Nick Marsicano's late comeback clinches win for Hauppauge wrestling team

Hauppauge’s Nick Marsicano was one stalling penalty away from being disqualified.

He already had been penalized four times for stalling against Port Washington’s Steven Coronel in the deciding wrestling match of a dual meet.

Trailing 6-2 in the final period of the 126-pound match, Marsicano scored a takedown (two points) and was awarded three points after a near fall with three seconds left to earn a 7-6 decision. His win clinched a 38-31 victory for Hauppauge at the Busby Classic Duals in Port Washington on Monday.

Marsicano, a senior, is wrestling this year for the first time. He made a transition from jiujitsu, which contributed to his stalling struggles.

“They back up in jiujitsu, so we’re trying to get him out of that habit,” Hauppauge coach Chris Messina said.

Marsicano added, “I made too many mistakes, but I switched my mindset and got back to wrestling.”

Marsicano secured falls earlier in the tournament against Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK’s Kenneth Sessler and Maspeth’s James Faulkner. Hauppauge secured a 59-15 win over Plainview and a 72-6 victory over Maspeth but lost to Whitman, 41-28.

The Eagles (7-3) have been forced to forfeit several weight classes in meets throughout the season because of injuries.

“We’re more of a tournament team than a dual meet team, because we’re forfeiting matches,” Messina said. “We’ve been trying to piece together a team, but you can’t afford to forfeit weight classes at this level.”

Messina has relied on Frankie Volpe, Connor Sheridan and Gino Manta to help counter the forfeits. The trio earned six pins and went a combined 12-0 in the meet.

“We try to set the tone and we expect our teammates to follow,” said Volpe, a senior captain. “We stress fighting off your back and fighting for every point.”

Before the final round of wrestling, each team gathered on one mat to recognize the person the event is named after, the late Robert Busby.

Busby coached at Port Washington for 36 years and was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2006. On Monday, current Port Washington coach Anthony Schettino announced that his program’s wrestling room will now be known as the Robert “Buzz” Busby wrestling room.

“When you’re in high school, I don’t know how much you truly recognize those special teachers and coaches that have an impact on your life,” Schettino said. “Many coaches and teachers impacted me, but Busby had the greatest impact.”

Schettino wrestled for Busby at Port Washington from 1986-90. He’s been coaching at the school for 31 years and says Busby helped him start his coaching career.

“We have a couple of coaches on the staff that wrestled for Coach Busby and we’re passing down a lot of the really important life skills that he taught us,” Schettino said. “When I started out as a coach, we were focused on winning, but as we’ve gone along, we’ve realized that wrestling is a great vehicle to pass down a lot more than just wins and losses.”