O'Hara's victory gets Sachem East rolling
Sachem East's Rob Seder grapples Ward Melville's Michael Battey in the 152-pound weight class of the Suffolk High School League I wrestling match. (Jan. 25, 2011) Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Conor O'Hara saw the scoreboard and didn't need a calculator to solve the equation. With his team down by eight points, the Sachem East 112-pounder realized a win over Ward Melville's Jackson Hoppey would inch his team closer to the lead.
So O'Hara uncorked a dominant performance, a 9-1 major decision to cut the Flaming Arrows' deficit to four and spark a 52-15 League I wrestling win Tuesday night.
"This was an important team win because it will kind of get us rolling to get prepared for Longwood on Friday," O'Hara said. "We thought it was going to be a close one, but we sort of blew them out at the end."
The Patriots opened a 12-0 lead after two matches and 5:46 on the mat. The match began at 285 pounds, where Pierce Curran pinned Josiah Rosa in 3:33.
The match resumed at 96 pounds and Ward Melville's Nick Piccininni needed only 2:13 to pin off Doug Iadanza.
The Flaming Arrows then hit its stride, winning four matches in a row, culminating in 125-pounder Anthony Messina's go-ahead, 13-5 major decision win over Anthony Piccininni.
Taesung Kim's 7-3 win at 130 put the Patriots back in front by a point. Billy Merone responded with a 17-3 major decision at 135 pounds and Anthony Pistone (140) extended the cushion to nine by pinning Sam Lefkowitz in 1:45.
After surviving the meet's early stages, Sachem East relied on its abundance of talent from 135 through 171 pounds.
"They are very strong from 135 and up," Patriots coach Bill DeSario said. "If we got wins at 119 or 125, maybe we would have had a shot. It wasn't meant to be."
For the Flaming Arrows, whose dossier includes a win over Floyd, they remain viable players in Suffolk's deep League I.
"Everybody sort of has their weight under control now,'' O'Hara said, "so we're all in good spots and where we should be for the season."
In order for East to resume its impressive run against Longwood, 171-pounder Frank Merante must continue his seasonlong run of standout performances.
Merante, who had offseason knee surgery, showed no aftereffects in pinning Christopher Bursztyn at 1:25.
"I knew I had to get six points to motivate the team," Merante said.
Needless to say, things don't figure to be lopsided Friday evening. And that should afford the Flaming Arrows plenty of time to do some calculations.
