Mamaroneck's Upset Bid Falls Short

Early on, it looked like Thursday night's wrestling matchup between the Scarsdale Raiders and Mamaroneck Tigers would come down to the final match of the night.  Instead, a sudden turn in momentum during the heavier weight classes propelled Scarsdale to a relatively easy 47-33 win.

"It's just very, very disappointing," said Mamaroneck senior Jack Miller, who was unable to participate because of a concussion.  "All I've wanted to do is beat Scarsdale since I've been in high school and it was just a disappointing way to end my senior year."

Although the night ended on a sour note for the Tigers, the team kept the score close for most of the evening, pinning their oponent at one point in three out of four matches while building a 24-16 lead.

"I had to tell my kids, hey, wrestle like its your last day, come out there with your heart and I expected that," said Mamaroneck Assistant Coach Andres Corrales.  "And I actually got more."

At one point, it looked like the Mamaroneck effort would be enough to secure a victory.  After a hard fought match victory by Andres Pedreaza in the 152 pound weight class, the Tigers led Scarsdale 27-25 in total scoring with only five matches to go.

But that was when Scarsdale took control.  A very tough three period match between Scarsdale's Colin Muldoon and Mamaroneck's Matt Pshierer resulted in three Scarsdale points.  They took the lead 29-27 and never looked back.

Scarsdale's Joe Selvaggio then pinned Patrick Chamberlain in less than a minute in the 171 pound weight class.  That was followed by two more Scarsdale pin victories by Jacob Berkowitz and Erik Wahlberg.  In the blink of an eye Scarsdale led 47-27 and all hopes of an upset victory for the Tigers went out the window.

"It's kind of bittersweet," said Mamaroneck's John White, who won via pin during his 125 pound match.  "As a team I think we did wrestle really well.  We wrestled better than we have in the last couple of weeks."

Corrales shared White's optimistic point of view.

"I'm really happy with every single one of them, especially my captains," said Corrales.  "They all pulled it together."

The struggles late in the competition came as a surprise to neither coach.  Scarsdale features a lot of experience in the heavier weight classes.  Meanwhile, the slots have been inconsistent at times for Mamaroneck.

"We have very good lightweights, very good middle weights and when we get to the heavy weights we just lose matches," said Miller.

"Their guys are seniors and my guys are like sophomores," added Chorrales.  "It just comes to show that us being so young at heavy, we are going to get better than this."

That chance for improvement will come next week in another important matchup against New Rochelle.

"If we wrestle like this," said Chorrales.  "A lot of goals will be met in the future."