Double Barrel Firepower
Eldred-Fallsburg Records Wins Against Tuxedo and Burke, Two Division II Rivals They Lost To A Year Ago; In Its Second Year, Program Advances Dramatically As Combined Team Is Now A Division II B Contender
Tuxedo 45, John S. Burke Catholic 14
Eldred-Fallsburg 36, John S. Burke Catholic 22
Eldred-Fallsburg 48, Tuxedo 36
By RICHARD A. ROSS
Scenes from an uplifting senior night for the Eldred-Fallsburg wrestling team which defeated both Tuxedo and Burke in a league dual meet. (clockwise): Co-head coaches Tim Bult and Jim Corcoran, Eldred's Jesse Corcoran (220) pins Tuxedo's Eddie Anderson in 3;03. Seniors: John Mejia, Marie Countryman, Roosevelt Payton, Dominique Veles, Fallsburg's Carl Peterson-Langdon wins a 7-6 decision over Burke's John Langdo. Eldred senior Tony Moriggia and Fallsburg Superintendent Dr. Ivan Katz, a former great collegiate, Olympic and world wrestler who is an ardent supporter of the program.
FALLSBURG, NY—The old adage maintains that two heads are better than one and the question surrounding the combined wrestling effort of Eldred and Fallsburg a year ago was whether two schools would be better than one.
Given the fact that Eldred had only a few wrestlers and Fallsburg lacked the experience of the Eldred grapplers who would add their skills and leadership to a combined venture, the answer was a resounding yes.
Now, in the second year of the merged squad, dividends are starting to pay off under the savvy watch of coaches Tim Bult of Fallsburg and Jim Corcoran of Eldred. What better proof of that fact could there be than wins over Tuxedo and Burke, two teams that bested them a year ago.
And it was just such victories posted by ECS-FHS that has coaches and wrestlers dreaming of vying for a Division II-B title, while fully understanding that the season is yet young and that teams such as Red Hook, Onteora, Rondout Vallley, which dropped down to II-B, Chester and Tri-Valley have something to say about the matter, not to mention Burke and Tuxedo.
Eldred-Fallsburg's Adam Hurwitz (138) pins Tuxedo's A.J. Chimento in 5;41.
But on this January 11 senior night, it was all about Eldred-Fallsburg.
Five seniors were honored from the combined squad including Eldred six-year veteran Tony Moriggia, Fallsburg first year wrestler John Mejia, second year veteran Marie Countryman who is recovering from appendicitis surgery and is still accruing the required practices to compete.Countryman won an upstate tournament last season.
Roosevelt Payton is in his second year and recovering from a broken ankle. Finally, Dominique Veles was honored. He is now in his third year.
Veles was disappointed that he did not get to wrestle in these matches as he had no competition in his 195 weight class and won by forfeits.
Tuxedo wrestled against Burke first and improved its dual meet record to 2-1 (1-0 Division II-B) with the win. The results were as follows:
Tuxedo 45, John S. Burke Catholic 14
99 pounds: Dean Stanton (T) win by forfeit; 106: no contest; 113: Danny Martin (BC) dec. Dylan Lynn 8-2; 120: Julian Gonzalez (T) pin Martin Nowak 0:46; 126: Eli Villapiano (T) pin Bert Cohen 1:01; 132: A.J. Chimento (BC) inj. dec. Kurt Hefner; 138: Brian Leahey (BC) tech. fall Justin Martinez 19-2; 145: Austin Bermudez (T) dec. Jack Etner 7-6; 152: John Longo (BC) pin Peter Anderson 5:06; 160: Christian Maldonado (T) win by forfeit; 170: Zach Williams (T) win by forfeit; 182: no contest; 195: no contest; 220: Eddie Anderson (T) win by forfeit; 285: no contest.
Next up was Eldred-Fallsburg against Tuxedo. E-F wrestlers Adam Hurwitz (138), Shane Martin (132), Carl Peterson-Langdon (160), Anthony Moriggia (170) and Jesse Corcoran (220) all won by pins. Eldred’s Corcoran, son of co-head coach Jim Corcoran lost to New Paltz’s Kyle Roberts in last year’s Section Nine Division II tournament in a very close match. Roberts went on to win the state championship. Corcoran and Moriggia looked dominant in their matches. Peterson-Langdon is in his first year of varsity competiton as is Nick Brown (145) who lost a tough match to Tuxedo senior Austin Bermudez before coming back to defeat Burke’s Jack Etner in a 10-7 decision.
Tuxedo Coach John Landrau talked about his young team. “We’re doing pretty well (now 2-2 after this loss and 1-1 in Division II-B). This was our first dual league meet and we’re looking forward to a good season. We have three seniors in Peter Anderson (152), Eli Villapiano (126) and Austin Bermudez (145).”
Landrau has been coaching for the past 15 years. He started the modified program at Greenwood Lake and then the junior varsity program at Tuxedo. They became a varsity squad when Division II was formed. Here are the results from the match.
Eldred-Fallsburg 48, Tuxedo 36
99 pounds: Dean Stanton (T) win by forfeit; 106: no contest; 113: Dylan Lynn (T) pin Nick Perrello 3:12; 120: Julian Gonzalez (T) pin Allenson Flores 3:02; 126: Chris Bermudez (T) win by forfeit; 132: Shane Martin (E-F) pin Eli Villapiano 1:50; 138: Adam Hurwitz (E-F) pin A.J. Chimento 5:41; 145: Justin Martinez (T) pin Rafael Olan 3:10; 152: Austin Bermudez (T) pin Nick Brown 2:20; 160: Carl Peterson-Landgon (E-F) pin Peter Anderson 1:06; 170: Anthony Moriggia (E-F) pin Zach Williams 2:28; 182: Tadeusz Loarca (E-F) win by forfeit; 195: Dominique Vales (E-F) win by forfeit; 220: Jesse Corcoran (E-F) pin Eddie Anderson 3:03; 285: John Mejia (E-F) win by forfeit.
The final match of the night featured E-F taking on short-handed Burke. Burke wrestled well considering the large number of forfeits, something coach Dave Predmore had referenced earlier in the evening in a pre-match interview. “Our numbers are down this year. We usually have at least 14 but this year I’ve only got seven. We have three seniors in Brian Leahy (138), Kurt Hefner (132) and Danny Martin (113). In dual meets we only beat Millbrook. But head to head we do really well. We lost to Division I Goshen 54-24 but beat them 24-12 head to head.
I think we wrestled pretty well overall tonight,” said Predmore following his team’s loss to E-F. I was a bit disappointed with my 152 result. I think we’re doing the best we can with what we have. I have a few experienced guys along with some who lack that experience. Hopefully we can build our numbers and do better in dual meet situations in years to come.”
Here are the results of the final match:
Eldred-Fallsburg 36, John S. Burke Catholic 22
99 pounds: no contest; 106: no contest; 113: Danny Martin (BC) dec. Nick Peirello 8-4; 120: Martin Nowak (BC) pin Allenson Flores 2:57; 126: no contest; 132: Curt Hefner (BC) pin Shane Martin 1:43; 138: Brian Leahey (BC) pin Adam Hurwitz 2:49; 145: Nick Brown (E-F) dec. Jack Etner 10-7; 152: no contest; 160: Carl Peterson-Landgon (E-F) dec. John Lango 7-6; 170: Anthony Moriggia (E-F) win by forfeit; 182: Tadeusz Loarca (E-F) win by forfeit; 195: Dominique Vales (E-F) win by forfeit; 220: Jesse Corcoran (E-F) win by forfeit; 285: John Mejia (E-F) win by forfeit.
Bult had the following comments after the momentous wins: “These were both league wins against two teams that beat us last year. He gave props to the matches fought by first year wrestlers Peterson-Langdon and Brown. Our program is on an upward swing. I think we’re in the mix. We have at least four more league matches including next week at Tri-Valley which will also feature Chester. Our kids have come a long way since last year.
Bult gave great praise to the assistant coaches, scorers and to the great support offered by Fallsburg superintendent Dr. Ivan Katz, a former standout wrestler who parlayed an outstanding collegiate career to go on to Olympic and world competition.
Corcoran added his take on things. “That was the best match Carl wrestled all year. We have the ability. I think we just have to put it together in time for sectionals. We have some good competition,” he observed.
For an album of photos from the night’s matches, visit www.sportsinsights.smugmug.com
