It was a dual meet that had been circled on the schedule for months at Sachem North and Connetquot. Perpetual rivals in all sports for decades, there’s nothing like a league dual-meet championship on the line to up the anti.
In what many thought would be a closer match, Sachem outmuscled the Thunderbirds, 39-23, rallying off seven wins out of eight bouts at one point during the contest.
The victory marks Sachem’s (19-1) fourth league dual-meet championship since 2005-06 and 22nd overall in program history.
“We wrestled probably better today than we have all year,” said Sachem coach Ray Pickersgill. “We peaked at the right time.”
Things were critical early for Sachem. Anthony Nunziata lost a close bout to Steve Bulzemi, an All-County wrestler last year, 2-0, at 126 pounds, but only allowed three points. Sean O’Hagan followed that with a match that would spur the Flaming Arrows with momentum at 132 pounds. He beat Gino Titone, 5-4, after scoring a third-period reversal with 11 seconds left in the match.
Matt Marino beat Greg Cherry, a runner-up in League II last year, 5-3, at 138 pounds.
At 152 pounds, James Sanzone brought the crowd to its feet when he scored two points on a third-period take down to go up, 4-3. Connetquot’s Steve Schmitt was able to escape and tie the score on the next move and force overtime. In the extra minute, Schmitt converted on a double-leg takedown to win 6-4.
Defending county champion Gio Santiago pinned Chris Beal at 182 pounds in the first period, while defending county runner-up Steve Mills pinned Josh Gutierrez at 220 pounds in the second period. Mills was showered with cheers of “Zellner, Zellner, Zellner” from the Sachem cheering section, recognizing the Zellner Award he won this past fall as the top lineman in Suffolk County football.
“I did my part and a lot of others did theirs and having it on senior night makes it even more special,” said Mills who is now 28-1 this season. “If we wrestle like this every time we step on the mat we can definitely win leagues.”
Wrestlers from Sachem and Connetquot will see plenty of each other at the League II tournament next weekend held at Sachem High School North on Saturday.
RELATED: PHOTOS: See images from Friday night’s dual-meet
Complete Sachem-Connetquot dual-meet results
- 126: Steven Bulzemi (Conn) beat Anthony Nunziata (Sachem), 2-0
- 132: Sean O’Hagan (Sachem) beat Gino Titone (Conn), 5-4
- 138: Matt Marino (Sachem) beat Greg Chery (Conn), 5-3
- 145: Brendan Dent (Conn) beat Matt Gerondel (Sachem), Tech fall
- 152: Steve Schmitt (Conn) beat James Sanzone (Sachem), 6-4 OT
- 160: Mike Falcon (Sachem) beat Nick Mastro (Conn), 9-0
- 170: James Schreck (Sachem) beat Sean Maher (Conn), 11-1
- 182: Gio Santiago (Sachem) beat Chris Beal (Conn), pin
- 195: Nick Marcinele (Conn) beat Anthony DiMattero (Sachem), 2-0
- 220: Steven Mills (Sachem) beat Josh Gutierrez (Conn), pinn
- 285: Tom Cotter (Sachem) beat Alex Cesare (Conn), 4-3
- 99: Matt Stallone (Sachem) beat Sean Miller (Conn), 14-4
- 106: Nick Perez (Sachem) beat John Barris (Conn), pin
- 113: Eddie Hart (Conn) beat John Sammartino (Sachem), 9-1
- 120: Tom Repalone (Conn) beat Alex Ross (Sachem), 6-1
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro