Season begins with tournament champs and a rare shutout By MICHAEL GASPARINO SHOREHAM--The Shoreham-Wading River wrestling team is off to a fast start this season, with an outstanding tournament performance followed by victories in the team's first two non-league dual meets -- the most recent an extremely rare shutout. Shoreham-Wading River won all 13 weight classes in Saturday morning's meet with Center Moriches at Shoreham-Wading River High School. Six of the individual matches were won on pins -- five were settled in the first period -- and four taken by technical fall, leading to the lopsided 65-0 victory. "We expected to fare well," said Shoreham coach Don Jantzen, who -- in a classy move that did not go unnoticed -- took the count off the scoreboard once the match was out of the Red Devils' reach. "We don't schedule a match to rub someone's face in it, but as it turned out, kids came up big for us in weight classes that I thought [the Red Devils] were going to do pretty well in." Case in point: Peter Courtney's victory at 145 pounds over Brendan Tyson, the most exciting match of the morning. Courtney built a 7-1 lead before holding off a strong third-period rally by Tyson, who was unable to score in the final minute. Courtney held on for a 9-7 victory. "He stepped up to the plate and beat one of their better kids," Jantzen said. "He didn't stop wrestling, and it was a good situation for him. It wasn't just one lucky move that won it for him, he had to wrestle the whole six minutes to win the match, and he did." Zach Colgan got the match started at 103 pounds by pinning Louie Luigini in 1:52. The Wildcats won the next four matches by technical fall, beginning with Charles Hoeg ending his match at 112 pounds against Bryan Leskody just 23 seconds into the second period. Jeff Dascoli followed with a third-period win over Rich Gandolfo at 119 pounds, and then Corey Jantzen quickly racked up points to defeat Pat Walsh at 125 pounds in just 1:27. Jesse McManus completed the run with a victory over Trevor Hahn at 130 pounds in 1:34. Shoreham-Wading River continued to roll, with Joe Keck pinning Dan Himmelstein in 2:35 at 135 pounds, and Rob May pinning Matt McGarrity in 60 seconds at 140 pounds. Chris Gillam won a 10-3 decision at 152 pounds over Anthony Leone, Brett Berretta won a 7-0 decision at 160 pounds over Matt Stewart, and Dave Butler pinned Bjorn Shultz in 1:30 at 171 pounds. Al Kohart pinned John Estes in just 17 seconds at 189, and Wes Breisacher pinned Pat O'Brien in 23 seconds at 215 to complete the shutout. Shoreham-Wading River defeated Rocky Point on Dec. 15, 47-21, winning 10 of 14 matches. Jantzen moved up to 130 pounds and defeated Rob Kurtz by technical fall in 5:14. McManus, Butler, Berretta, Breisacher and Kohart all won on pins. Jeff Piccollo and Josh Olsen won on pins for Rocky Point, and Larry LoRusso won a narrow, 4-2 decision over Gillam. Shoreham-Wading River also did well at the Andrew Peers Tournament Dec. 11 at Walt Whitman High School. The Wildcats had four weight class champions, seven finalists and 15 place winners at the event. T.J. Neidhart won the 96-pound class, and Jantzen said, "He's one of the better lightweights in the county right now." Steven Keith placed third at 96 for Shoreham. Hoeg won an 8-5 decision at 112 pounds, Corey Jantzen pinned his man at 125, and Breisacher won on a pin at 189. May (135), Berretta (152) and Butler (171) all placed second. "Some of our veterans have demonstrated that they are as good as some people have touted them to be," coach Jantzen said, adding that Breisacher and Corey Jantzen are currently unbeaten and Butler's only loss came at the Whitman tournament to West Babylon's Alton Lucas, described by the coach as "probably the best wrestler in the nation in that weight class." The Wildcats have a huge test coming up Wednesday and Thursday at the Long Island Challenge. They will face Uniondale and MacArthur, two of Nassau County's best teams, and Commack, a top team from Suffolk, on the first day of the tournament at the Hofstra University Arena. Jantzen said if the Wildcats win all three matches, they will likely wrestle Islip on the second day, when matches will be held at MacArthur High School. "I think we've demonstrated that we have some exceptional individuals," Jantzen said. "We have a decently balanced team as long as we can stay healthy."
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