Strong Showing for Bonac Wrestling at Sal DiFazio Holiday Tournament

The East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton/Ross wrestling team had a pair of champions, a third-place finisher and a pair of fourth-place finishers leading to a team sixth-place finish at the Sal DiFazio Holiday Tournament at Half Hollow Hills East High School, held December 28-29.

According to head coach Ethan Mitchell, it’s one of the better performances from his team overall in that tournament, and on top of that, the team sent the most wrestlers it has in quite some time. Part of that, he said, is how well the tournament is ran by Hills East head coach Bill Davey. The Bonackers had six wrestlers alone in the 131-pound weight class, something Mitchell was very appreciative of.

The tournament, run similarly to a county individual tournament, included nearly a dozen of some of the top programs in the region, including public schools from both Nassau and Suffolk counties, such as North Babylon, which won the team portion of the tournament with 382 points, and Commack, Westhampton Beach and Bellmore-JFK, which placed second, third and fourth, respectively. It also included some private schools from in and around New York City, including James Madison, which finished fifth right in front of the Bonackers.

Austin “Bronco” Campsey and Juan Roque won their respective weight classes at 101 and 124 pounds, respectively. Campsey, a Pierson freshman, blew through his first two opponents before defeating North Babylon eighth-grader Xavier Seabury, 4-2, in the semifinals. He then defeated Hills East sophomore Aaron Mangra, 6-0, to win the championship, Campsey’s first of what is expected to be many at the varsity level.

“Believe it or not, the stud that he is, that’s his first varsity championship and I definitely think he deserved it,” Mitchell said. “The kid he beat in the finals from Hills East was All-League last season. The 101 weight class is just insane this year, but Bronco should be a part of the conversation when it comes to some of the top guys. There are so many more than just the six [ranked] names.”

Roque has somewhat quietly built himself into arguably one of Bonac’s best wrestlers, piling up victories this season — and his victory at the Sal DiFazio might be the biggest so far. The East Hampton junior pinned his first three opponents, including North Babylon sophomore Peter Luca in 27 seconds, before earning the championship in a 7-5 victory over Commack freshman Niko Marnika.

“In his first match against him last year, Marnika kind of bullied Juan and pinned him, but since then, Juan has wrestled a lot better against him leading up to his victory against him last week,” Mitchell explained. “We’ve definitely matched him up with some of the best kids in the county, and he’s responded very well in those matches. Juan’s major problem is that he takes too long to get going and that comes from a lack of confidence in himself. Just like every high school kid does, they think the other kid is invincible when in reality they’re not, so it’s kind of up to him to stop dehumanizing his opponent and just go out there and wrestle and he should do well.”

East Hampton senior Luke Castillo placed third at 145 pounds after defeating Hills West senior Hudson Slutsky, 5-2, in the consolation finals. Another Bonac senior, Adam Beckwith, finished fourth at 170 pounds after being pinned by Hills East sophomore Nicholas Sevilla in the first round. Bonac sophomore Alex Cabrera went to multiple overtimes with Westhampton Beach freshman Andrew Lewis at 152 pounds. Lewis refused to let go of Cabrera’s foot in the ultimate rideout round to determine the match, 5-4.

East Hampton had a League IV dual meet at Bellport on December 20 which it tied, 33-33, but lost on criteria (number of pins). Mitchell said it was an amazing match against the reigning league champs in the Clippers, but the match came down to one or two pins — one of which, one of his wrestlers, Justin Prince, thought he had a pin, not once, but twice, but the official wouldn’t call it. Instead, Prince wound up losing the close match.

“Bellport definitely wasn’t expecting the match to be that close, and the difference between winning and losing when it comes to criteria is basically pins, who pinned each other more,” Mitchell said. “Justin Prince has been doing an amazing job for us at 152. He’s basically stepped into the lineup after not wrestling since kid wrestling. He basically threw his opponent to his back twice and, I don’t usually say anything about the refs, but the ref missed both of them. We get that pin, we basically win. But, regardless, it was an incredible night at Bellport against a team that has a strong tradition and a great staff who has been there a long time and has a full lineup. We forfeited two weight classes and still tied them.”

Just prior to taking off for the holiday break, East Hampton competed in a tri-meet at Connequot with the host Thunderbirds and Center Moriches. Mitchell takes great pride in being invited to Connetquot year in and year out by coach Bill Santoro, who was a mentor to his mentor, Paul Bass at Westhampton Beach. The Bonackers looked at the tri-meet as more of a training than anything else, where all their wrestlers got some mat time.

“I’ve both wrestled and coached in that tri-meet now,” Mitchell said. “There’s a lot of tradition there.”

This week is another big one for Bonac with two League IV dual meets against Deer Park on Wednesday and at West Islip on Friday, before competing in the Cory Hubbard Duals at Westhampton Beach on Saturday. Mitchell will be heading to his alma mater, where he learned the sport and became a coach under Paul Bass, and he’ll have some opening remarks prior to his team’s opening match Saturday morning against the host Hurricanes on his dear friend Cory Hubbard, the event’s namesake who was killed in a car accident while attending the University of Maryland in 2014.