After Graduating a Strong Class of Wrestlers, Southampton Looks To Stay Competitive While Rebuilding

The Southampton wrestling team had one of its best Suffolk County Division II tournaments in recent memory last season when Brad Bockhaus became the program’s first county champion since Colby Lenahan, Chris Osufsen and Peter Strassfield all won titles in 2015. And when Alex Boyd, Adrian Gonzalez, Cole Fox all placed third in their respective weight classes, it marked the first time in those seven years the team had four All-County wrestlers.

But Bockhaus, Boyd and Gonzalez, among others that also included talented wrestlers like Riley Lenahan and Johan Moraxtitla, were a part of a wave of graduates that were part of the program for a long time. In Bockhaus’s case, he was a varsity wrestler for six years. It’s now up to the next crop of Mariner wrestlers to keep that late-season success going and head coach Lester Ware said it starts with another young group led by the Fox brothers, Cole, a junior, and Hudson a sophomore.

Both brothers displayed their talents at the 44th annual Sprig Gardner Tournament at East Hampton on Saturday. Hudson took second place at 152 pounds while Cole placed third at 172.

“Hudson really emerged at the tournament. He looked really dynamic,” Ware said. “Cole didn’t have his best day. He lost in the semis after having a pretty big lead. But he just ran out of gas. But both of those guys are going to lead us.”

Ware is also high on three other returning wrestlers in juniors Victor Barone, who placed third at the Sprig Gardner at 102 pounds and is ranked fourth in the county heading into the season, and Gabe Lopes, who figures to wrestle at 145 pounds this season. Ware likes his three straight weights at 145, 152 and 160 with Lopes, Hudson and Cole Fox lining up one after the other; he thinks Cole will drop down to 160 after wrestling at 172 at the Sprig Gardner.

David Castillo emerged at last year’s county tournament. After not being a starter all of last season, he won his first round match at counties via a 40-second pin, then lost a hard-fought match to the eventual third-place finisher. Ware is hoping that Castillo, who wrestles at 285 pounds, can keep that momentum going this season; he missed the Sprig Gardner Tournament this past weekend due to an injury, but should be cleared to return this week, Ware said.

There are a number of freshmen and sophomores who could emerge this season, Ware said, and a few seniors who could surprise some people, but for the most part, he is looking at the Fox brothers, Lopes, Barone and Castillo as the foundations of the program going forward.

“I look at those five kids as our standouts,” he said. “But we have a ton of freshmen and sophomores who I’m pretty happy with. Most of the kids wrestled yesterday. We had one seventh-grader who won two matches, and I was really nervous putting some of those kids in there, but we’ve had a couple of them showing up for our open mats and they did well. I was pleased.

“We’re rebuilding but that doesn’t mean I don’t think that some of those kids, like a couple of our seniors, could be there at counties,” Ware added. “In time, it’ll all reveal itself. Most of the team are ninth- and 10th-graders who might take another year or so to get there.”

Southampton will continue to compete in League VIII this season with Babylon, Center Moriches, Mattituck/Southold/Greenport and Port Jefferson. The Mariners had a nonleague match at Shoreham-Wading River on Wednesday, and are expected to host St. John The Baptist in another nonleague match Thursday, December 8, at 5 p.m. They don’t host their first league match against Center Moriches until December 21 at 4:30 p.m.