Wrestling: Filipkowski reaches milestone win
The Mattituck/Greenport High School wrestling team had not one, but two reasons to celebrate this past weekend.
For the first time in the eight years since coach Cory Dolson has been associated with the team, the Tuckers won a tournament. He also had a wrestler reach 100 career wins.
Mattituck captured the Irvington Invitational in Irvington, N.Y. on Saturday as senior Tomasz Filipkowski became the fourth Tuckers wrestler to join the century club with 100 or more victories.
“We did pretty well as a team,” said Dolson, who has been head coach seven years and an assistant for one. “We never had been there before. I didn’t expect to win a tournament.”
But the Tuckers did, accumulating 197 1/2 points, behind an impressive three champions and seven finalists. Tappan Zee (179) was second and Arlington (157) was third.
“The kids wrestled tough against some real good teams and they came out on top,” Dolson said. “It’s a step in the right direction.”
Filipkowski’s milestone was the top individual highlight for the Tuckers as he went 5-0, pinning every opponent en route to the 170-pound title. The senior reached the coveted 100-victory mark in his final match of the round-robin. He has 101 wins with a full season remaining, trailing only Sean Heaney (114 wins), Ryan Connell (107) and Charles Kozora (106) on the Tuckers’ all-time list.
“It’s a great accomplishment for any wrestler,” Dolson said. “He can rack up a lot more wins. He took it in stride. I think he’s looking toward bigger things.”
Such as capturing his second consecutive Suffolk County Division II championship and trying for a New York State title.
“I think the biggest smile on his face was when the tournament was over and we won the title,” Dolson said. “That says a lot about his character.”
Senior Chris Baglivi (195), a returning county champion, won all his four matches by pins, recording a first-period fall in the final.
“He’s one of our leaders,” Dolson said. “”He did his job. He beat everybody like he was supposed to.”
Freshman Lucas Webb (113), who registered a comeback overtime victory in an earlier match, recorded a 14-1 win in his title match.
Four other Tucker wrestlers reached the final of their respective weight classes — eighth-graders T.J. Beebe (99) and James Hoeg (120), seventh-grader Jack Bokina (106) and junior Bobby Becker (138). Seventh-grader Luke Bokina (99), Jack’s twin brother, also finished third, as did eighth-grader Tanner Zagarino (126). Juniors Christian Angelson (152) and Connor Andersen (220) each took fourth and Ryan Dergen (132) finished fifth.
Dolson has a good mixture of experience and very promising young wrestlers.
“They don’t have a ton of varsity experience,” he said. “These kids are stepping up and doing well. If we could put it together, it could be a real special season.”
Mattituck/Greenport had two teams compete at competitions. Its B team traveled to the North Babylon tournament. That Tuckers squad did not fare as well, finishing last. But more importantly, several athletes received vital experience against their counterparts from Brentwood, Hauppauge and Huntington.
Sophomore Adam Goode (195) was the best Tucker finisher in fourth, followed by eighth-grader Thomas Hoeg (99) in fifth place and eighth-grader Timmy Pelan (106), juniors Sal Loverde (170) and Joe Peroni (182) in sixth.
“We had five guys place,” Dolson said. “It definitely was worth it.”
The Tuckers will be in action next at the Half Hollow Hills East Holiday tournament on Dec. 27-28.
“We have a good stable of talent right now,” Dolson said. “We have five guys at the highest weight classes who are really, really good. If the kids keep working together and stay with it, the sky is the limit.”
