North Wrestling Can't Hold Off Floyd In Opener

The Sachem North wrestling team won't soon back down from a challenge, even if it's relatively inexperienced up and down the lineup. On Wednesday night, the Flaming Arrows nearly won in spite of that youth in its dual debut against William Floyd.

Sachem held on to a thin lead past the midway point of the match, but Floyd, back-loaded with the start at 152 pounds, finished with a flurry, winning the final four matches to take home a 35-23 triumph in a non-league clash.

Floyd's victory avenged a 45-22 loss last December at the hands of North. Arrows head coach Ray Pickersgill entered the night knowing that the squad's opener could have gone either way, but missed opportunities early caught up to them in the end.

"I wasn't disappointed with our performance as a whole," Pickersgill said. "We had a couple matches that didn't go our way. If we get one of those, things might have been a little different."

Sachem's Frankie Napoli erased a 4-2 second-period lead with a takedown of Dan Palminteri and the junior escaped at 1:17 of the third round to jump in front, 5-4. It's a lead he held on to, allowing North to go ahead 19-18 on the match. Not only that, it avenged his loss to Palminteri at 103 pounds last year.

Matt Marino gave the Arrows their largest lead of the night, overwhelming Floyd's Tom Perkins, 14-3, at 125 pounds. Unfortunately, they were the last points that Sachem scored on the night.

The match started to slip with Floyd's win at 130 – a hard-fought 4-1 decision for Steve Salandra over Frank Blais. North's Nick Ward then locked horns with the Colonials' Tom Gerle, an All-County wrestler at 130 last year, and the freshman did well to avoid surrendering the full six points. Gerle, ranked second in the county at 135, nonetheless won by major decision, 14-3.

After another major decision in Floyd's favor at 140, Sachem was in a position where, trailing 29-23 in the team score, it needed a six-point pin to tie. It was a tall order for Rich Avella against R.J. Paquette, and it was Paquette who ended up getting the win by fall in the first period.

North's biggest surge came as the lineup turned over. At heavyweight, Anthony Confessore survived a battle of wills to win 3-1. Freshman Matt Stallone then hit the mat for the 96-pound match and made it look nothing like a typical varsity debut, pinning Floyd's Andrew Valadores at 1:47 of the first period. That evened the team score at 12.

"Matt's even a little undersized for 96, but he's a tough kid," Pickersgill said. "You'd think he'd be fazed by it being his first varsity match, but nothing fazed him."

Inarguably the most impressive performance of the night came at 103 pounds when freshman Sean O'Hagan dismantled Colonials sophomore Mat Bradice, a county qualifier at 96 pounds last winter. O'Hagan led 4-2 after one period and 8-3 after two, but O'Hagan netted major back points in the third en route to a 15-3 victory.

"He faced a tough kid," Pickersgill said of O'Hagan's draw. "Sean went out and never had any doubt that he was going to beat the kid."

Four of the evening's first five matches were decided by two points or less, and three of those nailbiters went to Floyd. That included two overtime victories for the visitors, among them a three-OT thriller in which Shaq Faison rode out Mike McCarthy in the do-or-die third OT to win, 3-2. Just two matches earlier, Bastien Petitica came from 10-6 down to force an extra session, and his takedown of Anthony Marino was the difference.

After Floyd drew first blood with a tight win at 152, Vin Provenzano got those points back at 160, scoring a two-point reversal with 17 seconds remaining to go ahead and ultimately emerge victorious. It was a sweet win for Provenzano, particularly after Floyd upset North in the county championship last month.

"Vin wrestled a great match," Pickersgill said. "Coming into this, some of the football guys felt like they owed Floyd, and he was one of them."

North hits the mats again on Saturday at the David Bloom Memorial Tournament in Wantagh. Joining them will be Section I's Fox Lane and New Rochelle, Section II stalwart Shenendahowa, Baruch of the PSAL, West Babylon and Syosset. The Arrows complete their non-league schedule next Wednesday at Ward Melville (6 p.m.).

Even in defeat, Wednesday night's tilt with Floyd was a good litmus test for the Arrows.

"I have a better feel for what we have," Pickersgill said. "It's a growing process. We have a lot of inexperience, but they'll keep getting better."