Rasheed brothers lead Longwood to League I title
COMMACK- FEBRUARY 6, 2010: Longwood's Cory Rasheed (back) prepares to lock up William Floyd's Jon Penna in a cradle in their 103 lb. semi-final match. Rasheed won by pin at 1:50. Suffolk High School League I Wrestling Finals held at Commack High School. Credit: Photo by Joseph D. Sullivan
Corey Rasheed was exhausted and his hip was strained, but he was victorious.
The 103-pound eighth-grader didn't revel in his second League I title for long, though. As he paced back and forth behind the finalists' bench trying to catch his breath, his eyes remained fixed on his brother Malik's match.
Malik wrapped up his third straight League I championship last night at Commack, then the 112-pound sophomore settled in on the bench next to his brother to watch their cousin, Longwood 145-pounder Ricky Renck, compete.
For Longwood, which won its first League I tournament title since 2000, every meet is a family affair.
"Our team is like one big family," Malik said.
And he's not kidding. Renck's and the Rasheeds' fathers both wrestled for Longwood, as did Nick Hall, the father of 135-pound runner-up Nicky Hall, who is now a Longwood assistant.
"They all wanted their kids to have the wonderful opportunity to wrestle for me," Longwood coach Mike Picozzi said jokingly. "It's a close-knit group."
Still baby-faced but no longer wide-eyed, the Rasheeds have emerged as the top wrestlers for Longwood, a team that is in a small group of contenders for the Suffolk crown, which will be decided next weekend. Each was a county runner-up last season, and both placed at the states (Corey second at 96 and Malik fifth at 103) after earning a wild-card berth to the state tournament.
"I'm just focusing on right now, this is the only thing I look forward to," Corey said about the end-of-season tournaments. "I put a lot into this. Sometimes I get over-nervous."
It didn't show on the mat at Commack last night, as the junior-high student showed the poise of a veteran in his 6-4 win over Brentwood's Eric Orellana. Off the opening whistle, he was in on a double-leg takedown, and he added two near-fall points on his favorite move, a cross-face cradle to take a 4-0 first-period lead. He went up 6-0 on a second-period takedown.
But his energy seemed to be sapped soon after, as he tweaked an injured right hip he's been battling the past couple of weeks.
"I couldn't sit-out with it," he said after the match. "When I extend it, it hurts."
As a result, he had trouble standing up from the bottom position in the third period and was penalized for stalling four times (the first is a warning), resulting in all four of Orellana's points.
Malik used a takedown and three near-fall points on a near-side cradle, his favorite move, to secure a 5-0 victory over David Chaverra of Brentwood.
Last season, Kings Park's Soria brothers made headlines at the state tournament, as Max forfeited to his brother Mike in the state semifinals. Mike went on to beat Corey Rasheed, 7-0, in the state final. Both Corey and Malik agreed that, even if they were in the same weight class, they wouldn't take the mat against each other.
"We wouldn't wrestle each other," Malik said. "We'll push each other and we'll wrestle around at home sometimes, but that's it."
After all, their goal is to take care of business outside the family.
