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Southampton Press Westhampton Beach head coach Paul Bass knew his wrestlers would have to pull together the perfect match to take down undefeated Elwood/John Glenn. Although his Hurricanes could not pull off what Bass said would have been “one of the biggest upsets of the last decade in Suffolk County,” they came closer than many would have guessed, falling 35-24 to the Knights, who are ranked in the top four in Division I in the county. “No one thought we had a shot,” Bass said. “I came up with a lineup where I thought we’d have them.” Because Glenn’s strength lies in the lower weight classes, Bass said he needed his
wrestlers to dominate in the upper weight classes, which is what they did, and grab some wins in other weight classes.
But Glenn’s Nick Meinsen (103 pounds) managed to upset Hurricane Pete Detore with a pin in 1:32, which gave his
team a boost early in the match. A sophomore, Detore ranks in the top three in the county in his weight class, as does Meinsen, and is on pace to set a school record for dual meet victories. Detore also leads the team in dual meet points scoring. “He’s been our spark plug all year long,” Bass added. “He was beating the kid, but he just got caught in a bad position. He’s been wrestling awesome lately and he’s a real good kid, but it just happens sometimes. It certainly wasn’t a lack of effort on his part.” Meinsen’s victory was the first of six straight wins for Glenn to start the match. However, Glenn’s early dominance did not come as a surprise to Bass. “They’re unbelievable in the lower weights,” he said. “No one beats them in the first five or six weight classes. They have a county ranked kid in every weight in the first six and have four returning state place-winners.” Still, Bass said he was happy with the effort in those losses, as only two of the six defeats were by pins. “If you look at the scores from other matches, they’re usually pinning in at least four of those matches,” he said. Dennis Hayes (140) put the Hurricanes on the board by winning an 8-2 decision before
teammate Brian Kobus (145) suffered a 10-4 loss. Paul Dilandro prevailed, 3-1, at 152 pounds while John Prudenti
was edged, 6-4, at 160 pounds. Bass said he was particularly pleased with the effort of his last three wrestlers, all of whom were wrestling at higher weights than they are accustomed. Matt Mazarakis was wrestling his first varsity match while Frost, a usual 160-pounder, moved up two weight classes. Alex Mazarakis also won at a weight class two spots higher than his usual 171 pounds. “Our kids wrestled really smart,” Bass said. “We knew they were better, but they were giving away a lot of weight.” The following day the Hurricanes traveled to Herricks High School in Nassau County to compete in a 13-team tournament. An unorthodox format was what drew Bass to this tournament as teams compete in a roundrobin format and are grouped by ability, with wrestlers competing at JV, varsity or elite levels. “It’s a great tournament because at most tournaments, the JV or lesser varsity kids usually wrestle just one match and then stand around all day,” Bass said. “But at this one, they’re wrestling four or five matches against kids of their ability level.” Westhampton Beach certainly made its presence felt at the tournament with Cory Hubbard
(119), Kyle Hubbard (135), Hayes (140), Kobus and Ryan Maran (145), Dilandro (152) and Matt Mazarakis (160) all
going undefeated. With a 9-7 record, Bass said his team is simply looking to finish strong in its final two dual meets before preparing for what he describes as “the real season,” meaning the League VI and county tournaments. The Hurricanes were scheduled to travel to Miller Place yesterday and will host Mattituck tomorrow at 6 p.m. The League VI championships will take place on Saturday, February 9 at Miller Place while the county tournament will begin on Friday, February 15 at Stony Brook University.
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