Kings Park's Soria brothers reach final, but now what?
The twins are at it again. Mike and Max Soria of Kings Park both earned victories in the semifinal round of Friday's Suffolk County wrestling championships at Stony Brook University.
They are expected to wrestle in Saturday's 103-pound championship. But will they?
"They have a big decision to make," Kings Park coach Clark Crespi said. "It's a tough situation that we have to figure out."
Last year, the twins refused to wrestle each other at the state tournament in Albany. Max forfeited to Mike in the semifinals and Mike went on to win the state championship at 96 pounds. Max finished third.
The two have vowed in the past to never wrestle each other. It would be a treat for Long Island fans if they wrestled for the county championship, but don't count on it.
When Mike won the state championship, he promised to forfeit to Max if the two were to meet this year. He said it would be his turn to give his brother a shot at the state title. That remains to be seen.
Seven of the eight returning county champions reached the finals. Mike Soria of Kings Park (103), Damon McQueen of Huntington (119), Nick Meinsen of Glenn (130), Stephen Dutton of Rocky Point (140), Andy Rodriguez of Central Islip (145), Anthony Volpe of Rocky Point (160) and Billy Coggins of Rocky Point (171) will wrestle in Saturday's championship round that begins at 11:30 a.m.
Former state champion Ken Collado of Hauppauge (119), a two-time county champ, lost, 4-3, in the quarterfinals to Westhampton's Peter DeTore. The bout was a rematch of last year's 112-pound county final. Collado, who won a state title two years ago at 103, earned a technical fall over Jorge Barreiro of West Babylon in the first round before being beaten by DeTore.
With 19 seconds left in the match, DeTore got a double-leg takedown. He lifted Collado, then took him down for the deciding points. Afterward, he clapped his hands and got some congratulations along the protective fencing in front of the bleachers.
"All the hard work pays off," DeTore said. "I felt him give out at the end and I kept hammering him. It felt great inside, but it's only one step toward the real championship."
But DeTore's quest for the county crown ended in the semifinal round. He lost an 8-7 heartbreaker to Brentwood's Alex Gomez.
Undefeated Glenn, the top- ranked team in Newsday's Big 10, earned the team title in 2009 and was well on its way to another championship. The Knights had 18 wrestlers qualify for the tournament and had a 39-point lead over second-place Hauppauge heading into the finals. The Knights had two wrestlers, Nick Meinsen (130) and Nick Terdick (152), in the finals.
Two of the top seeds fell Friday. Longwood's Casey Brice was pinned by Kings Park's Mike Delvecchio at 4:52 of a 125-pound semifinal bout. And at 135, Steven Rojas of Brentwood lost a first- round decision to unseeded Jordan Colon of West Babylon. Colon went on to the semifinals, where he lost a 7-1 decision to Eric Kogel of Mount Sinai.
