Tomlinson helps Wantagh pin down crown
Wantagh's Sean Tomlinson won his match against Long Beach's Zamar Allen in the 220 lb weight class. (Jan. 28, 2012) Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Wantagh's Sean Tomlinson could wait no longer. His team was on the verge of a championship, and a regular old decision win would not suffice.
At 220 pounds, Tomlinson pinned Long Beach's Zamar Allen in 1:52, giving the Warriors an insurmountable 18-point lead with two matches left. Wantagh would go on to win, 42-18, taking home the Nassau County Dual Meet Championship at Clarke High School.
It is their first dual meet title since Nassau began crowning a combined champion last year. Wantagh won Class B dual meet championships in 2009 and 2010. After beginning this season as the favorites, the Warriors (22-0) met all expectations.
"It felt awesome for us to secure the number one spot in Nassau County and number one spot in the state, hopefully," Tomlinson said. "Today, we had a close match with MacArthur, and Long Beach kept it close until the end."
Wantagh escaped its semifinal dual earlier in the day against MacArthur, 30-25, as 285-pounder Steve English pinned Doug Hughes in the deciding match. "I knew I just had to seal the deal," English said. "I think it motivated us beyond proportion and gave us the capacity to win this."
Long Beach's Dylan Palacio tied the championship match at 18 with a pin of Doug Rogers in 2:54 at 160 pounds. It was the standard dominant performance from Palacio (40-0), but with the Warriors' stocked lineup of upper-weight wrestlers, the Marines (14-6) were facing an uphill climb.
At 170, Wantagh's Chris Loew needed all of 1:06 to pin Richard Zambrano. The 182-pounder, James Corbett, took a 9-3 decision from Josh Lopez, which gave the Warriors a nine-point advantage with four matches remaining.
"Coach [Paul] Gillespie just told me to go out there and take the pressure off of the guys at the heavier weights," Loew said.
After Tomlinson's clinching match, English once again came through, albeit in a much less pressure-packed situation. His 4-3 win over Pete Amabile only padded the score, but after his exploits earlier in the day, he was not about to let up.
For Wantagh, this win comes a year after the bitter disappointment of their championship loss to Massapequa. Long Beach defeated the Chiefs to advance to the final, which skirted the Warriors' plans of revenge.
"Massapequa always has a good team, and we were really glad that we could come back and win this year," Loew said. "But we're kind of hoping to wrestle them."
The long-awaited Massapequa showdown must wait at least another year. But that disappointment will subside. The Warriors, after a year of frustration, can call themselves County Champions.
Tomlinson's pin ensured that they got it done in style.
