Sachem North Crowns 7 Champions at Peers Tourney

It was opening day for the 2011-12 Sachem North wrestling squad and coach Ray Pickersgill had a message for his team: "No matter what happens today, we can get better!"  

This, of course, was before Sachem put on a record setting display by placing 22 wrestlers in the top four including 11 finalists and sending seven Arrows grapplers to the top of the podium at the Andrew Peers Tournament.  

Out of the seven champions, no one was more impressive than senior 195-pound champion Anthony Confessore.  His first two matches resulted in pins totaling just 3:07. Then in the finals he pinned Shoreham Wading River's Max Goldfarb in just 1:41.  

"He beat whoever he had to wrestle, and did it in dominating fashion, that's all you can really ask for," said Pickersgill.

Expect Confessore to be one of the top wrestlers in the county at his weight class. He has worked extremely hard this off-season to become a complete wrestler with little flaw in his game.

Sachem's first Champion was crowned at 126 pounds when senior Frank Napoli used four takedowns to build an 8-2 second period advantage before defeating West Babylon's Leijae Sidberry, 11-2, and picking up his third straight Andrew Peers title.  

"Frank was very impressive today, he always wrestles well here, but today he took it to another level, I'm expecting big things from him this year," said Pickersgill.  

That win started a run of four consecutive titles from Sachem that included sophomore Matt Marino at 132, who defeated North Babylon's Anthony Dellavecchia, 6-2.  

At 138 senior Franky Blais steped on the mat looking to really make some noise in suffolk county this year.  He used an opening takedown to set the pace against Shoreham's Peter Stern. Blaise was dominating before putting him away for the fall at 3:00.  

Junior Michael Falcon took to the mat and immediately put West Babylon's Joe Genavage in peril by using a cradle to pick up a takedown and near fall to jump out to a 5-0 lead before moving on to a 9-2 victory.  

"He's getting better every day, there's not alot of people in the room who work harder than Mike, he's really transformed himself into a force he's going to supise alot of people this year," said Pickersgill.

Before dropping matches at 160 and 171, the Arrows went back to work taking three straight titles from 182- 220. At 182 Gio Santiago, went on to record his third straight fall by pinning Shoreham's Dom Pirragilia at the 5:40 mark. Confessore took the title at 195. Then it was time for the upset of the tournament. At 220 pounds, Sachem's Steven Mills took on top-seeded Luke Rise from Walt Whitman. Rise had defeated Mills 10-0 in their previous meeting last year.  

"I know Steven had that on his mind," said Pickersgill, "he was asking me about the kid all week, he had his goal and was focused on it and when the time came, he didn't dissapoint."  

Mills used an opening takedown to establish a 2-0 lead before Rise escaped.  Mills added a quick takedown at the end of the first period to build a 4-1 lead going into the second period as he went on to a 7-2 win.  

"Mills is alot stronger this year, and he's finally coming into his own, I really feel that big things are coming for him, he's a very motivated young man," added Pickersgill.

Overall the performance was dominating but the message was clear.

"If today was the highlight of our season, we are not going to have a very good season, this is a good start, but to be satisfied with this would be foolish especially with what we have coming next weekend," said Pickersgill.

That's referring to the Arrow's next competition when they take on one of the top teams in New York, the Wantagh Warriors at the David Bloom Memorial Tournament next weekend.  

"If we want people to take us seriously as a contender, we have to do well against them," Pickersgill said. "We have so much potential, we just have to keep growing and working hard, and I think we'll be okay."

Andrew Peers Tournament Results

• 99-Matt Stallone 3rd
• 106- Nick Perez 2nd
• 120- Sean O'Hagan 2nd, Alec Ross 3rd
• 126-Frank Napoli Champion, Mike Foley 3rd, Nick Ward 4th
• 132- Matt Marino Champion
• 138-Franky Blais Champion, Jimmy Sanzone 3rd
• 145-Mike Falcon Champion
• 152-Steven Guardino 5th
• 160-James Schreck 2nd
• 171-Anthony Marino 2nd
• 182- Gio Santiago Champion
• 195- Anthony Confessore Champion, John Quinn 3rd, John Fitzpatrick 4th
• 220-Steven Mills Champion, Paul Petrone 4th, Mike Moss 5th
• 285- Vin Juliano 3rd, Tom Cotter 4th, Lenny Sudler 5th