West, East Wrestlers Start Season Strong

West wrestling opened its season at the William Floyd dual meet tournament, winning one of four meets, with two losses by three points or less. East showed its depth and talent Wednesday night at home with a 52-18 victory over Northport.

West dropped a two-point decision to Islip and fell by just three points to Hills West, and lost by nine points to host William Floyd's 'A' team. Smithtown defeated the Floyd 'B' team for its one victory.

West forfeited a weight class in all four meets on Dec. 11, giving each of their opponents six points, making the two losses they suffered look even closer.

"It shows that we're headed in the right direction, so we don't feel that bad about our performance," said Bulls coach Ken Leverich. "We went up against some tough competition."

East won 11 of 15 weight classes, including five by pinfall, in the team's first dual meet of the season.

The East match of the night came at 135 pounds, where junior Luke Outcault won an overtime decision over Northport's Dan Romancyk, 4-3. Romancyk came into the match ranked fourth in Suffolk County Division I at that weight, but Outcault rallied in extra time after seeing a 3-0 lead disappear in the second and third periods.

Outcault almost scored a takedown in the first overtime and then earned a point with an escape in the second, 30-second extra period. Romancyk was unable to score in the third overtime, giving Outcault the victory.

"I knew he was ranked in the county, I knew he was going to be tough from the start," Outcault said, who placed third in the league championship meet last season. "But I know, you just have to go out and wrestle, and that's what I did. You get your points when you can take them — takedowns, stand-ups — you just have to make sure you don't get caught."

"Luke wrestled one of their better wrestlers, and that was definitely one of the highlights of the night," said Bulls coach Dave Cummings. "Overall, I thought the team wrestled really well."

For West, the tournament at William Floyd gave several wrestlers opportunities to start the season strong, which was the case for its five returning All-League wrestlers.

West junior Nick Hoffman, who won a league championship last season, won two of three individual matches in the 96-pound weight class. Senior team captain Joe Hunsucker, a third-place finisher in the last league tournament, went 3-1 at 145 pounds, and senior Joe Nappi (160 pounds), who also placed third at the league meet, went 3-1 as well.

West senior Pat Dudek went undefeated at the Floyd meet, going 4-0 at 125 pounds. Dudek was a fourth-place finisher at the league championships, as was sophomore Joe Giamis, who went 3-1 at 112 pounds.

"They all probably have league championship aspirations," Leverich said. "That's what those guys re shooting for. They've been to the show, and now they're hoping to do bigger things."

East wrestlers who got their seasons off to a fast start include senior Justin Pardo, a transfer from Kings Park who went 3-1 at 152 pounds, sophomore Marco Mosleh (3-1 at 140 pounds), sophomore Mike Hughes (2-1 at 285 pounds) and senior Orrie Wolfer (2-2 at 189 pounds).

Darius Caparaso got East off on the right track by pinning Paul Capobianco at the first-period buzzer at 96 pounds. Northport won the next match, but East took the next six. Will Outcault won a 3-2 decision at 112, Branson Berger won a 10-1 decision over Dennis Kropp at 119, and Jake Reddo scored a takedown and a near fall in the final seconds of a 13-9 decision over Rob Delganio at 125.

Eric Binder (140), Casey O'Mally (152) and Scott Price (160) each pinned their opponents to stretch the East lead and put the meet out of reach. Pat Falk won an 8-3 decision at 189 and Josh Ward pinned John Fabian at 215.

East did well despite being without two injured wrestlers, Anthony Foster and Tim Kopiske. Foster wrestles at 152/160, and Kopiske is ranked sixth in the county at 171 pounds, despite having not yet competed due to an arm injury suffered in the football season.

"If we can get him and Foster back, we'll be all right," Cummings said. "We should be relatively solid in most weight classes, with a few inexperienced guys here and there, but we expect to compete for the league title, for sure. That's our main goal."

"I feel like we're definitely going to be strong this year," Luke Outcault added. "I think we can be league champs this year. We can challenge if we can keep everyone healthy."

West continues the season Friday at Connetquot with two meets against the host Thunderbirds and Comsewogue. The Bulls then travel to a tournament at North Babylon High School on Saturday. East continues the season this weekend at a two-day, dual-meet tournament at Center Moriches High School. They will wrestle five meets on Saturday and another four on Sunday.