A lot of exciting action, so if you missed it, hurry up and make plans to be in the arena at 5:30 when the doors open for the finals.
Each team in our coverage area is represented in the finals. Shoreham-Wading River has two wrestlers (Steven Keith & TJ Neidhart) the rest have one. For Mount Sinai it's Ray Powers. Longwood it's Ernest James. Miller Place it's Zach Buoniauto and Rocky Point it's Matt Ross.
Wrestle-backs are underway right now (1 p.m.) and the third-place matches will take place starting at 2 p.m. More will come after that.
But first, a look back at the semi-final match-ups.
The marquee match-up, the one a coach told me was the reason everyone was here (the stands are near capacity), was Keith for Rocky Point's Brandon Escobar at 112. Keith is a returning state champ at 96 and Esco is a third-place finisher at 103 in the state last year. Escobar had gotten the better of Keith historically, but on this morning it was Keith who emerged a 7-5 victor.
Keith looked in control for most of the first two periods before things got dicey in the third, much the same as his league final against Glenn Donatelli of Bayport. Keith led 4-0 after the first period, spending most of the time riding on top of Escobar. Escobar had always had an advantage over Keith with his strength, but it wasn't as much of a factor in this match. Keith is the quicker wrestler and has really improved his strength to make the jump from 96 to 112.
In the second period Keith got back on top before Escobar managed an escape point with 1:30 left. Keith got back two more to go ahead 6-1 and looked in control, but Escobar wasn't done yet. In the third he cut it to 6-3 and started to gain control over Keith. With 50 seconds left Keith started on bottom on a restart and Escobar went back to work. Keith got a stalling call against him before a crazy final 30 seconds. Escobar had Keith down when the referee blew the whistle, which infuriated Escobar and coach Darren Goldstein. Not sure exactly what the call was, but Escobar thought he could keep working and was close to points.
It didn't work out, and Keith survived 7-5.
When the match ended Keith help his hands and yelled in excitement, a lot more emotion than we're used to seeing after a victory. More so I think than when he won the county last year.
Keith will face Islip's Jake Benedetto in the finals, the only wrestler who's beaten him this season. Keith did beat once also, so this is the rubber-match.
At 96 pounds Matt Ross cruised against Westhampton's Conner Bass, 12-0, to reach the finals against Damon McQueen, who beat top-seeded Sean McCabe. Ross has picked up a tech. fall victory 15-0, a 12-0 quarterfinal win and now the 12-0 semifinal win. I'd imagine the final will be a little closer.
At 135 Rocky Point's Anthony Volpe dropped a 5-2 semifinal decision to top-seeded Andy Rodriguez of Central Islip.
At 145 Neidhart beat James Denicola of Harborfields, 5-1, to advance to the finals against Powers of Mount Sinai. Powers pinned Shawn Mazzarone of Sayville in 5:43. There haven't been many pins in the semi's but he got one of them.
At 160 Alex Martocello lost 6-5 to Michael Hernandez of Brentwood.
Buonaiuto won at 189 against David Manzueta, 3-1. His win came as Carl Korpi was wrestling his 215 match. The excitement of Buonaiuto's win was quickly softened when Korpi lost his first match of the season against James of Longwood, 5-4. Korpi was undefeated heading into the match and his last loss was in the county finals last year. It was a disappointing finish to one of the best wrestling careers in Miller Place history. There still remains a small chance Korpi could earn an at-large bid to the state tournament, but with a third-place finish at best, it would seem unlikely. He didn't get a bid last year when he finished second with one loss.
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