Publication: The East Hampton Press & The Southampton Press Dec 18, 2018 9:20 AM
By Cailin Riley As a junior last season, Larry Citarelli did not win a single varsity match for the Westhampton Beach wrestling team. Last week, he provided the clinching victories in two dual meets against two of the stronger teams in League V.
Citarelli took the mat against Jon Fitzsimmons for the final bout of the night in Friday’s tilt with Islip—a team that was ranked fifth in the county in the preseason—with meet tied at 32-32. With 25 seconds left in the 182-pound match, Citarelli scored a takedown to break a 1-1 tie, securing a 3-1 win over Fitzsimmons and the victory for his Hurricanes squad. Two nights earlier, in the third-to-last matchup of the night, Citarelli beat Connor Owenburg of Sayville in a 6-1 decision that put Westhampton Beach up by 13 points, thus guaranteeing the Canes would win even if Sayville had pins in the final two matches, in what was ultimately a 41-30 victory. Like Islip, Sayville was also ranked in the top 15 in the county in the preseason—the Hurricanes were as well—and Westhampton Beach head coach Paul Bass knew his team would be in for two tough matches early in the season against those squads. The key to victory in both, he said, is part of what is becoming a pattern for the Hurricanes so far this year.
“We had some [individual] matches we should have won, but in the end, the other guys picked them up,” Bass said. “That’s what dual meets are all about; picking each other up and wrestling for each other, and these guys are doing that as well as anybody. In every match, something bad has happened, but the guys keep stepping up.”
Citarelli is just one example, Bass said. The senior’s performance is not an exception, but rather seems to be the rule for the team this year. Bass pointed out that, of his 15 regular starters this season, only two are returning All-League wrestlers and only one other had a winning record last season. The rest of the starting lineup this year either was not in the starting lineup last season or had a losing record.
Read entire article on 27east.com
Citarelli took the mat against Jon Fitzsimmons for the final bout of the night in Friday’s tilt with Islip—a team that was ranked fifth in the county in the preseason—with meet tied at 32-32. With 25 seconds left in the 182-pound match, Citarelli scored a takedown to break a 1-1 tie, securing a 3-1 win over Fitzsimmons and the victory for his Hurricanes squad. Two nights earlier, in the third-to-last matchup of the night, Citarelli beat Connor Owenburg of Sayville in a 6-1 decision that put Westhampton Beach up by 13 points, thus guaranteeing the Canes would win even if Sayville had pins in the final two matches, in what was ultimately a 41-30 victory. Like Islip, Sayville was also ranked in the top 15 in the county in the preseason—the Hurricanes were as well—and Westhampton Beach head coach Paul Bass knew his team would be in for two tough matches early in the season against those squads. The key to victory in both, he said, is part of what is becoming a pattern for the Hurricanes so far this year.
“We had some [individual] matches we should have won, but in the end, the other guys picked them up,” Bass said. “That’s what dual meets are all about; picking each other up and wrestling for each other, and these guys are doing that as well as anybody. In every match, something bad has happened, but the guys keep stepping up.”
Citarelli is just one example, Bass said. The senior’s performance is not an exception, but rather seems to be the rule for the team this year. Bass pointed out that, of his 15 regular starters this season, only two are returning All-League wrestlers and only one other had a winning record last season. The rest of the starting lineup this year either was not in the starting lineup last season or had a losing record.
Read entire article on 27east.com
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