Kennedy Wrestling Steamrolls Over Sewanhaka on the Road

The Kennedy wrestling team traveled on the road to square off against Sewanhaka West in an early season dual meet on Wednesday night.  

The Cougars fell behind after the first four matches against the Indians, but quickly took control of the match behind their solid lightweight lineup led by sophomore Robert Person at 112 pounds and junior John Luxmore at 119 pounds.  

After tying the score at 12-12 behind a dramatic double overtime pin by Jeff Scialo over Chris Henry in the 285-pound class at 7 minutes 44 seconds, Kennedy outscored Sewanhaka 46-9 to eventually take the win, 58-21.  

“It was good for us because they gave us tough matches and we were able to identify some of the things that we’re not doing,” Kennedy head coach Brian DeGaetano said.  

With the match starting off at the 160-pound weight class, the Indians took three of the first four matches, but the Cougars responded with five straight wins to take a solid position heading into their middleweights. Person pinned Sergio Molina at 1:09 into the second period, followed by consecutive technical falls by Luxmore and Roman Esposito.  

Kennedy’s Tyler Goldberg at 145 pounds and Mike Pizzirusso at 152 pounds added back-to-back first period pins with the match all but won. Senior Bobby Krug, wrestling out of the 135-pound spot, won by a forfeit to follow up a first-place finish at the Sprig Gardner Tournament last Saturday, along with Person and Luxmore.  

Despite the early win, the Cougars know of the tough league matches that lie ahead for them, including Garden City and cross-town rival Mepham.  

"We have to wrestle better on our feet,” DeGaetano said. “We aren’t breaking the stance and creating angles on our feet. On top, we are riding a little too high, but bottom, we have been wrestling really well. We just need to clean everything up a little bit.”  

The Cougars will take on another non-league opponent, Bethpage, at home on Friday before heading into a highly-anticipated match-up with the Mepham Pirates in their first league meeting next Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Kennedy High School.

Results:

160- Goldschlag (JFK) pinned Morris (SW) – 5:00

171- Odughensan (SW) pinned Rudolfsky (JFK) – 0:59

189- Melendes (SW) defeated Silverman (JFK) – 5-1

215- Hildenbrandt (SW) defeated Accetta (JFK) – 7-5

285- Scialo (JFK) pinned Henry (SW) – 7:44 (2OT)

96- Greenstein (JFK) pinned Jiminez (SW) – 1:22

103- Sather (JFK) won by forfeit

112- Person (JFK) pinned Molina (SW) – 3:09

119- Luxmore (JFK) tech fall Caso (SW) - 18-1 in 4:00

125- Esposito (JFK) tech fall Mendes (SW) – 16-0 in 5:54

130- Flaherty (SW) defeated Zalud (JFK – 8-4

135- Krug (JFK) won by forfeit

140- Goldberg (JFK) pinned Alexis (SW) – 1:42

145- Pizzirusso (JFK) pinned Somar (SW) – 1:49

152- Cedeno (SW) pinned Schwartz (JFK) – 2:29  

Final Team Score:

JFK- 58..........Sewanhaka West- 21