Wrestlers Win One!

A win! A win for East Hampton High School’s wrestling team.

The fact almost got lost in a post-mortem that followed a 69-24 loss to Harborfields here on Jan. 10, but Anthony Piscitello, East Hampton’s second-year coach (and a wellness teacher at the Ross School), acknowledged that his interviewer had heard right when he’d said that “yesterday we beat West Babylon.”

That 42-39 win was the first varsity win of Piscitello’s brief career. Last season, one that was cut short because of academic ineligibilities, injuries, and defections, East Hampton, winless otherwise, outscored North Babylon 30-27 at the mid-December Doc Fallot tournament in Hampton Bays. 

The match at West Babylon came down to Albert Darchiev’s bout at 285. Darchiev, a Russian who goes to Ross, where he’s a senior, “gave up 40 pounds to their heavyweight . . . it was the most exciting match of the day.”

Darchiev, who is more familiar with judo and the stand-up Greco-Roman and freestyle forms of wrestling, and who is still accustoming himself to wrestling from the bottom in the folkstyle form used in United States high schools and colleges, ordinarily would wrestle at 220, “but he didn’t make weight,” the coach said, prompting the bump-up.

Using a hip toss, Darchiev threw his opponent, Kevin Aviles, to the mat in the first period, a dramatic, crowd-pleasing move that earned him 5 points (for the takedown and ensuing back points). 

“Later,” Piscitello continued, “their coach told me that kid was the best wrestler on his team. . . . He worked his way back from the 5-0 deficit, defeating Albert 8-5 in the end, but that assured us the win. Had Albert been pinned, the match would have ended in a tie, at 42-42.”

“Albert’s best on his feet — he’s my favorite wrestler to watch,” the coach said, showing this writer an iPhone video of Darchiev’s first-period throw.

“The gym went wild,” Piscitello said. “It’s too bad the match wasn’t here.”

Leading up to Darchiev’s bout, Santi Maya, an eighth grader, won by pin in the first period at 99 pounds, using a lateral drop. Conor Brady, a senior, was pinned at 106, after which East Hampton forfeited at 113. “We don’t have anyone at that weight,” Piscitello said when asked why he’d forfeited.

Caleb Peralta, another eighth grader, “lost a close one, by 7-3, at 120, a match that “went all the way.” Ben Baris, a freshman, lost 5-4 at 126. “They were on their feet at the end and Ben couldn’t get a takedown.”

East Hampton forfeited at 132, a weight that’s usually covered, “but Cole Shaw had a family issue” and forfeited, as well, at 138 — Mike Pulido, who usually wrestles at that weight, being out for the moment for health reasons.

Then things began to turn around as Brian Barrera, at 145, and Brian Usma, at 152, each won by pin — Barrera midway through the first period and Usma at the start of the third, each using half nelsons to pin their opponents’ shoulders to the mat.

Marco Rabanal, East Hampton’s entry at 160, won by forfeit, after which Anthony Franzone “ran a half with the near ankle elevated” to pin his opponent at 170, and Martin Soto “used a power half with the kid flattened out” to win by pin midway through the first period at 182. The string was extended to 36 points when Andreas Koutsogiannis, one of the team’s three seniors, pinned his opponent near the end of the first period at 195. 

East Hampton was up 42-36 when Darchiev and Aviles faced off in the finale.

“The kids were pumped,” Piscitello said when asked how his charges had reacted to their first league win of the season.

As of Friday, Hauppauge (for which Piscitello once wrestled) was in first place in League V, at 6-0, with Kings Park at 4-1, Harborfields at 4-2, East Islip at 2-3, Comsewogue at 2-3, East Hampton at 1-4, and West Babylon at 0-6.

In the match with Harborfields, Koutsogiannis won by forfeit at 195, Darchiev pinned Anthony Christy at the end of the second period, and Sebastian Sanchez, at 285, after going up 4-1 in the first period, was ultimately edged 6-5 by Scott Coleman in double overtime. 

On Saturday, in a tournament at Copiague High School, Koutsogiannis finished third at 195. He was East Hampton’s sole place-winner.