The wrestling match that was held here Friday between East Hampton and Eastport-South Manor High Schools began early, as the Sharks had no junior varsity competitors, and ended early, as seven of the 11 matches wrestled ended in first-period pins, owing in large part to cross-wrist tilts. There were double forfeits at 102 and 172 pounds.
Caleb Peralta at 126 pounds and Santi Maya at 132, East Hampton’s senior co-captains, were winners, each by pin. Peralta pinned Nick Morbillo 38 seconds into the second period, and Maya, who had been told recently by his coach, Ethan Mitchell, to take it to his opponents early, pinned his man, Earnest Robinson, in one minute. The final score was Eastport-South Manor 51, East Hampton 12.
By phone the next day, Mitchell, despite the fact that the team has been considerably outscored in several matches of late, including a 66-6 loss to Comsewogue on Dec. 15, said he remains impressed by his wresters’ courage and persistence. As for the previous night’s match, “We were beaten by experience again. . . . There’s a lot of the season left. It’s how you finish, not how you start.”
His charges simply lacked the time on the mat that had been availed their opponents. “A two-hour practice might seem a good amount of time, but if I had four hours I still wouldn’t have enough — there’s so much to teach. What it comes down to is experience and time on the mat.”
Going into the Christmas break, Maya and Peralta each had 10 wins, said Mitchell, while Luke Castillo, a 138-pounder who “had a great day at the Doc Fallot tournament” on Dec. 11, “winning all four of his matches, pinning two John Glenn kids and winning two by forfeit,” was 6-3. Jose Calderon, who wrestles at 189, was 7-3, and Cooper Ceva, a 138-pounder, was 3-3.
The team thus far has three wins to its credit, over Hampton Bays, the Fallot tourney’s host school, Amityville, and John Glenn’s B team, other tournament entries.
The 35-33 win over the Baymen has previously been reported. The Bonackers defeated Amityville 45-24, with Velez at 118, Peralta at 126, Maya at 132, Joe Scully at 152, and Calderon at 189 all winning by pin, and with Adam Beckwith at 160 winning by decision.
East Hampton defeated Glenn’s B team 41-33, as Peralta, Maya, Castillo, Calderon, and Jhojairo Contreras at 215 all won by pin, and as Beckwith at 152 won by a 7-3 decision.
There are still a few returnees, Ian Berger, Edwin Espinoza, Ricky Perez, and Tristan Sisson among them, who have yet to see action. Given some injuries and “prior commitments,” it had been “a rotating cast,” Mitchell said. Generally, the team has had to forfeit at 102 and 170, and, at times, at 285, “though we should fill in more weights in the second half of the season when the weight classes go up by two pounds. We should do better in the second half.”