Sachem Snaps Longwood's 68-Match Win Streak

Gio Santiago’s fist pumping roar said it all. He screamed and his teammates yelled back after he pinned Longwood’s Dylan Seybolt in 4:52 at 170 pounds.

Santiago, who normally wrestles at 182, cut weight to match up with Longwood’s top grappler, who placed last year at the Suffolk County tournament and is expected to make a strong run again this year.

That victory spurred Sachem North on an 18-0 point swing in the middle of its 36-29 dual meet win against the Lions Friday evening.

“I thought of the team and how we came a long way from being seeded last in the league,” Santiago said. “It made me want to go down in weight and take on their best kid and that sparked it for me. I was pumped. It’s the best feeling in the world knowing I could spark the team the way I did. It really got us believing we can win this.”

“That carried us,” said Sachem coach Ray Pickersgill. “Beating a quality kid like that any day is huge, but doing it where it was a big point swing was enormous for us. That put us in a great position to win the next couple of matches."

The victory snaps a 68-meet win streak for Longwood, ranked No. 9 in New York, and marks the first victory for Sachem North, ranked No. 18 in New York, against the Lions since the school district split in 2004. It was the last dual meet win in Sachem's unified wrestling history.

Sean O’Hagan’s, 15-1, major decision win over Julius Wallace in the final match of the meet solidified the victory for Sachem (22-5 overall, 5-1 in League I).

Prior to Santiago’s pin, Sachem dropped four matches and trailed 20-7.

Anthony Confessore, who wrestled after Santiago and was slotted down one weight class from 195 to 182, beat DaShawn Taylor, 10-3, putting Sachem within reach of Longwood at 20-16.

“They came up with two big victories,” Pickersgill said. “It’s nine points in our favor.”

Steve Mills pinned Longwood’s Brian Gutierrez in 5:06 to put Sachem ahead 25-20, and Lenny Sudler won an exciting 4-2 overtime bout against Robert James at 285 for the Flaming Arrows to take a 28-20 lead.

Wrapping around to 99 pounds, Matt Stallone had no problems in his 14-1 major decision win over Brett Brice, putting Sachem up 32-20 with its largest lead of the night.

Evan Corso from Longwood beat Sachem’s Nick Perez, 8-7, at 106 pounds. With  the score at 32-23 and eventually 32-29 when Anthony Donofrio pinned John Onken in 3:32, things were close heading into O’Hagan’s match.

“This is the time of year Sean wrestles well and he proved it tonight,” Pickersgill said. “He came out and instead of just wrestling cautiously he really came up big.”

Next weekend Sachem heads to the League I tournament at Longwood and will see many of the familiar faces it battled during the regular season, including the Lions.

“We’ve been really close in a lot of dual meets this year,” Pickersgill said. “I knew we were going to break through eventually and we finally did. It’s a good cap to a good dual meet season. It gives us a lift into the league tournament.”

Complete match results

• 99: Stallone, Matt (Sachem High School North)  MD Brice, Brett(Longwood High School)  14-1
• 106: Corso, Evan (Longwood High School)  DEC Perez, Nick(Sachem High School North)  8-7
• 113: Donofrio, Anthony (Longwood High School)  FALL Onken, John(Sachem High School North)  3:32
• 120: O'Hagan, Sean (Sachem High School North)  MD Wallace, Julius(Longwood High School)  15-1
• 126: Napoli, Francesco (Sachem High School North)  MD Barton, James(Longwood High School)  10-1
• 132: Sanzone, James (Sachem High School North)  DEC Soto, Nicholas(Longwood High School)  9-3
• 138: Rasheed, Malik (Longwood High School)  MD Blais, Frank(Sachem High School North)  18-7
• 145: rasheed, Corey (Longwood High School)  FALL Falcon, Michael(Sachem High School North)  1:49
• 152: Hall, Nick (Longwood High School)  FALL Guardino, Stephen(Sachem High School North)  3:42
• 160: Jennings, Eddie (Longwood High School)  MD Schreck, James(Sachem High School North)  10-1
• 170: Santiago, Giovanni (Sachem High School North)  FALL Seybolt, Dylen(Longwood High School) 4:52
• 182: Confessore, Anthony (Sachem High School North)  DEC Taylor, Dashawn(Longwood High School)  10-3
• 195: Fitzpatrick, John (Sachem High School North)  DEC Gratereaux, Mike(Longwood High School)  5-1
• 220: Mills, Steven (Sachem High School North)  FALL Gutierrez, Brian(Longwood High School) 5:06
• 285: Sudler, Lenny (Sachem High School North)  SV James, Robert(Longwood High School)  4-2