Hopes Pinned ­On Bonac Wrestlers

Last year was a lean one for East Hampton High School wrestling — by season’s end Anthony Piscitello, a Ross School wellness teacher who was in his first year of coaching here, had only eight left on a roster that began with somewhat more than 20.

That precipitous fall-off, caused in large part by academic difficulties, but also owing to injuries and defections, led to talk of possibly combining with Southampton, whose program reportedly has also been struggling, but the prospect of a South Fork team — as in boys lacrosse — has been shelved of late given that there’s reason to hope the program here may turn around.

As of this week, Piscitello again has a roster of two score, and is determined, especially when it comes to keeping an eye on his charges’ grades, that they see it through.

Robyn Mott, whose husband, Brian, not only assists Piscitello with the varsity (there will be no junior varsity this year) but also is involved with the popular town-sponsored youth program, said during a Biddy basketball session Saturday morning that wrestling here will definitely turn around.

Santiago Maya, one of two eighth graders whom Piscitello has taken onto the varsity squad, was a place-winner in the county youth wrestling championships last year (as were his younger peers Jacob Kennedy, R.J. Hernandez, and Bronco Campsey, whose father, Beau, heads up the town’s youth program with Mott). East Hampton’s kindergarten through sixth graders, in addition to their practice sessions here, went once a week last winter to the East Quogue Elementary School, where they worked out with their peers from Westhampton Beach, Hampton Bays, and Riverhead. 

Maya was one of 14 wrestlers Piscitello and Mott put out on the mats Saturday in East Hampton’s invitational Frank (Sprig) Gardner tournament, named for the late Hall of Fame coach and East Hampton resident, who made his reputation at Mepham High School after beginning his career here.

As luck would have it, Maya drew Bayport-Blue Point’s Max Gallagher — later to be named the tourney’s most outstanding wrestler — in the first round of the 99-pound class, and was pinned.

The good news was that East Hampton had a winner this year in Andreas Koutsogiannis, at 195 pounds. The second-year senior went 3-0 on the day, defeating opponents from Southampton, Longwood, and Ward Melville.

Koutsogiannis was one of three Bonackers to place fifth in last year’s Sprig tourney. 

“I’m thrilled with his result — I worked with Andreas and some of the other kids, mainly Santi and Anthony Franzone, three days a week in the summer at the middle school,” said Piscitello.

Conor Brady, at 106 pounds, went 2-1 on the way to a third-place finish in that class. Following a first-round pin, he “rolled into a pin” in the second round, a defeat that sent him into the wrestlebacks, where he won the match for third place with a pin.

And that was it for East Hampton’s place-winners, though all the others — as was the case with those from the six other participating schools — were guaranteed at least two matches that day.

Others who wrestled for East Hampton on Saturday were Caleb Peralta and Ben Baris, at 126, Cole Shaw, at 132, Charlie DiTullio, at 145, Brahian Usma and Brian Barrera, at 152, Franzone, at 160, Marco Rabanal, at 170, Martin Soto, at 182, Carlos Schiappacasse, at 220, and Cebastian Sanchez, at 285. East Hampton had no entries at 113, 120, or 138.

“We’re trying to fill those gaps,” said Piscitello, whose team’s first match was to have been yesterday at Comsewogue. East Islip is to wrestle here tomorrow, at 6:15 p.m.

Piscitello was sad to say he’d not been able to persuade Vincenzo Salcedo, who was impressive as a rookie last season at 145 pounds, to stay on. Play rehearsals had won out over wrestling practices in his case, the coach said. 

Contrary to what usually happens, the day — last year the tournament did not end until 10:30 p.m. — ended early, because of the dire (but ultimately overblown) snowstorm predictions. Two of the teams, Sachem North and Bayport-Blue Point (the others were Longwood, Ward Melville, and Southampton, as aforesaid, and Westhampton Beach) left at 2, but without having to forgo any matches. 

“We wrestled the finals on all three mats,” said Piscitello. “It ended at 4. I was home by 5:45,” which presumably was a record.