The Hurricanes traveled to grapple against a very tough League II opponent today in the Connetquot Thunderbirds. The Canes jumped to an early 5-0 lead with Dane Mendoza getting a technical fall starting off at 120 pounds. The Canes then dropped a tough 6-4 decision at 126 (Connor Glynn) and suffered pins at 132 (Sean Ebrus), and 138 (Danny Strebel), and then forfeited at 145 to fall behind 21-5. The Hurricanes showed no quit though and Junior Scott Rementer won an decision 8-4 to get the Canes back on the winning track at 152 and close the score to 21-8. Seniors Alex Kravitz (160) and Matt Tobin (170) added back to back pins and the gap was closed to 21-20, but the momentum stopped there briefly as Junior Tom O'Shea was pinned at 182 making the score 27-20 in favor of Connetquot. Senior Billy Campbell won a 9-3 decision at 195 and Senior Dan McClure added a pin at 220 to give the Hurricanes the lead for the first time in 8 matches at 29-27 with 4 matches remaining. The Hurricanes suffered pins at 285 (Sal DiBenedetto), and 99 (Cole Hempel) and trailed 39-29 with two matches left and it would have been easy to quit there and mail in the results. Instead, Sophomore Tyler Scala achieved a pin at 106 making the score 39-35 with one match remaining at 113. Senior Matt Tanzman had a very difficult opponent and came up short getting pinned himself. Connetquot finally came out on top 45-35. The Hurricanes battled hard all day and gave the Thunderbirds all they could handle! The Hurricanes are participating in the Half Hollow Hills East Tournament next on December 28th and 29th. We hope to see you there!!

Westhampton Beach head wrestling coach Paul Bass has a philosophy when it comes to December matches.

During that time, he’s not as concerned about wins and losses, but rather is eager to see how his wrestlers perform individually, how they respond to adversity or handle themselves in underdog situations.

By that criteria, he was quite happy during the bus ride home from Center Moriches on Sunday afternoon after his squad went 5-2 in the two-day Center Moriches Dual Meet Tournament.

The Hurricanes lost to powerhouses Mattituck (55-18) and Brentwood (49-15) but had wins over Putnam Valley (52-29), Port Washington (70-13), host Center Moriches (72-12), Edgemont (78-11) and Smithtown East (63-15).

“I was really happy,” Bass said. “I thought we wrestled Mattituck and Brentwood really tough. Against Brentwood, we lost five matches by three points or less.”

Bass added that all of his wrestlers were competing up a weight class, a move he said was intentional going into the tournament.

“I wanted them to focus on wrestling, not on losing weight,” he said of his approach to the tournament, pointing out that once Christmas passes, the rules will allow wrestlers to hold an extra two pounds of weight, making certification at the weights they will stay at for the rest of the year a little easier.

“December, to me, is about learning and finding out who you are as a team,” Bass added. “We settle in in January.”

Bass pointed out that while his team did suffer two losses, it had a winning record in 13 of the 15 weight classes over the course of the tournament. 

“I thought we grew a lot as a team and grew in toughness wrestling against some good teams,” he said.

Matt Tobin (170 pounds) had a great tournament, going 7-0 with five pins. He scored 39 points in seven matches, impressive considering the max number of points a wrestler can score in seven matches is 42.

Alex Kravitz (160) went 6-1 with three pins, while four other Hurricane wrestlers went 5-2—Billy Campbell (182) had two pins; Dan McClure (195) had three pins; Edward Ford (220), a first-year wrestler, also went 5-2; and Sal DiBenedetto made weight at 285 for the first time this year, and also went 5-2 with two pins.

Before the Center Moriches Duals, Westhampton Beach beat Harborfields, 51-15, in a road match to open the League V dual meet season on December 16. Hurricane 99-pounder Cole Hempel scored an impressive 4-2 win over Justin Klei in his first varsity match. McClure (195) and Kravitz (160) won with pins, while Scott Rementer (152) had a major decision. Campbell (182), Tyler Skala (106), Dane Mendoza (120), Connor Glynn (126), and Sean Ebrus (138) all won by decision, while Ford (220), Matt Tanzman (113), and David Cable (132) won by forfeit.

Westhampton Beach was scheduled to face Connetquot, the returning League II champion, in a non-league match on December 23 and will compete in the two-day Hills East individual tournament on December 28 and 29. Westhampton Beach will host the Cory Hubbard Duals on January 2.

Original Article Here

The HURRICANES traveled to Harborfields High School yesterday to open League V play against the TORNADOES. The canes trailed 3-0 after the first match, tied it after the 2nd enroute to a convincing 59-15 victory. WHB rolled up to Harborfields in category 4 or 5 form and the Tornadoes seemed more like a dust-devil. All kidding aside, the Canes battled hard with several wrestlers going up in weight and head into this weekends Center Moriches Duals on a high note. See you Saturday!

Publication: The East Hampton Press & The Southampton Press

By Cailin RileyWesthampton Beach wrestling coach Paul Bass believes his team can be formidable in dual meets this season, a belief based on the potential he sees in some of his younger, more unproven wrestlers. But in the first outing of the season, it was the more experienced grapplers on the team who came through for the Hurricanes, leading to a fourth-place finish out of nine teams at the annual Sprig Gardner Tournament at East Hampton High School.

Westhampton Beach had three champions on the day—Tyler Skala at 99 pounds, Dane Mendoza at 113, and Dan McClure at 195—and a total of 11 finalists. And while those numbers were respectable, Bass said he wished the place-winners had been spread out more among the weight classes.

“Our top guys did well,” Bass said. “But some of the sophomores and juniors I expect to step up this season didn’t have a great day. If we’re going to be as good as I think we can be, they’ll need to step up.”
Skala had the most dominant performance of the day for his team, beating Mark Matyka of Riverhead by technical fall to win the 99-pound weight class. Before that win, Skala had two pins and a major decision.

Mendoza won easily in the final at 113, shutting out Longwood’s Ryan Pitre, 8-0. He had a pin and a major decision leading up to that victory. McClure faced the toughest competition of the day but looked strong throughout, Bass said. He got past East Hampton’s Axel Alanis—an All-County wrestler last season—in a 7-3 decision, where all of Alanis’s points came from escapes. McClure took Alanis down three times and looked strong, Bass said.

At 160 pounds, Alex Kravitz finished second, and Billy Campbell was also a runner-up, at 182 pounds. Matt Tanzman (113) finished third, while Jason Montagna was fourth at 99 and Jackson Hulse was sixth at 99, giving Westhampton Beach three place-winners in that bracket. Scott Rementer took fourth at 152, while Dan Purkis (113) and Tom O’Shea (182) finished sixth.

Longwood won the tournament, followed by Sachem North, Ward Melville, Westhampton Beach, Riverhead, Bayport/Blue Point, East Hampton, Hampton Bays, and Southampton. (Final points were not tallied as of press time).

Westhampton Beach was scheduled to visit Harborfields on December 16 for a non-league meet and will compete in the Center Moriches Duals on Saturday and Sunday.


Original 27 East Article

The Hurricanes traveled to East Hampton High School today to begin the season against 7 other teams in the annual Sprig Gardner Tournament. The Hurricanes battled hard and came away with some success and some areas to improve. Here is the breakdown of results:

Team - 4th

99 Pounds
1st - Tyler Skala
4th - Jason Montagna
6th - Jackson Hulse


113 Pounds
1st - Dane Mendoza
3rd - Matt Tanzman


120 Pounds
6th - Dan Purkis


152 Pounds
4th - Scott Rementer

160 Pounds
2nd - Alex Kravitz


182 Pounds
2nd - Billy Campbell
6th - Tom O'Shea


195 Pounds
1st - Dan McClure


Thank you to the many supports who made the trip. Once available, the photographs will be uploaded into the photo section of the site. Please feel free to send any you might like to share. See you next Wednesday at Harborfields for our first League V Match! 

Granted it's pre-season and rankings don't guarantee results during the season, but it is still news and worthy to note that 2 Hurricanes made the pre-season rankings for Section 11.
Senior San McClure is ranked 5th at 182 and Junior Dan Mendoza is ranked 4th at 113!

You can see the full ranking list by weight class (top 6) here: Section XI Pre-Season Rankings as of 12/2/2015

Congratulations to Dan and Dane, and good luck to all the Hurricanes as the season begins tomorrow at the Sprig Gardner individual tournament in East Hampton!

From the Southampton Press - 11/30/2015 - by Cailin Riley

The good news for Westhampton Beach wrestling—the team has seven returning All-League wrestlers.

The bad news—the Hurricanes compete in what is arguably the toughest league in New York State.

Westhampton Beach will have to muscle its way to the top with a schedule that has no breaks this season, in either league meets or tournaments.

Longtime head coach Paul Bass said his team has the potential to do well, but admitted that nothing will come easy.

“We’ve got a lot of returning talent,” he said. “But they just have to gel as a team. They’ve got to learn to trust each other. The newer guys will have to step up and fill some holes too.

“We’re in the toughest league in New York state, no question,” Bass continued, talking about League V, which includes powerhouses Hauppauge—the returning dual meet county champion—and Rocky Point, which was ranked higher than Hauppague in the preseason rankings. Eastport South Manor and Kings Park are forces to be reckoned with as well. In the individual preseason rankings by weight class, 23 of the 90 wrestlers were from League V schools, including five who were ranked first. Westhampton Beach was in League VI last year, but moved into League V because its enrollment went up.

Leading the Canes this year will be the seven returning All-League wrestlers, joined by another two returning starters. Senior Matt Tanzman (106/113 pound weight class) was second in the league last year; returning junior Dane Mendoza (113/120) was second in the league and finished fifth in the county; freshman Liam McIntyre (140/145) was fourth in the league last year; senior Connor Glynn (120/126) was second in the league last year; senior Alex Kravitz (152/160) was second in the league; senior Matt Tobin (160/170) was second in the league; and Dan McClure (182/195) was second in the league. Mendoza and McClure are ranked in the top six in their weight classes to start the season. Westhampton Beach also brings back starters Billy Campbell (170/182, a senior) and Danny Strebel (132/138, a junior).

Bass added he expects contributions from another large group of wrestlers this year, including: Tyler Skala (sophomore, 99/106); Dan Purkis (junior, 113/120); Jack Ciolino (sophomore, 126/132); Brandon White (sophomore, 126); David Cable (junior, 126/132); Jayson Distifano (senior, 138/145); Sean Ebrus (senior, 126/132); Thatcher Cord (sophomore, 145/152); Scott Rementer (junior, 145/152); Thomas O’Shea, a transfer from Hampton Bays, (junior, 182/195); Edward Ford (senior, 220); Jeremy Endara (junior, 220), and Sal DiBennedetto (junior, 285).

Westhampton Beach will start the season at the Sprig Gardner Tournament at East Hampton High School on December 12 and will travel to Harborfields on December 16 for the first League V dual meet of the season, at 4:30 p.m. The Hurricanes will compete in the Center Moriches Duals on December 19 and 20.

Detailed info on the team can be found at whbwrestling.net.