Collectively, Sachem East and Sachem North have eight wrestlers still alive in the main bracket of the Section XI Wrestling Tournament through the first day of competition at Hofstra University on Friday.
Sachem East has five grapplers who advanced to the semifinals, which will be held on Sunday at Hofstra’s David S. Mack Complex starting at 10 a.m.
At 126 pounds, East’s Anthony Messina beat Newfield’s Nick Nieves, 3-1, in the quarters and will wrestle Eastport-South Manor’s Travis Passaro in the semis.
Jakob Restrepo, the top-seeded wrestler at 145 pounds from Sachem East, won big over Northport’s Justin Riccuiti and Copiague’s Mike Illicete en route to a showdown with Connetquot’s Gino Titone on Sunday.
The other side of the 145-pound bracket features Rocky Point’s Tommy Dutton, which means the final should be a must-watch match no matter who makes it.
Mike Pistone, wrestling at 170 pounds for Sachem East, beat Gill Bonilla 4-1 in the quarters and will wrestle Ken Gallagher of Northport in the semis.
Mark Tracy, the top seed at 182 pounds, pinned Tom Stevenson of Smithtown East in 1:26 and defeated Matt Siebert of Sayville in a 14-4 major decision. He will face Islip’s Ronnie King in the semis.
Sachem East junior Sean Dee continues his strong post-season run at 285 pounds after a pin over John Glenn’s Anthony Pino in 5:08 set up a match against Hauppauge’s James Louison in the semis.
For Sachem North, it’s the familiar threesome of Matt Stallone, Matt Marino and Sean O’Hagan who all advanced to the Suffolk semifinals.
Stallone, wrestling at 106, has had a dominant stretch in the League II tournament and now through his first two matches of counties. He beat Kings Park’s Taylor Picciano, 15-0, to advance to the semifinals against Hauppague’s Ben Tepperman.
Marino, who wrestles at 138, beat Rocky Point’s James Matias, 6-5, in the quarters and will wrestle Amityville’s Eduardo Ramirez next.
For the 132-pound quarterfinals, O’Hagan had an easy go at John Glenn’s Tommy DiBenedetto and earned an 11-0 major decision, after a tech fall victory over Frank Camarda of Centereach. He will wrestle Brad Wade of Islip in the semifinals.
Between Wade and Hauppauge’s Chris Mauriello, who is alive on the other side of the 132-pound bracket, O’Hagan will have to keep up his strong streak of post-season grappling to finish on top.
Both schools had a number of wrestlers compete in wrestle backs in order to place third, fourth or fifth. Final results will be posted in full after the completion of the Section XI Tournament.
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro