Feb 13, 2012 2:46 PM
Eastport South Manor senior captain Maverick Passaro had been waiting a long time to become a county champion and this past weekend he finally reached his goal.
Passaro defeated Central Islip’s Giovanni Sanchez, 5-1, in the Suffolk County Division I finals at Stony Brook University on Saturday night and became ESM’s first ever county champion. He will now go to the New York State Division I Championships, which will be held on February 24-25 at the Times Union Center in Albany.
ESM also had its best county tournament in program history, finishing eighth overall with 72 total points. Brentwood was the overall county champion with 151 points. Last year, ESM finished 11th overall, which was the program’s best finish until this season.
“It’s great. I can’t really describe the feeling,” Passaro said following his match. “I’ve worked hard all of my life. I took second last year, obviously, it wasn’t going to happen again. I just came out strong and focused.”
Passaro had reached the county tournament the past four years and previously had his best showing last season when he reached the finals, but lost to Anthony Abidin of Half Hollow Hills East, 10-0. This season, Passaro came into the tournament with one goal in mind and that was to win the county title, but, it wasn’t exactly a given that he’d take home the title.
Passaro had lost to Sanchez in a tournament earlier this season. Up 4-0 in that match, Passaro was called for an illegal slam that not only gave Sanchez a concussion but the victory as well. Passaro said he wasn’t going to let Sanchez get away this time in the county final.
“I probably had a little edge because I was angry [Sanchez] did that,” Passaro said, referring to Sanchez calling the match due to his concussion. “I guess he got a concussion or whatever, but, I took the loss and he got the win. I was up 4-0, he was losing. So I guess that gave me an edge. He’s a tough kid, though.”
ESM head coach Nick Garone was all smiles following Passaro’s victory. While the 5-1 score might have said otherwise, Passaro controlled the match from start to finish and Sanchez couldn’t make a move on the ESM senior captain.
“He totally handled [Sanchez],” Garone said. “Sometimes you beat the guy 5-1 and it’s a barn burner. That was a hammer 5-1.
“I’m so happy for him because he’s the first county champion ever in the school’s history, my first county champion ever so he’ll always be special,” he continued. “This is just unbelievable. What a great way to end the season. We’ve got two more weeks, though, and then we go to the state tournament.”
Passaro will have a very good shot at placing at states and he’s already familiar with a lot of the competition he’ll see upstate, since he’s wrestled them in national tournaments during the offseason. Passaro said he’s already beaten two of the three wrestlers he’ll most likely see in the state tournament. He said everyone is looking forward to him facing the lone wrestler he hasn’t competed with yet, Sam Spino from Foxlane.
Garone is expecting Passaro to do well at states, but is excited to see what Passaro’s achievements will do for the rest of his program. He thinks it’ll do wonders for the younger ESM wrestlers and give them the confidence to try and achieve the same goals.
“To have a county champion and to be able to put up on our wall Maverick’s name where everyone for the next 20, 30, 40 years can look up there and see his name as a county champion, that is just so special,” he said. “Sometimes it catapults a program because kids believe, ‘Hey, I can win in this room.’ You can tell them all the time, ‘You’re going to do great, you’re going to do unbelievable,’ but until you see that name and know that people can do it, it’s a different story.”
Along with Maverick, ESM had its most placements at the county tournament ever. Sophomores Jimmy Leach (113) and Travis Passaro (120) placed fifth while senior Jared Usher (170) placed sixth. Senior Fumnanya Agbimson (182) was not able to place and junior Matt Moore (220) reached counties as an alternate, but lost his first two matches and was eliminated.
Travis Passaro was in what many Division I coaches called the toughest weight class in the entire county. Passaro had to battle with the likes of Connetquot’s Sean McCabe, Sayville’s Matt Leshinger, Hauppauge’s Mark West and Shoreham/Wading River’s T.J. Fabian, all of whom have placed at the county tournament before.
