Yorktown (16-7) has had its best regular season in recent history and the boys wrestling team was looking to finish it in style when it hosted visiting Carmel.
The Huskers scored the last 28 points in the match to record a 48-25 triumph against their Putnam County opponent. The win was a big one because it gives Yorktown plenty of momentum as it enters the divisionals on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 9 a.m. in Carmel.
“I thought we had a real good regular season," Yorktown coach John Tornambe said. "All seven of our losses are to some of the top ranked teams in the section, including Mahopac and Somers. I am happy we beat who we were supposed to beat. Carmel today (Feb. 3) was one of those teams that maybe we shouldn’t have beaten but we did so this was a nice win for us.”
Find out what's happening in Yorktown-Somersfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The win is a continuation of what has been some solid work on the mat recently according to Tornambe.
“We wrestled real well last weekend at the Super 16 and I thought we wrestled pretty well today," Tornambe said. "We wrestled solid; we didn’t make too many mistakes. We are wrestling well at the right time of year. We’ll go to divisionals now and see what happens.”
Find out what's happening in Yorktown-Somersfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Tornambe said the key to winning in the divisionals will be to stick to the basics and not make mistakes.
The win against Carmel, he said, was just a culmination of the hard work his squad has put in through the last 12 months.
“A lot of our guys wrestle year-round," Tornambe said. "We run practices year-round. We take two months off in the summer otherwise we are going all fall, all spring and it’s just starting to make a difference.”
Tornambe said what made the difference against Carmel was two big wins by Kyle Santucci at 112 pounds, 9-3, and Steven Sabella at 145 pounds, 8-4, against opponents they could face in the divisionals.
“112 and 145 were the two big matches," Tornambe said. "That kid Kyle beat, (Nick) Rosalino, at 112, he’s actually seeded ahead (No. 3 to Santucci's No. 4) of him in the divisionals. That’s not going to change anything but it’s nice to beat the kid ahead of you. (James) Autieri, he’s seeded 5th or 6th at 145 and Steve is seeded third. He beat a quality kid.”
Trailing 25-20, Yorktown took the lead when Thomas Murray recorded a pin in the second round at 160 pounds that put the Huskers up 26-25. Yorktown never trailed after that.
"He (Murray) finished all his shots today and just wrestled real well," Tornambe said.
Winners
Yorktown-Nick Driskoll (96 pounds), Kyle Santucci (112), Jimmy Kaishian (119), Joe Mastro (140), Steven Sabella (145), Thomas Murray (160), Emil Fernandez (171), Steven Martimucci (189), Alex Santini (215), David Varian (285).
