Locust Valley pins the competition at Nassau D-II tournament
Locust Valley's Yamique Webb, left, beat teammate Joe Bressingham at the Nassau II wrestling championships. (Feb. 10, 2013) Credit: Jeremy Bales
For the second consecutive year, Locust Valley can call themselves kings of Nassau Division II wrestling. Or, perhaps more appropriately, kingpins. After winning seven individual county titles and scoring 264 points, the Falcons were crowned champions at last Sunday's Division II championships at Carle Place.
Three of the seven victories came by pin. At 145 pounds, sophomore Mike Dusold pinned Clarke's Joe Weinberg in 3:49. The bout was a rematch of a Jan. 3 meeting in which Dusold pinned Weinberg in 1:19.
Earlier in the afternoon, Hunter Dusold, Mike's brother, pinned Oyster Bay's Andre Perez in 1:30 at 106 pounds and Nick Casella pinned Clarke's Tyler Constantine in 1:05 at 113 pounds.
At 160, Junior Jordan Formicola topped Clarke's Justin Eufemia, 6-4.
"He was pretty strong," Formicola said of his opponent. "But I refused to lose."
After taking his opponent down in the opening seconds of the match, Formicola found himself dictating the bout. "At that point, I knew I could control him and I knew the match would end in my favor," he said.
The opening takedown only reinforced what the junior says he knew when he stepped on the mat. "I always try and go into the match knowing that I'm going to win," Formicola said. "If I go into the match like that, I know I'll have all my moves and my whole artillery to work with."
Other Locust Valley winners included Bryan Coll at 99, Sam Ward at 132 and Yamique Webb at 170.
Coll, after his 9-7 overtime decision over Carle Place's John DeRidder, was named the Champion of Champions. Casella, who pinned three opponents in 4:54, was given most pins / least time honors.
The seven Falcons will soon be flying up to Albany for the state tournament on Feb. 22 and 23.
"It's going to be a blast," Formicola said. "We all worked hard in the practice room and hopefully everyone does well in states like I know they can. I'm looking forward to it."
But first things first -- after the win, the group took their championship act to Buffalo Wild Wings for some much needed celebratory grub.
"I was hungry from cutting all that weight," Casella said.
