The banged up Canes headed to Sayville last Saturday to complete in the League VI Tournament. With the Top 4 finishers punching their ticket to "The Show", the Section XI (Suffolk County) Tournament. 15 weight classes and a maximum of 2 wrestlers at each weight class, the Hurricanes were able to secure 2 League Titles and 1 2nd place finish among the 10 WHB wrestlers that qualified for the County Tournament. The Section XI Tournament will be held at the Brentwood Campus of Suffolk County Community College on both Saturday and Sunday. The schedule is here for your reference. We wish all of the qualifiers the best of luck at the County Tournament!!  Go Canes!

A Special Congratulations to Junior Jason Montagna who won his 100th match as a Hurricane during the Tournament to become the 9th member of the Century Club!!!

Champions
Sophomore Jackson Hulse - 160
Senior Liam McIntyre - 195

2nd Place
Junior Jason Montagna - 126

3rd Place
Sophomore Grant Skala - 106
Sophomore Will Zaffuto - 113
Senior Lawrence Citarelli - 170

4th Place
Sophomore Joe D'Agostino - 99
Senior Suraj Patel - 132
Sophomore Christian Specht - 152
​Senior Hunter Burling - 182

After a great weekend at the Cory hubbard Duals, the Hurricanes may have had an emotional letdown heading into their final League VI match of the season. Needing a win to secure 2nd place in League VI and an automatic bid to the Suffolk County Team Duals Tournament, WHB was not up to the task. Miller Place took a forfeit at 285 and still led 6-4 after Sophomore Grant Skala got a major decision at 99 pounds. Miller Place then went on to take 40 straight points with 5 pins and wins in 8 matches in a row from 106 through 152 and the match was over. The final tally was 54-19. The Canes will have to cross their fingers and hope they can get an "at large" bid to the Duals Tournament. Meanwhile it was a tough dose of reality but perhaps at a key time as the League Tournament and post-season wrestling is right around the corner! Go Canes!

Miller Place High Sch (MPHS) 54.0 Westhampton Beach Sr (WBS) 19.0
285: Angelo Casiano (MPHS) over   (WBS) (For.)
99: Grant Skala (WBS) over Michael Giugliano (MPHS) (MD 11-2)
106: Alexander Constantis (MPHS) over Jack Santora (WBS) (MD 13-4)
113: Justin Klein (MPHS) over Will Zaffuto (WBS) (Dec 7-4)
120: Mark Rado (MPHS) over Ian Recchion (WBS) (Fall 1:26)
126: Travis Grebe (MPHS) over Jason Montagna (WBS) (Fall 0:52)
132: Ryan Hucke (MPHS) over Dominic Jurgel (WBS) (Fall 3:41)
138: John Hucke (MPHS) over John Shannon (WBS) (Fall 3:49)
145: Kyle Klein Jr. (MPHS) over James O`Neill (WBS) (Fall 2:52)
152: Jordan Syperski (MPHS) over Gage Rubio (WBS) (Dec 6-2)
160: Jackson Hulse (WBS) over Collin Letterio (MPHS) (Fall 2:22)
170: Noah Bila (MPHS) over Lawrence  Citarelli (WBS) (Dec 8-5)
182: Hunter  Burling (WBS) over Christopher Bold (MPHS) (Dec 9-8)
195: Liam McIntyre (WBS) over   (MPHS) (For.)
​220: Nicholas Neyland (MPHS) over Erich Schaumloffel (WBS) (TF 19-4 2:30) 

​Publication: The East Hampton Press & The Southampton Press
By Cailin RileyThere is the pressure to win, and then there is the pressure to pin. For wrestlers, the difference between them can be intense. But Westhampton Beach sophomores Grant Skala and Jack Santora rose to the latter challenge in their team’s match with Newfield—the 13th ranked team in Suffolk County—at the Cory Hubbard Duals in Westhampton on Saturday.

Skala (99 pounds) and Jack Santora (106) were the last two Hurricanes to take the mats in their team’s bout with Newfield, ranked three places ahead of the Hurricanes in the county team standings. Facing a 35-24 deficit going into those matches, they knew the only way their team could win is if they both pinned their opponents (a pin in worth six points, a technical fall five points, a major decision four points, and a decision three points). Both Santora and Skala were favored to win their matches, according to Westhampton Beach head coach Paul Bass, but he said the strategy for pinning an opponent is often different, and requires both skill and savvy on the part of the wrestler.

The young wrestlers delivered. Skala pinned Nick Roethel in 1:55, while Santora delivered the match-clinching mat slap over Andrew Gabb with just seconds left in the second period.

The Hurricanes finished as the runner-up in their host tournament, losing, 42-39, to Patchogue/Medford, ranked 10th in Suffolk County. In addition to the win over Newfield, the Hurricanes also beat Holy Trinity, 67-18.

Bass said that while he always wants to win, he was about as happy as he could have been with a loss after facing Patchogue/Medford.

“At the end of that match, I was the first one to cheer,” he said. “That’s what high school sports is supposed to be. You had two sets of fans going crazy the whole time, kids laying it on the line, and it was back and forth, and it came down to [Will Zaffuto] wrestling really tough against an All-League kid and losing, 7-4, but they just battled the whole time.”

Over the course of the tournament, Skala was 3-0 with a pin; Santora was 2-0 with two pins; Jay Montagna (126 pounds) was 3-0 with two pins; and Jackson Hulse (160 pounds) was 3-0 with two pins, beating Newfield’s Frank Micari, ranked fourth in the county in his weight class, in a 7-0 decision. For that effort, Montagna was chosen as his team’s Most Outstanding Wrestler for the day. Larry Citarelli (170/182 pounds) was 3-0 with a pin; Hunter Burling (182/195) was 2-1, suffering his first loss of the season, an OT defeat at the hands of Newfield. Liam McIntyre, ranked first in the county at 195 pounds, was 3-0 with two pins, wrestling both at 195 and 220.
Read the entire article on 27 East

The Hurricanes needed everything to go right against undefeated and #1 ranked Rocky Point on Friday (1/4) night if they wanted to come away with a victory. Unfortunately, in the end, it wasn't meant to be. WHB saw 3 matches turn the wrong direction that left them on the short end of a 44-33 score dropping them to 4-1 in League VI. There was no time to dwell on the defeat as the Canes hosted the Cory Hubbard Duals and were in action about 12 hours later. The Canes got a forfeit from East Hampton just couldn't field enough wrestlers. The Canes then handled Holy Trinity 67-18 which brought up a tough match up against 2017 Champion and #13 ranked Newfield. The match was expected to be difficult and was just as advertised. Newfield had 5 Section XI ranked wrestlers, but Sophomore Jackson Hulse was able to defeat the #4 ranked wrestler in the 160 pound match and the Canes limited the damage done by the others. Ultimately, the Hurricanes found themselves down by 11 with 2 matches remaining and just as has been the case so many times this season were able to do what was necessary to win. In this case, pins by Sophomores Grant Skala and Jack Santora delivered the 36-35 victory in front of a very raucous crowd in the gym. Meanwhile, in the Middle School, #10 Patchogue-Medford had taken care of business and dispatched all other Group B members including a tough Bellport team that had beaten Newfield the previous evening. That earned them a spot in the 3pm final. Once again, the Canes knew they would have to wrestle extremely well to win the title and the match did not disappoint. After getting down very early the Canes battled back and things ultimately came down to the final match at 113 pounds with everything knotted 39-39. Sophomore Wil Zafuto in the must win match took the mat and gave it his all but ended up on the wrong end of a 7-4 decision and Patchogue-Medford claimed the Cory Hubbard Duals title for 2019. Inside the match though, 6 weights earlier, there was a genuine show of sportsmanship by the Patchogue-Medford coach that should be noted. WHB Senior Hunter Burling at the start of the 195 pound match picked his opponent up and slammed him to the mat too hard and was called for a penalty. The wrestler, if unable to continue, would have caused WHB to forfeit that match due to the penalty and Hunter Burling would also not be able to wrestle in the next dual meet as punishment. The forfeit would have made it impossible for the Canes to win. The trainer examined and ultimately cleared the wrestler to continue but the Pat-Med coaches felt it best that he not wrestle further. Rather than claim the forfeit, they allowed the match to restart and then forfeited to the Canes giving us 6 points and allowing the close match to continue to its ultimate, very exciting conclusion. While the Hurricanes certainly wanted to keep the Cory Hubbard Duals trophy in Westhampton Beach, the knowledge that it is in the hands of Patchogue-Medford for now, is perhaps fitting, given the way Cory Hubbard competed as a Hurricane. Overall, the tournament was a great success and it was really great to see the Canes in action all day. Go Canes!!

The Hurricanes, Coaches and fans react at the moment Sophomore Jack Santora pins his Newfield opponent, winning the match 36-35 , and earning the Canes a spot in the finals of the 2019 Cory Hubbard Duals Tournament.
Photo courtesy of Haley Burling

Publication: The East Hampton Press & The Southampton Press
Dec 30, 2018 8:16 PM
By Drew Budd

​Just wrestle.

It's a simple phrase that the Westhampton Beach wrestling team has started to use this season, but in this day and age where there is a lot more going than just the wrestling on the varsity high school stage, it's something that can be easily overlooked by teen-aged grapplers. There are a core of Hurricanes who have taken the saying to heart, and it showed this past week at the Sal DiFazio Holiday Tournament at Half Hollow Hills East High School that ran across two days, Thursday and Friday, December 27 and 28. 

For the second year in a row, Westhampton Beach won the tournament with 279 total points, 40 points ahead of host Hills East and 92 points ahead of Bellmore JFK. What's different about this year's tournament victory than last year's, Westhampton Beach head coach Paul Bass said, is that he didn't have nearly as many wrestlers in this year's tournament, due to various reasons, from a few wrestlers being away on the holiday break, to injuries and illnesses. Only 20 of the 38 wrestlers that make up the Hurricanes made the trip to Hills East, and of those 20, 14 placed in the top four of their weight classes. Six of those wrestlers became champions and another was runner-up.

"They're really starting to buy in to our philosophy of just wrestle. Forget all of the scores, forget about all of the rankings, forget about all the drama that's involved in wrestling and just go out there and wrestle," Bass explained. "And it wasn’t just about the results at this tournament. This was a Christmastime tournament. All I care about is getting the kids some good matches. It was how we did it. It was a dominating train coming down the tracks, and it started at 99 pounds."

Read entire article on 27east.com

The Canes traveled to Half Hollow Hills for a one day abbreviated version of the Sal DiFazio Individual Tournament and walked away with 6 of the 15 weight brackets titles and outpaced host Half Hollow Hills East to win the tournament. Senior Liam McIntyre (220) was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament while teammate and fellow Senior Hunter Burling (182) was named the Champion of Champions. All in all (see below), the Canes claimed 6 titles, 1 second place, 4 fourth place and 2 sixth places. It was a fantastic day all around for the Canes! Next week, WHB will host undefeated and Section XI #1 ranked League VI foe Rocky Point on Friday (1/4) and then host the Cory Hubbard Duals the following day in Westhampton Beach! This is certainly the most crucial week for the Canes all season. Please come out and support them!! Go Canes!

The Canes coming off a pair of wins the previous week were not tested at home against against Harborfields. WHB cruised to an 81-6 victory to move the Hurricanes record to 3-0 in League VI action. The match started with forfeits at 113 and 120 by Harborfields, with two other forfeits later at 145 and 106. Ultimately, 11 matches were wrestled and WHB came away with a 10-1 record and 9 pins. WHB will be action and heavily favored on the road at Amityville this Friday (12/21). Go Canes!!

Westhampton (WHB) 81, Harborfields (Harb) 6
December 19, 2018
113 - Luke Citarelli  (WHB) by FFT
120 - Will Zaffuto (WHB) by FFT
126 - Jason Montagna (WHB) pinned Dan Spreckels (Harb) 
132 - Suraj Patel (WHB) pinned Cole Sullivan (Harb) 
138 - Dominic Jurgel (WHB) pinned Brian Philips (Harb) 
145 - James O`Neill (WHB) by FFT
152 - Gage Rubio (WHB) pinned Nick Flynn (Harb) 
160 - Jackson Hulse (WHB) pinned Brandon Barnes (Harb) 
170 - Lawrence Citarelli (WHB) pinned Wyatt Lafountaine (Harb) 
182 - Hunter Burling (WHB) dec. Hogan Henrikson (Harb) 7-2
195 - Liam McIntyre (WHB) pinned Ian McGullam (Harb) 
220 - Erich Schaumloffel (WHB) pinned Dan Stein (Harb) 
285 - Scott Coleman (Harb) pinned Nicolas Pataridze (WHB) 
  99 - Joe D`Agostino (WHB) pinned Jack Cunningham (Harb) 
106 - Grant Skala (WHB) by FFT

By Cailin Riley As a junior last season, Larry Citarelli did not win a single varsity match for the Westhampton Beach wrestling team. Last week, he provided the clinching victories in two dual meets against two of the stronger teams in League V.

Citarelli took the mat against Jon Fitzsimmons for the final bout of the night in Friday’s tilt with Islip—a team that was ranked fifth in the county in the preseason—with meet tied at 32-32. With 25 seconds left in the 182-pound match, Citarelli scored a takedown to break a 1-1 tie, securing a 3-1 win over Fitzsimmons and the victory for his Hurricanes squad. Two nights earlier, in the third-to-last matchup of the night, Citarelli beat Connor Owenburg of Sayville in a 6-1 decision that put Westhampton Beach up by 13 points, thus guaranteeing the Canes would win even if Sayville had pins in the final two matches, in what was ultimately a 41-30 victory. Like Islip, Sayville was also ranked in the top 15 in the county in the preseason—the Hurricanes were as well—and Westhampton Beach head coach Paul Bass knew his team would be in for two tough matches early in the season against those squads. The key to victory in both, he said, is part of what is becoming a pattern for the Hurricanes so far this year.

“We had some [individual] matches we should have won, but in the end, the other guys picked them up,” Bass said. “That’s what dual meets are all about; picking each other up and wrestling for each other, and these guys are doing that as well as anybody. In every match, something bad has happened, but the guys keep stepping up.”

Citarelli is just one example, Bass said. The senior’s performance is not an exception, but rather seems to be the rule for the team this year. Bass pointed out that, of his 15 regular starters this season, only two are returning All-League wrestlers and only one other had a winning record last season. The rest of the starting lineup this year either was not in the starting lineup last season or had a losing record.

Read entire article on 27east.com