The Westhampton Beach wrestling team went to Connetquot on December 22 as the underdog
but came home the victor as the League IV Hurricanes upset the League II power, 34-33. The Hurricanes continued
to dominate as they took home second place in the Half Hollow Hills East Tournament on December 28.
The Eastport/South Manor squad took home sixth place in the Ward Melville Holiday Tournament on December 27.
Hampton Bays will open League VI competition this afternoon at home against Center
Moriches.
Westhampton Beach
In the Hurricane upset of Connetquot, Todd Fitzgerald reversed Rob Ryndfleiscz in the third period and then won
two near-fall points with seconds to go in the third period for a 10-2 major decision to win the 119-pound weight
class.
“It was a big win,” said Hurricane coach Paul Bass of the upset over Connetquot. “Connetquot is a powerful team.
We gave them 12 points with unfilled weight classes and we were still able to beat them.”
Jay Fredette (125), Rob Fredette (130), Jeff Karl (160), Mike DeStefano (171), John Krupp (189) and Frank Schlegel
(215) all took home first place in their respective weight classes.
At the Half Hollow Hills East Tournament, the Hurricanes came in second place with 137.5 points. Smithtown took
home first place with 342.5 points.
“We had never entered this tournament before, but I am very glad that we did,” said Bass. “It was a real tough
tournament. We had a lot of younger kids entered in the tournament and they did real well. It is a sign of things
to come.”
The Hurricanes had 27 wrestlers entered in the tournament and 23 of the entrants won their first matches and made
it to the second day of competition.
Fitzgerald was the champion in the 112-pound weight class at the Half Hollow Hills East Tournament.
“Todd had an amazing day,” said coach Bass. “He was unbelievable.”
It came down to two All County wrestlers in the 125-pound finals and Hurricane Jay Fredette lost, 9-6, to Steve
Hromado from Half Hollow Hills East.
DeStefano (160) also earned a second place finish and John Krupp (189) and Brian Schmidt (152) took home third
place. Travis Chernoma (140) and Schlegel (189) earned fourth place finishes and Jim Christie (171) and freshman
Jason Herrick (275) came in fifth. Kyle Berglin rounded out the Hurricanes place-winners with a sixth-place finish
at 130.
“I am very proud of them,” said coach Bass. “It is a nice way to start off the season.”
The Hurricanes will host a non-league tournament on Saturday afternoon.
Eastport/South Manor
Eastport/South Manor finished in 6th place with 110 points at the Ward Melville Holiday Tournament, its first non-league
competition of the season, on Thursday.
Senior Joe Congero was East-port/South Manor’s only champion as he pinned Joe Capanzano from Newfield in 22 seconds
to win the 275-pound title at Ward Melville.
“Joe normally wrestles for us at 215,” said Eastport/South Manor coach Bob McIntyre. “But we feel that he has a
better shot at making All County in the 275-pound weight class. It was our first experiment with him at 275 and
it went well.”
Joe Schulze (125) was the second-best finisher for Eastport/South Manor squad with a third-place finish and Chris
Saul came in fourth place in the 119-pound weight class.
“Shulze and Saul were outstanding at the tournament,” said McIntyre. “They both wrestled great.”
Chris Amato (96) and Joe Coleman (130) took home fifth-place finishes and John Farrell (103), Bobby Becker (112),
Paul Montpetit (119), James Napoli (145) and Bill Erdman (160) came in sixth place in their respective weight classes.
“We expected Montpetit to place higher,” said McIntyre. “But he will most likely go down to 112 and will do much
better in that weight class.”
Eastport/South Manor will open League VI competition on Saturday at Hampton Bays.
Issue Date: Southampton Press 01/04/02
