SWR's Keith wins MOW

By Joe Werkmeister
STONY BROOK—The 112-pound winners all took their respective places on the podium, cameras flashing and crowd cheering. Six wrestlers, all of whom could easily be considered among the best in the county, stood side-by-side.

“Look at that weight class!” yelled one observer.

The top of the podium could only fit one. And for the second year in a row, that honor went to Shoreham-Wading River’s Steven Keith, a state champion at 96 pounds last year who persevered through what some have called the toughest weight class in the tournament’s history.

Keith defeated Islip’s Jake Benedetto 9-4 at Stony Brook University Saturday night to become a two-time county champion. He improved to 39-1 on the season — his only loss coming against Benedetto.

“It’s unbelievable to come out on top in this tournament,” said Keith, who was voted Most Outstanding Wrestler. “I really had to put in all that I could in every single match and wrestle my hardest.”

Before Keith could think about Benedetto, he needed to overcome Rocky Point’s Brandon Escobar, a wrestler whom he had never beaten. Two years ago Escobar beat him 12-0 in the 96-pound third-place match. Last year they wrestled at different weights, but when they met in a dual meet at 103, Escobar won again.

When Keith’s 7-5 semifinal win against Escobar ended, he raised his hands high and screamed, a rare display of emotion for the quiet wrestler.

“Even the state finals I’m not usually that excited, but after losing four or five times in a row to him, to get on top of him, that was big,” Keith said. “I was real psyched.”

Rocky Point coach Darren Goldstein has called Escobar one of the strongest wrestlers pound-for-pound that he’s seen and for Keith, closing that gap helped make the difference.

“I just pushed myself every single day to catch up to him,” he said. “He was my reach target and I just had to take it a little bit at a time.”

Benedetto fell to 37-3 on the year, with two losses against Keith, who beat him after their first match during the season.
Keith, who normally doesn’t take a defensive approach to his match, waited for Benedetto to take a shot. Late in the first period Keith capitalized on Benedetto’s shot at the legs, quickly swinging him around for a takedown. He held Benedetto down for three more and took a 5-0 lead after one.

“It was a real good shot by him that started it,” Keith said. “He got in deep and I was able to defend it off. I’ve been working hard with my defense lately. He went to try and roll with my leg and I stuck and put him on his back.”
Keith took an 8-3 lead into the third period. Benedetto got one a stall and another to make it 8-4 on a stall by Keith. An escape point by Keith made for the final margin.