Publication: The East Hampton Press & The Southampton Press
By Cailin RileyThere is the pressure to win, and then there is the pressure to pin. For wrestlers, the difference between them can be intense. But Westhampton Beach sophomores Grant Skala and Jack Santora rose to the latter challenge in their team’s match with Newfield—the 13th ranked team in Suffolk County—at the Cory Hubbard Duals in Westhampton on Saturday.
Skala (99 pounds) and Jack Santora (106) were the last two Hurricanes to take the mats in their team’s bout with Newfield, ranked three places ahead of the Hurricanes in the county team standings. Facing a 35-24 deficit going into those matches, they knew the only way their team could win is if they both pinned their opponents (a pin in worth six points, a technical fall five points, a major decision four points, and a decision three points). Both Santora and Skala were favored to win their matches, according to Westhampton Beach head coach Paul Bass, but he said the strategy for pinning an opponent is often different, and requires both skill and savvy on the part of the wrestler.
The young wrestlers delivered. Skala pinned Nick Roethel in 1:55, while Santora delivered the match-clinching mat slap over Andrew Gabb with just seconds left in the second period.
The Hurricanes finished as the runner-up in their host tournament, losing, 42-39, to Patchogue/Medford, ranked 10th in Suffolk County. In addition to the win over Newfield, the Hurricanes also beat Holy Trinity, 67-18.
Bass said that while he always wants to win, he was about as happy as he could have been with a loss after facing Patchogue/Medford.
“At the end of that match, I was the first one to cheer,” he said. “That’s what high school sports is supposed to be. You had two sets of fans going crazy the whole time, kids laying it on the line, and it was back and forth, and it came down to [Will Zaffuto] wrestling really tough against an All-League kid and losing, 7-4, but they just battled the whole time.”
Over the course of the tournament, Skala was 3-0 with a pin; Santora was 2-0 with two pins; Jay Montagna (126 pounds) was 3-0 with two pins; and Jackson Hulse (160 pounds) was 3-0 with two pins, beating Newfield’s Frank Micari, ranked fourth in the county in his weight class, in a 7-0 decision. For that effort, Montagna was chosen as his team’s Most Outstanding Wrestler for the day. Larry Citarelli (170/182 pounds) was 3-0 with a pin; Hunter Burling (182/195) was 2-1, suffering his first loss of the season, an OT defeat at the hands of Newfield. Liam McIntyre, ranked first in the county at 195 pounds, was 3-0 with two pins, wrestling both at 195 and 220.
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