Nothing small about Center Moriches' Murphy

Center Moriches heavyweight wrestler Connor Murphy entered the Kujan Brothers Wrestling Tournament at William Floyd High School Saturday with a 22-0 record but questions persisted.

Despite the undefeated mark, he wrestles for a small Division II program, far away from the Division I Suffolk landscape populated by the Brentwoods, Glenns and Longwoods. So when it comes time to wrestle in these tournamants populated by the bigger schools, Murphy gets down to business.

And in the final, he was efficient and dominant, pinning Floyd's Chris Innace at 3:01. He won two prior matches, including a 3-2 decision over Bellport's Henri Velazquez in the semis.

Murphy (25-0) is silencing the doubters with each passing week. That Division II label indicates little more than Center Moriches' enrollment size.

"That doesn't even factor in for me," Murphy said. "I feel like I can compete with whoever steps on the mat with me, so D-I or D-II, it doesn't matter.

"It is nice to win, but I have bigger and better things to accomplish."

The road to 25-0 and those "bigger things" began after a one-point loss at last season's Division II Suffolk finals. He now carries more muscle on his 282-pound frame, the result of three-times-a-week 6 a.m. weight-training sessions.

"There are about eight of us who come in the morning, and Murph is one of our leaders," Center Moriches coach Mike Koscinski said. "But he wouldn't tell you that. It's just a matter-of-fact thing."

Those early morning pumping-iron sessions are paying off. But his maturity, Koscinski says, has put Murphy smack dab in the conversation of Suffolk's elite heavyweights.

"He can wrestle with anybody right now, and we're pushing him to go with the best," Koscinski said.

In his final Saturday, Murphy wrestled the capable Innace to a 0-0 standstill after one period. Murphy then made adjustments, brought Innace to the ground and earned the pin.

"I just went to work on top and did my stuff," Murphy said.

For Murphy, wrestling top competition narrows the wedge between the larger and smaller schools. As for that pesky "small school" label, he pays it no mind.

"If people want to say that, it's whatever . . . they should wrestle me," Murphy said.

Westhampton Beach won the team title with 296.5 points, and host Floyd finished second with 288.5.

In a match that pitted two of Suffolk's top 135-pounders, Westhampton Beach's Connor Bass dominated Floyd's Tom Gerle en route to a 13-2 major decision. Not even Bass expected it to be that lopsided.

"No. From I what heard, he was very tough," Bass said. "He's as tough as nails, but this just proves how hard I've been working for this."

Dan Palminteri of Floyd won the 119-pound championship and had the most pins (four) in the least amount of time (6:39).

Floyd's Shaquille Faison defeated Plainedge's Henry Velasquez in the 215-pound final, 3-1.

In an all-Smithtown East 189-pound final, Tim Kopiske took a 5-0 decision against Pat Falk.