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The Hurricanes' Brian Kobus maintains his balance after being thrown by Amityville's Asim Henry, who he went on to beat 10-2 in the semifinals. Photos by Brett Mauser

Shoreham - The workouts, the scrimmages, the dual meets, the tournaments, they were all done for this, the League VI meet. It's like the security guard manning the front door, checking for each wrestler's prowess, from his technique to his strength to his spirit. The league meet is indeed a gateway to the big stage - the Suffolk County championships - where everyone wants to be, ideally with a hand raised high above his head at day's end.

Junior Pete DeTore of Westhampton rode out Glenn's James Dekrone to avenge an earlier defeat and take home his first-ever league championship.

A strong showing at the leagues is a prerequisite for such dreams to be realized. On Saturday, five Hurricanes booked spots at this weekend's counties, including Pete DeTore, who with the title at 112 pounds proved to be the lone Westhampton representative atop the podium. Like DeTore, county qualifiers Conner Bass, Brian Higgins, Alex Mazarakis and Brian Kobus will all look add yet another notch to their belts on Saturday - county place-winners, if not champions.

"We had some good today, and we had some bad today," Head Coach Paul Bass said. "That's the way the league tournament always is. We had a couple of surprises. I was happy with the number of place-winners; I thought if everything went perfect we'd have 10, and we got nine."

Westhampton posted its highest finish at the league tournament level since winning it in 2006. The Hurricanes' 149 points were good for third place, behind only Shoreham-Wading River (175) and probable county champion John Glenn, who lapped the field with 360.5 points. Mount Sinai (122), Amityville (108.5), Miller Place (98), Mattituck (87) and Bayport-Blue Point (71) rounded out the standings.

Although Brian Curry fell to Glenn's Kevin Massa in the 135-pound consolation finals, the freshman made a massive splash earlier with two upset wins.

The Section XI championships take place over two days at Hofstra University. Preliminary matches will take place on Friday afternoon and evening, with the main event occurring all day Saturday. Bass said that the league meet will prove to be a good confidence booster.

"I told them that if they can place in this league, they should be thinking about placing there," Bass said. "I know Pete's thinking of winning it. It will be fun. That's the whole highlight of the year. That's what it's all about."

Brian Higgins, the Hurricanes' top 140-pounder, has his hand raised in triumph following a victory in the consolation finals.

DeTore earned the No. 1 seed in his draw, and waltzed into the quarterfinals courtesy of a first-round bye. From there, he systematically picked apart his next two opponents - John Glenn's Tom Sewell in the quarterfinals and Amityville's Mico Wong in the semis - by a combined score of 25-1. That queued a match-up with Glenn's John Dekrone, who just three weeks earlier handed DeTore one of his only two defeats this season. After being assessed a one-point violation in the first period, the match was all DeTore's. In the second period, he escaped to even the match, and immediately jumped on Dekrone to take a 3-1 lead. Dekrone escaped in the third only to have DeTore record another takedown. Westhampton's tri-captain rode out the match's final minute to post a 5-2 win.

"The night I lost to him, I went right back to the room and worked on different ways to break him down. The one shot he had on me, I worked on that one downblock, and on the bottom he really doesn't do much. I'd rather [the loss] happen then than right now."

The league championship was DeTore's first, and it earned him one of six No. 1 seeds at next week's counties. He expects the path to the 112-pound title to be perilous, as the class includes a grand total of seven wrestlers who placed at last year's counties, including Hauppauge's Ken Collado, the 103-pound county and state champion. DeTore has twice reached the podium, first taking third at 96 pounds in 2007 and then grabbing sixth at 103 a year ago.

Westhampton junior Scott Carey grapples with John Glenn's Mike Bosco during their match in the 145-pound semifinals.

"I'm probably going to have a tough match in the first round," said DeTore, who earned the No. 2 seed in the 112-pound draw. "It's all about whoever's going to bring it that day and whoever's mentally ready to bring it. I really want a county championship. I want that thrill of winning it."

Conner Bass powered his way into the 103-pound final with two first-period pins and a workmanlike 2-0 decision over Glenn's Sam Rachman. The top seed had to settle for second place, though, after being by Shoreham-Wading River's John Keck in the championship, 9-6. Bass finally evened the match at 6-6 with a takedown and near-fall in the third period. Keck became the first of four Wildcat champs on the night by breaking free from Bass with three seconds remaining, and added a takedown for good measure.

"He has to get back to doing the things he was doing before," Bass said of his son. "He has to start wrestling basic wrestling. The throws and headlocks are nice when you need them but you can't make a living off of them."

Sophomore Matt Mazarakis and junior Brian Kobus both paved their way to counties for the first time. Mazarakis stamped his ticket first, pulling off a gut-wrenching 3-2 victory in a tiebreaker against Glenn's Alex Rosenberg. A second-period near-fall put him ahead but Rosenberg evened the match in the third. Following a scoreless first overtime, Mazarakis was on bottom for the first 30-second tiebreaker. Almost instantly, he rolled out of Rosenberg's grip and danced out of trouble afterward. Needing only to ride Rosenberg tight on top, Mazarakis did so and clinched a spot in the 152-pound final.

Westhampton's Will Dodd drags his opponent, Shoreham-Wading River's James Fabian, to the mat in their semifinal bout at 96 pounds.

Mazarakis, who registered two early pins, fell 4-0 to Glenn's Chris Carlucci, the second-ranked wrestler in the county at the weight. Carlucci had beaten Suffolk's No. 1, Mike Powers of Mount Sinai, by an 8-3 count in the semis.

"Hopefully something good can happen," Mazarakis said. "[Carlucci] might win the county. Hopefully I can place as best as I can. I'm going to wrestle as hard as I can and see what happens."

Kobus, whose brother Stephen won the 189-pound county title in 2007, will duel the best that the 160-pound class has to offer. The league's second seed tallied a pin in the quarterfinals, and then dismantled Amityville's Asim Henry 10-2 in the semis. T.J. Neidhart, a four-time league champion for Shoreham-Wading River, chalked up No. 5 by beating Kobus in the final. Nevertheless, the Hurricane junior gets a crack at the counties for the first time.

By nature, the league tournament allows a wrestler to exact revenge right when it would hurt most. Brian Higgins did just that. Seeded sixth at 140 pounds, Higgins outpointed the third seed, Shoreham's Matt Keck, 4-3 in the quarterfinals. Although his run to the final was stopped by Mattituck's Ryan Connell, Higgins managed to beat Mario Bianco of Mount Sinai 3-2 in the consolation match. In mid-January, Bianco upended Higgins 7-6 during the teams' back-and-forth dual meet.

"He had a great day," Bass said of Higgins. "They were all close matches. He had takedowns and rideouts at the end, and he got them in both of them. He wrestled smart, he wrestled tough, and he wrestled physical. I'm glad to see he's going."

Westhampton's Conner Bass tries to harness Sam Rachman of Glenn and manages to hold on for a 2-0 victory in the semis.

In a perfect world, Bass foresaw 10 of his wrestlers to qualify for counties outright or as an alternate; he was satisfied with nine. Tim Dodd (96), Zach Bass (119), Brian Curry (130), Higgins and Scott Carey (145) all fought their way into the semifinals of their brackets; a loss there put them into the consolation matches, where only the winner is guaranteed a spot at counties. Only Higgins emerged victorious, but Westhampton was close to sending all of them. Dodd, Bass and Carey all lost in heartbreaking fashion - Dodd on a last-second takedown, Bass on a clasp in double overtime and Carey by the count of 2-1. Instead, they and Curry, who lost by pin in his bout, will serve as alternates to the trio of qualifiers.

It was Dodd and Curry who sprung arguably the two most improbable upsets of the day. At 96 pounds, Dodd stunned top-seeded Anthony Salmonese of Glenn, opening up a 7-0 lead before holding on for a 7-6 win. He also pinned Mattituck's Andrew Hudson in his first round match. Perhaps even more surprising was the emergence of Curry, a season-long junior varsity wrestler for Westhampton. The 10th seed at 130 pounds escaped with a 5-4 decision in his first match, and then turned heads by shocking No. 2 Rob Young of Miller Place, 8-7. Curry trailed by four points with under 10 seconds to go, reversed Young, administered a cradle and scored three back points just before the buzzer sounded.

"We've always felt that Curry has a huge future with us," Bass said. "He's a great athlete, and he does not stop wrestling."
Lost in the mix was a feat accomplished by no other Westhampton wrestler in history. Junior Cory Hubbard, the fourth seed at 119 pounds, notched a first-period pin in his first match to become the first Hurricane ever to reach 100 wins. Hubbard lost a controversial 5-4 decision to Powers, who later beat Zach Bass in the class' consolation match. Hubbard had qualified for counties the previous three seasons.

LEAGUE VI CHAMPIONSHIPS
Saturday, February 7; at Shoreham-Wading River
Team Scores: 1. John Glenn (JG) 360.5; 2. Shoreham-Wading River (SWR) 175; 3. Westhampton Beach (WHB) 149; 4. Mount Sinai (MS) 122; 5. Amityville (A) 108.5; 6. Miller Place (MP) 98; 7. Mattituck (M) 87; 8. Bayport-Blue Point (BBP) 71.
Championship Finals
96: Ken Massa (JG) dec. T.J. Fabian (SWR), 4-2
103: John Keck (SWR) dec. Conner Bass (WHB), 9-6
112: Pete DeTore (WHB) dec. James Dekrone (JG), 5-2
119: Steven Keith (SWR) dec. Matt Gannon (JG), 8-0
125: Nick Meinsen (JG) dec. Tyler Sinisgalli (JG), 4-1
130: Matt Fusaro (JG) dec. Jon Hoeg (JG), 4-1
135: Mark Jerrick (A) dec. Greg McDermott (JG), 12-3
140: Nick Terdick (JG) dec. Ryan Connell (M), 7-3
145: Jermaine Jacobs (A) dec. Mike Bosco (JG), 6-2
152: Chris Carlucci (JG) dec. Matt Mazarakis (WHB), 4-0
160: T.J. Neidhart (SWR) pinned Brian Kobus (WHB), 1:58
171: Sean Heaney (M) pinned Lawrence Dolce (JG), 1:27
189: Zach Buonaiuto (MP) pinned Connor Stroh (MS), 3:43
215: Corey Schweitzer (SWR) pinned Chris Fox (MP), 1:35
275: Brian Slattery (MS) dec. Joe Mazzola (JG), 3-1
Most Outstanding Wrestler: Steven Keith (SWR 119)
Most Pins/Least Time: T.J. Neidhart (SWR 160); 4 pins in 4:31
Consolation Finals
96: John Steiger (MP) dec. Will Dodd (WHB), 4-3
103: Ryan Hake (BBP) dec. Sam Rachman (JG), 1-0
112: Mico Wong (A) dec. Kyle Underwood (BBP), 3-2
119: Anthony Powers (MS) dec. Zach Bass (WHB), 7-6 OT
125: James Banks (A) dec. Anthony Genovese (MS), 6-4
130: Dave Flynn (SWR) pinned Robert Benn (A), 1:46
135: Kevin Massa (JG) pinned Brian Curry (WHB), 2:23
140: Brian Higgins (WHB) dec. Mario Bianco (MS), 3-2
145: Joe Giaramita (JG) dec. Scott Carey (WHB), 4-1
152: Mike Powers (MS) dec. Alex Rosenberg (JG), 6-1
160: Asim Henry (A) pinned Matt Mangelli (MP), 1:43
171: Jared Cheatham (JG) dec. Frank Abbondanza (MS), 5-2
189: Corey Best (M) pinned Joe Kohout (JG), 1:15
215: Mike Cesare (BBP) pinned Scott Gonzales (M), 3:38
275: Moses Johnson (JG) dec. Jim Luppens (SWR), 3-2 OT

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