Rocky Point's Dutton seeks state title at 140 pounds

ALBANY - Stephen Dutton earned his fourth county wrestling championship but was already thinking about repeating as a state champion this weekend. The Rocky Point senior was expected to win another Suffolk crown, but nothing has been easy for him at the state championships at the Times Union Center. The top seed at 140 pounds knows anything can happen there.

"There are no guarantees, that's why I wrestle every match like it's my last," said Dutton, who is 44-0 this season and set the Long Island record for career wins (223). "No one is a lock to win. You have to go out hard and give it everything you have."

Dutton's aggressive style has helped him finish second, third and first in the state tournament. His ultimate goal is to win the national championship. He placed second a year ago in the junior nationals.

"First things first," he said. "I have to win the state. And then I'll go after the national title."

Dutton is an overwhelming favorite, but he won't look past anyone in the tournament, which begins Friday at 10 a.m.

"We have to battle our way through a difficult Suffolk sectional tournament to get to the states," said Central Islip's three-time county champion, Andy Rodriguez. "When you're a defending champion, everyone is looking to bring you down."

Rodriguez (189 wins), who earned the 140-pound state title last year, finds himself in the state's most competitive class. He could face Wayne's Vin Digravio (Section V, Rochester), a defending state champion at 130, in the semifinal round. The bottom half of Rodriguez's bracket has four returning state place winners.

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"Nothing is easy in the state tournament," Central Islip coach Brad Brzozinski said. "But our guy is ready. He is a once-in-a-lifetime kid to have in your program. A lot of coaches don't get the opportunity to coach a class act like Andy. He is the pride of Central Islip - the most decorated wrestler in the school's history."

Nick Arujau of Syosset is the lone Nassau representative of the five returning state champions from Long Island. The two-time state champion won at 125 last year and returns to the same weight class. He is looking to become the third wrestler in Nassau history to win three state titles in the green singlet that represents the section. Bob Bury (Calhoun) won his third title in 1978 and Al Palacios (Long Beach) earned his third in 1982. Another championship would put Arujau in select company.

"He is technically sound," said Nassau wrestling chairman Ed Ramirez of Baldwin. "He hasn't allowed a takedown in two years in the state tournament."

Arujau also had the most pins in the least time (four in 4:15) in the Nassau sectional. He sits two wins away from the county- record streak of 122 set by Wantagh's Paul Liguori.

St. Anthony's junior Grant Greene earned a state crown last year at 112 pounds to become only the fourth CHSAA wrestler to win a NYPHSAA championship in 29 years. Greene, a two-time CHSAA champ, will be tested severely throughout the tournament. He'll have to get through Westhampton wild card Peter Detore, whom Greene upended, 6-4, in last year's quarterfinals. Watch out for Huntington's Damon McQueen, the state runner-up at 103 and the second seed at this weight.

Perhaps the most interesting weight class is 103, where defending state champion Mike Soria of Kings Park is the top seed. Soria and his twin, Max, the No. 3 seed, are split into the upper and lower brackets, making it possible for the two to meet in Saturday night's championship bout. If they can get through the first three rounds, the two have said they will not wrestle each other for the state title. As juniors last year, Max forfeited to Mike in the quarterfinals. They agreed that if they were to meet again this year, Mike would return the favor and forfeit to Max.

And that gesture would come only with the state championship on the line.