Sachem Wins Joe Davidson Memorial Duals

Sometimes perfection isn't good enough, and sometimes it's good enough to get by. That was the task Sachem North was facing when it hosted the third annual Joe Davidson Memorial duals this past Thursday and Friday.

North went a perfect 8-0 over the two-day event, which would normally be enough to win, however, so did Shoreham Wading River. Due to scheduling Sachem and Shoreham would have wrestled each other three times in the first month of the season, so Shoreham coach Joe Condon asked that the two not meet in the tournament.  

"Each team gets to pick a team that they would not like to wrestle to forgo meeting the same opponent too many times in the season," said Sachem coach Ray Pickersgill. "Shoreham picked us, I didnt think we would both end up 8-0".

The tournament came down to the first tie breaker which was total dual meet points with Sachem gaining the edge 774-749 and taking home the championship, which was North's second time winning the three-year event.

Overall Sachem is 23-1 in three years of the tournament.

"It's a great event, we had alot of wrestling over the two days," Pickersgill said. "Eight matches is a good way to gauge where your team is at."

Sachem now has a 12-2 overall record with its only losses coming from two of the top teams on Long Island and New York State in Wantagh, and Connetquot. 

The closest match of the tournament for the Sachem grapplers was with tournament favorite Eastport-South Manor, who the Arrows downed 37-27 in the second round.  

"We got Eastport off a loss (to Shoreham), they have some really tough kids, but we have a lot more depth, and that's going to help us in the long run," added Pickersgill.  

Over the two-day event Sachem had some stand out wrestlers including Alec Ross (120 pounds) who went 5-0. Junior Steve Guardino was 7-1 with six pins for the tournament. Mike Falcon (145), Anthony Confessore (195), and Steven Mills (220), all only had one loss.

"They all lost to some really good people, no matter how bad some teams are collectively, they are still going to have some good individuals and those guys ran into three of them," said Pickersgill.

As far as the outstanding wrestlers for the tournament, it was all Sachem North. Junior James Schreck went 6-0 at 160 pounds to garner the team outstanding wrestler for Sachem North.

"The team really performed well, but the coaches felt Schreck stood out, he's always working, many times we have to kick him out of the room to go home," said Pickersgill.  

The tournament outstanding wrestler went to junior Gio Santiago, who was 7-0 with five pins.

"Gio was dominant, and the opposing coaches see that, he might be the closest thing we have to untouchable," said Pickersgill.  "Gio is starting to become more of a wrestler and relying less on his strength, he's really become a force to be reckoned with".

The Arrows are in action next on Wednesday, January 4 when they travel to William Floyd for the League I opener at 4 p.m., then will travel to Virginia for the Battlefield Duals at Colonial Forge High School.

For a complete listing of meet results, click here.

Meet Results

• Sachem 53, East Islip 21
• Sachem 72, West Babylon 18
• Sachem 36, Eastport-South Manor 27
• Sachem 74, Deer Park 7
• Sachem 57, Bayport-Blue Point 12
• Sachem 66, Newfield 9

Team Results

• 1st Place - Sachem North
• 2nd Place - Shoreham Wading River
• 3rd Place - Eastport South Manor
• 4th Place - East Islip
• 5th Place - Bayport-Bluepoint
• 6th Place - Lindenhurst
• 7th Place - Farmingdale
• 8th Place - Newfield
• 9th Place - Deer Park
• 10th Place - West Babylon

Who is Joe Davidson? Joe Davidson was a former Sachem wrestler and coach who died in 2005. As a senior in 1973 he placed fourth in New York at 119 pounds and was a Junior National Runner-up in Greco Roman. He wrestled at Suffolk, Rhode Island and SUNY Brockport. 

Check out the photos above to see some action from this year's Joe Davidson Memorial Wrestling Tournament.