Massapequa Wrestling Downs Sewanhaka West

The Massapequa wrestling team took down Sewanhaka West on Wednesday afternoon, taking 12 of the 15 weight classes to win, 66-15.  

The Chiefs were led by Chris Sarro at 160 pounds and Eric Breslau at 112 pounds to pull out the win over the Indians before they head into league matches highlighted by their top competition in Uniondale. The work Massapequa has put in during the off season has paid dividends in years past as well as in their early meeting with Sewanhaka.  

“We put in a lot of time in the offseason, putting in 10 months a year,” Massapequa assistant coach Ronnie Serrano said. “We take them to tournaments almost every other weekend in the summer as well.”  

With the match starting off at the 135-pound class after Massapequa won by forfeit at 130 pounds, Justin Paradiso pinned Willy Sainvilier 1:30 into the first period to help the Chiefs to a 12-0 lead.  

Massapequa took the next four matched to balloon their team lead to 32-0 behind two pins and two major decisions. Rudy Lanzilotta defeated Langston Clark at 140 pounds, 13-4, and Sarro beat Daniel Cedeno by a score of 21-9. Nick Chicoine and Frank Falcone both picked up pins in the first periods over Roberto Francis and Clifford Hamilton, respectively.

Sewanwaka would take the next two matches to pick up nine team points, but a 10-2 decision by Conor Wetzel over Ben Obugbensan at 215 pounds and a pin by Endri Jaupaj over Chris Henry in 1:04 helped the Chiefs gain the points right back.  

After trading forfeits at 96 pounds and 103 pounds, the Chiefs concluded the match with three consecutive pins. Breslau pinned Sergio Molina in just 43 seconds, followed by James Balestrieri with a pin over Alex Mendez in 1:14. Chris Broccoli wrapped up the day for the Chiefs at 125 pounds with the third straight pin 4:29 against Anthony Casso.  

“Chris Sarro, who took fourth in the county last, is one of our top guys,” Serrano said. “I think he can take it down this year because he is one of our hardest workers. We had 17 qualifiers going to the county tournament, so we are looking pretty deep overall.”  

Massapequa not only has their eyes on the conference title, but sending multiple wrestlers to the podium at the Nassau County Championship in February and potentially even further to Albany at the State Tournament at the end of the month.  

“What separates the great programs from the average ones is the psychological aspect,” Serrano added. “We have to figure out the right way to handle kids and do it to reach their potential. That is why we have 65 kids on the team, they want to stay with us.”  

Massapequa will now prepare for a tournament in which they will host over the winter break on December 29th at 9:00 a.m. before heading into their first league match on the road against Freeport on January 5th at 7:30 p.m.