Featured Story

Wrestling: Tuckers record four pins in second victory over Riverhead

Neither Mattituck nor Riverhead needed to consult their advanced scouting reports ahead of Wednesday night’s dual meet. After all, the teams had just wrestled each other four days earlier.

The teams squared off Saturday during the Takedown Autism Duals at William Floyd High School. They were back at it at Mattituck High School Wednesday with a similar result in the end.

The Tuckers won six of the first seven matches to take down the Blue Waves 47-33. It was a closer match than Saturday, when the Tuckers won 60-24.

After last year’s stellar season that featured two individual state champions and the award for the top Division II team in the state, the Tuckers find themselves working in a largely new lineup this season. The early results have been positive so far.

The Tuckers had four pins against Riverhead. Freshman Luke Altman started it off with a pin in his first varsity match. Wrestling at 120, Altman defeated Zach Merker in 3 minutes, 8 seconds. It was the first match of the dual meet and Altman was all smiles moments after the referee slammed his hand on the mat to signal a pin.

The veteran duo for Mattituck of Luke and Jack Bokina both dominated in their matches. Luke wrestled at 145 and won by technical fall while Jack won by via pin at 152 in the second period.

The Blue Waves had some highlights of their own. Mark Maytka, a returning all-county wrestler, closed out the dual meet with a pin against Tim Davis of Riverhead at 113.

One of the more entertaining matches of the night came at 170 where Lawrence Bishop of Riverhead won a 12-7 decision against Ethan Schmidt. Bishop had the Riverhead fans cheering with two emphatic takedowns where he lifted Schmidt off the mat. Schmidt scored on a reversal late in the second period and then added an escape point to start the third period, closing his deficit to 8-5. Tension heated up during the match and the referee had to warn both wrestlers to stick to wrestling.

The Blue Waves didn’t stand much of a chance to win the dual meet from the start. They forfeited weights at 99, 106 and 160, giving the Tuckers 18 guaranteed points. The Tuckers ended up forfeiting one weight as well at 285.

For Mattituck, Stephen Masotti (132) and Justin Lake (138) both picked up wins via pin. The fastest pin of the night went to Riverhead’s Chris Debose, who needed only 12 seconds to record his win at 195.

Riverhead’s Jared Cawley won an overtime decision at 126 against Jeremy Salazar.

Photo caption: Luke Altman (top) won his first varsity match Wednesday night by defeating Zach Merker of Riverhead. (Credit: Joe Werkmeister)

[email protected]