Napolitano said. “If we can win our league and hopefully get a good seed we’re, going to love to battle at the [county] tournament.”