BY Jake Williams | STAFF WRITER
To the question posed on the front of Longwood wrestling coach Mike Picozzi's T-shirt, his Lions answered emphatically Saturday night.
"Who are we?" it asks.
The answer coming into Saturday night was undefeated League I dual meet champion. It said so on the back of Picozzi's shirt as well: "Wrestling, League I, 2009 Champions." The Lions finished the regular season 6-0 in League I and 17-0 overall.
The answer coming out of the League I tournament at Commack High School was tournament champions as well.
The Lions blew out their competition with 277 points overall, finishing well ahead of second-place Sachem East (205) and third-place Brentwood (180).
Longwood had six individual champions, doubling their total from a year ago, and they had 11 finalists. Of the Lions' six opponents, only Brentwood came close to matching their individual achievements. The Indians racked up four individual titles and had seven finalists.
Of those 11 finalists for Longwood , perhaps none impressed Picozzi more than 145-pounder Dylan Seybolt, who started the season wrestling for Longwood �s junior varsity team. But Seybolt beat every comer he faced who wore a different uniform. The wrestler who finally stopped his march to a League I title? His own teammate, Ricky Renck.
Otherwise, aside from Sachem East's Conor O'Hara, who pinned Longwood 's Anthony Donofrio in the 96-pound weight class final, the only team with the talent to bring down a Longwood wrestler in the finals was Brentwood.
"Brentwood has a good team," Picozzi said.
The Indians and Lions met in six weight class finals. No Indian caught Picozzi's eye more than 103-pounder Eric Orellana, whom he has not seen wrestle much. Orellana took on Longwood 's Corey Rasheed, who was the New York State runner-up in his weight class as a seventh grader last year.
Rasheed took down Orellana 23 seconds into the match, nearly pinned him 47 seconds in and scored a second takedown 68 seconds into the match. But Orellana wrestled Rasheed to a draw from there, allowing only a reversal in the second round. He entered the third round down, 6-0.
In the third round, Orellana showed his mettle, tallying two escapes and a takedown of Rasheed with 11 seconds left in the match. It was too little too late though as Rasheed escaped with a 6-4 victory and the League I title.
Then came Corey's older brother, 112-pounder, Malik Rasheed. He put up five points in the first period on his way to a 7-0 defeat of Brentwood's David Chevarra.
After Brentwood's Alex Gomez dispatched Longwood 's Alonzo Lopez, 10-4, in the 119-pound final, the Lions' Casey Brice put up Longwood 's third and last defeat of a Brentwood wrestler in a weight class final.
Brice dug himself an early hole. Two seconds into the match, Brentwood's Humberto Garcia took him down for a 2-0 lead. While Garcia would not score again, he held a 2-1 lead going into the third period.
In 42 seconds, Brice registered an escape and takedown for a 4-2 lead. He spent the match's last minute pinning Garcia in a prone position on the mat, and took the title.
In the 135-pound class, Longwood 's Nicky Hall was not as lucky. Though he managed an escape with 10 seconds left in the match to pull within a point of Brentwood's Steven Rojas, Hall ran out of time, losing 4-3.
Joe LiCausi had even more of a struggle against Brentwood's Carlos Hernandez, losing 5-0.
Longwood 's other two tournament titles came at the 152 and 285-pound weight levels against William Floyd. At 152 pounds, the Lions' Patrick Jennings beat Jon Goulding, 4-1, and Ben Lee outlasted Chris Innace, 4-0.
There were just five of 15 weight classes where the Lions did not have a wrestler in the finals. At 130 pounds, Brentwood's Alexis Blanco beat Commack's Garrett DiMattei, 5-3. Sachem East's Mike Schrul took the 140-pound title over teammate Sean O'Malley, 3-0. Will Maldonado of William Floyd won the 160-pound title; Sachem East's Frank Merante took the title at 171; and his teammate Chris DiIorio won at 189.
After Lee received the last of the medals that were handed out, there was just one last thing to celebrate before the Lions headed home. Picozzi was named League I's varsity coach of the year.
jwilliams@northshoresun.com
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