Sports

Huskies compete at Rye dual meet

Area wrestling teams officially kicked off the 2017-2018 season on Dec. 2, as they hit the mat at Rye High School for the annual Bernie Miller Invitational Dual Meet. Although first-year entrant Fordham Prep took home top honors, going 5-0 on the day and topping Port Chester in the finals, the Harrison Huskies also had a strong showing with a 4-1 record and placing third.

Harrison bounced back from a first-round loss to Fordham Prep to win four straight matches, earning wins over Westlake, Beacon, Stepinac and Lakeland/Panas to lock up the third spot. The Huskies were led by terrific performances from Tyler Joseph (120 pounds), Dennis Brecani (152), Zach Finn (182), and Mike Rozell (220), who all finished a perfect 5-0 on the day.

Tyler Joseph locks up a Beacon opponent on Dec. 2 at Rye High School. Joseph won the 120-pound individual crown at the Bernie Miller Dual Meet and posted a 5-0 record.

Also, Vito DeFonce, who wrestles at 99 pounds, won five straight matches via forfeit as there were no other wrestlers in his weight class at the tourney.

Harrison head coach Vin Nicita said that he was impressed with his young squad’s resilience on the day, especially given the 42-30 loss to the Rams that kicked off the tournament.

“Our kids came out and we were a little inexperienced, but I was so proud of the way the kids rebounded and reeled off four straight wins,” Nicita said. “You could see they weren’t afraid and were gaining confidence as the day went on.”

Val McCoy (113 pounds) exemplified that; after being pinned in the day’s first match, he showed tremendous mettle and came back to score four wins to close out the day.

“That tells me a lot,” the coach said. “I was very proud of our new kids; they weren’t afraid.”

Due to a last-minute dropout, Harrison was also able to field a second team of wrestlers to compete in the tournament. Nicita said that the chance for his less experienced charges to tangle with bona fide varsity grapplers should help his younger athletes’ maturation process.

“There’s nothing that helps that more than mat-time and experience, and otherwise these kids would have just been there watching,” he said. “I was very happy with the way they competed, it’s a great tournament and all the teams there are very competitive.”

Local teams will be back in action this week as the Section I Dual Meet Championship kicks off at high schools throughout Westchester and Rockland. On Dec. 6, after press time, Rye will travel to North Rockland to compete against the Red Raiders, while the Huskies will head to Horace Greeley to take on Brewster in first-round action.

“We’re looking to go up there, take it one match at a time, and move on from,” Nicita said. “We know it’s going to get tougher so we are just going to have to keep on improving.”