The Lady Highlanders defeated Clarke 54-28 and the East Rockaway 52-26 to win the crown in the Herricks Basketball Tournament. Tournament MVP Kim Givelechian (senior) combined to score 25 points and 18 rebounds in the two games (all in the first halves). Junior Alison Ricchiuti scored 15 and 12 points in the two games, and freshman Erin Rivera earned All-Tournament honors.
Ah, but their league opener pitted the lasses against a tough Elmont squad that had ousted Herricks from the playoffs last year (35-39). This time the Highlander defense took no prisoners taking six charges, three by junior Sabrina Telmo, two by Richiuti, and one by junior Victoria Marano forcing Elmont to keep two of their top players on their bench for extended periods. Marano’s defense held Elmont’s best player, one of the top point guards, to only eight points. Elmont tried to close the gap in the fourth quarter to no avail. Message sent.
Those of us who made the trip out to Bethpage High School recently for their annual Holiday Wrestling Tournament saw a feisty contingent of Highlanders mixing it up with grapplers from John Glenn, Yorktown, Massapequa, Mineola, Great Neck South, North Shore, Locust Valley, Manhasset, Hicksville, Farmingdale, Seaford and the host Eagles.
Competition opened up on Friday in the Second-Man Division. Sophomore Chris Woska brought home gold going 3-0 for the championship in the 132 lb. weight class. Mark Holuka (so) was 3-0 with two pin victories and took second-place at 126. Solomon Aziz (so) took second at 285. Both Jason Liarikos (so) and Brandon Temperino (so) had 2-1 evenings and finished in third-place at 138 and 145 respectively.
Overall, the Highlander Second-Men were 16-10. Freshmen Krish “Batman” Shethia, Pete “Stretch” Coletti, and John “J.J.” Vouzonis along with sophomores Matt “Sticks” Esposito and Joe “D” DeVito also won matches for Herricks contributing to a strong showing.
On Saturday a small contingent of Varsity Highlanders entered the fray. Senior co-captain Bill Rynne led the way winning silver at 220 in his second consecutive finals appearance with two pin victories. Fellow co-captain Anthony Rosa (sr) had two pins for a third-place finish at 195. Both fellows were 2-1 on the day. Two juniors, Corey Iuculano (113) and Andrew Farrell (120) had 3-1 performances en route to their third-place finishes. Iuculano had a major decision and an overtime win among his victories and Farrell collected two more pins bringing his career varsity total to 31. Will Rodriguez (sr-126) and Paul “P.J.” Tantillo (jr-160) had two victories apiece.
This team graduated some very experienced and tough starters last year, some shoes that are difficult to fill, but Cliff Forziat and his staff are very high on this year’s squad.
“We have four to five weight classes [out of 15] that we just cannot fill,” Forziat told us. “But the young fellows that we have are hungry for success. We’ve got sophomores who are being called upon to come through in our varsity line up, and they are really taking on the challenge with a spirit of competitive enthusiasm usually seen in older more experienced wrestlers.”
The dual match portion of the season opened up recently with a home league set-to against Westbury’s Green Dragons. The varsity Highlanders had to forfeit five weight classes, so Westbury started off with a 30-0 lead.
Second-man exhibitions warmed up the Muller Arena crowd. “Sticks” Esposito bumped up a class to douse his Dragon’s flames with a pin at 120. “Stretch” Coletti followed by pinning his man at 132. “These two terrific young men seem like they are growing taller while you are talking to them. When their height eventually stabilizes a bit and they fill out they’re going to be monsters.” Liarikos (138) pinned his man, and Aziz won in overtime at 285.
Then the varsity opened up. The match began at 160. Herricks forfeited the first three classes. Rosa went out at 195 and defeated Steven Vidal (ranked sixth in Nassau) 5-0 to put the Highlanders on the board at 3-18. Bill Rynne followed up with a pin at 220 to close the gap to 9-18, but the Green Dragons answered with a pin and two more forfeits to make the score 9-36.
Iuculano went out at 113 and won by technical fall 17-0 [14-36], Farrell (120) followed with a 13 second pin [20-36]. Rodriguez (126) won by pin [26-36]. Then the sophomores stepped in to try to fill the dangerous middle weights. Woska’s 10-0 major decision narrowed the gap a bit more [30-36]. John “Kami-Kazi” Dunn, trailing 4-9 in the third period pulled out a 10-9 decision victory [33-36]. The Dragons won by pin at 145 [33-42], then Mike Vespe pinned his man to make the final score 39-42. The Highlanders were 8-2 in matches wrestled with six big point wins in a valiant effort to defy the odds, and they nearly pulled it off.
There is no “quit” in these lads. It has been so far, and looks like it is going to be exciting to follow them as this season marches on.
