Maya, Peralta Kept Bonac Wrestling Afloat During Some Lean Years

There’s no other way to put it — for the past five years or so, Santi Maya and Caleb Peralta have been the East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton/Ross varsity wrestling program. All involved agree, without the pair, it’s quite possible the school wouldn’t have a wrestling program today.

After defeating Babylon, 41-24, in a nonleague dual meet last Thursday, January 27, the Bonackers honored their senior co-captains Maya and Peralta, along with first-year senior wrestler Colin Schaefer, in what was their final home meet of the season.

Both Maya and Peralta, who each won their final matches in front of the home crowd, reflected on what have been long, five-year journeys, which included, at one point during their freshman seasons, being the only two wrestlers to put on the Bonac singlet, on top of having to deal with no season last winter due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which greatly altered things for them.

“We’ve just kept our heads up,” Maya said. “We’ve been through so much adversity, you just have to see that light at the end of the tunnel. You can’t stop chasing.”

“We always fight through, no matter if it was just us two, we always kept in there,” Peralta added.

Scary was the word the captains used when, as freshmen, they were the only two consistently going to practice and competing in dual meets and tournaments. But as their former head coach Jim Stewart said, it was their love of the sport that kept them going.

“They were pretty active in kid wrestling with Joe Russo as their coach at that point. They went to a few tournaments and you could tell they really loved it. They had a great deal of enthusiasm,” he explained. “Then I coached them in middle school. They were just tenacious, even then. If somebody beat Santi, he wanted a rematch the same day, like 10 minutes later.

“Both are students of the ‘art of wrestling,’ as it’s called in Russia,” Stewart continued. “Wrestling can be a great deal of fun when you’re winning. Both spent extra time at camps. I know Santi’s brother has been working out with him from the beginning. Michael was an excellent wrestler for Steve Tseperkas. And both have had a great deal of support from their family. All of their friends are really supportive. It takes a village, it takes a community, coaches, assistant coaches.”

Ethan Mitchell, in his first full year as head coach of the East Hampton program, said he was well aware of what he was getting in both Maya and Peralta when he took over the team from Stewart last year.

“I didn’t come over here as an assistant until their sophomore year, so as a Westhampton coach, a coach of a different team, they were the only guys I saw at tournaments,” he explained. “They came to Cory Hubbard, I saw them at Hills East and when we went to Sprig … those are the only two East Hampton guys I would see. And then with Santi placing in leagues and moving on [to counties], and Caleb being on the cusp of breaking through that barrier, they really kept this program alive.

“Having them finish up my first year as head coach and having them as seniors, it’s bittersweet,” Mitchell added. “I’d rather have five real years with them, but having them as seniors and having them as leaders and having them as the hallmark, the standard of what we want Bonac wrestling to be, is awesome. That way we have the rest of the guys build up from it.”

Maya and Peralta don’t necessarily have the accolades as some of their counterparts throughout Suffolk County have — they are mere honorable mentions in the most recent rankings — but much of that is due to not wrestling during the abbreviated pandemic season last year. Had it been a normal season, and had they continued to ascend as they were in years previous, Maya, who has 68 careers wins and placed third at leagues twice, and Peralta, who has 58 wins and has just missed placing at leagues, would have most likely added to their resumés, advancing through their league championship tournaments and possibly becoming All-County.

“You don’t have the turning points that you definitely would have had last year,” Mitchell said. “There’s no way that Santi wouldn’t have been All-League and Caleb would have finally been All-League, let alone either of them being All-County last year. But they’re low key. People aren’t necessarily spying them as the big returners because they didn’t compete last year. But it’s just one of those lessons in adversity. They know better than anybody that nothing is guaranteed. Tomorrow is not guaranteed, tomorrow’s match is not guaranteed. COVID can happen whenever, things can change, you just have to take advantage of those opportunities you do have.”

Mitchell said during their off time, Maya and Peralta, with help from Stewart, really dove into “sources of strength,” a learning tool that helps youth deal with many things, mental health being at the forefront. One item that the group uses specifically is the “30 Days of Gratitude,” where each person writes down three things they are grateful for every day, the trick being they can’t repeat anything.

“It’s easy for the first for couple of days. Most do ‘I’m thankful for Netflix, I’m thankful for coach,’ or whatever, but eventually you get to that ninth, 10th, 15th day and you have to really start thinking, what am I grateful for? And science shows after 21 days of that your brain chemistry changes and you really start looking at life differently. And Caleb, especially, has certainly embodied that. His demeanor has been great and you can really tell he’s grateful for everything.”

The silver lining to not wrestling last season, Mitchell said, is that both wrestlers now have the benefit of flying under the radars of some of the top wrestlers and teams, leaving them with only one thing to do this postseason, which begins this Saturday, February 5, at the League V Championships at East Islip High School.

“Shock the county,” Peralta said.

“It’s like a fresh start,” Peralta said. “No one knows you.”