The Power And The Glory
Monticello Honors Eight Seniors As Monties Fight Valiantly Against Traditional Powerhouse Minisink Valley; Score Does Not Reflect Monticello’s Grit; M-V Warriors’ Outstanding Program Which Begins With Youth Development Is One Of Section Nine’s Elite
By RICHARD A. ROSS
Photos at: www.sportsinsights.smugmug.com
Scenes From Monticello wrestling Senior Night vs. Minisink Valley (clockwise) Monticello senior Victor Vargas (120) defeats M-V's Tyler Mayo 2-1 in OT. M-V's Mike Racciopi (106) pins Chawn Neal in 1:16. Minisink Valley's Jake Hoffman holds off a gritty battle from Adam Kaiser (160) for a 9-1 decision. Monticello sophomore Selena Melendez has the upper hand for the moment vs. M-V's Austin Demberg in an exhibition match won by the latter via a 20-13 major decision. Monticello fan favorite Luke Evans (138) defeats M-V's Frankie Hernandez 6-1. Monticello monster Paul Gomez (126) improves to 19-2 with a pin of Umberto Lumbrazo. Here he starts the match by setting the tone with this hoist.
MONTICELLO, NY—If you’re looking for a blueprint for wrestling success, Minisink Valley offers a template for such with its perennial magnificence. Seven Section Nine, Divisional championships since 2003 and two wrestlers in the top ten of All-Time Section Nine win leaders are just two examples of the Warriors’ mat supremacy.
Year in and year out, Minisink Valley is in the hunt and talking to Coach Kevin Gallagher about what it takes to produce such consistency was informative to say the least. More on that shortly.
Time-honored wisdom affirms that if you want to get better in wrestling, you must vie with the best. For Monticello, which in the past has had its measures of success, the occasion of their senior night swan song was a privilege rife with its own rewards.
Monticello's Paul Gomez (126) is about to complete his pin of M-V's Umberto Lumbrazo.
While some people take the measure of such contests solely by the scores without being privy to the succession of tough encounters that take place within a match, those present come away with an entirely different impression.
Minisink Valley’s 61-18 win might be construed by some as a walkover, but indeed it was anything but. The evening began with a septet of exhibition matches, all of which were won by the Warriors.
The evening began with a tribute to the eight Montie senior statesmen as they were called forth by Coach Justin Fenichal.
Victor Vargas (120), a four-year veteran grappler was first to be announced. All wrestlers would pose for pictures with family members and/or friends. Vargas would go on to defeat Minisink Valley’s Tyler Mayo 2-1 in a match that went into its sixth overtime period.
Next up was four-year veteran Paul Gomez (126). Currently at 19-2 following this night’s pin of Umberto Lumbrazo in 1:22, Gomez is Monticello’s most potent lethal weapon. His two losses this year have both come against Middletown’s Don Brown, an adversary he hopes to supplant in the coming sectionals. Last year Gomez made it to the quarterfinals before being ousted by Cornwall’s Mitch Kreider by the score of 4-2.
Gomez plans to pursue Pharmacy Studies at either St. John’s University or Sacred Heart in the fall.
Minisink Valley's Anthony Sannella (182) lifts Monticello's Nick Fiore enroute to a pin of him in :32.
Antwan Vasquez is a three year veteran who Fenichal cited for his heart, best exemplified by a match in which he once scored 28 points.Vasquez plans to pursue studies in computer networking. Vasquez lost an exhibition match to M-V’s Deante Moore by the score of 10-6.
Adam Kaiser (160) wrestled in 9th and 10th grade but was out last year. This year he “came back with a vengeance”, noted Fenichal. Kaiser who has enlisted to serve in the National Guard showed grit in his 9-1 loss to M-V’s Jake Hoffman. Even after momentarily passing out, he returned to battle the match to its conclusion.
Steven Demestrio (132) wrestled in 9th and 10th grade but a football injury kept him off the mat in his junior year. “He doesn’t have an off switch,” quipped Fenichal about the grappler who just goes and goes. Demestrio was defeated 5-0 by M-V’s Kenny Lumbrazo.
Luke Evans (138) is a veteran wrestler who sustained season-ending injuries in both his sophomore and junior years. Evans will be attending Pace University to study finance. He micro-managed an outstanding match against Frankie Hernandez to emerge as the winner by a 6-0 decision. Evans is a crowd favorite and his performance drew the loudest accolades of the night.
Justin Walgren is in his second year of wrestling and Fenichal wished he could have had him longer. Walgren recruited his younger brother into the fold though so the family name will live on in future Panthers’ wrestling lore. Walgren was pinned by M-V’s Austin Jaycox in 1:35 in an exhibition match.
Sajeth Sanderarajan started in his sophomore year and missed only two practices in a three-year span. He succumbed to M-V’s David Clark in an exhibition match.
Speaking of exhibitions, Monticello sophomore Selena Melendez (126) put up an extraordinary battle against M-V’s Austin Demberg before losing a major decision 20-13. With a fierce headlock and an iron determination, the young woman approaches wrestling with enthusiasm and unbridled grit. She likes to be aggressive and is more inclined towards sports that are usually more male-oriented. “It’s more intense and more fun,” she noted. She began wrestling in eighth grade but skipped her freshman year. Melendez is 2-2 on varsity this season.
Gallagher exuded great respect for Monticello’s wrestlers and the program. “They have some good kids who have been at it a long time. The coaches are doing a good job. We knew coming in that they had that good middle group,” he noted as he prepared to exit already thinking about the Warriors coming crucial fray against Warwick.
Earlier in the evening we spoke at length about the program and the current group of grapplers. The Warriors are now 23-5 following this win. “We have a good mixture of young wrestlers and seniors. We start off well with our three lightweights in Gerard Daly (99), Mike Racciopi (106) and Mason Rambrose at 113. All three are ranked in the top three and are sectional contenders.
Devyn Fennell (145) is in the hunt and at 160 Jake Hoffman is a dangerous senior. Frankie Mayo at 170 is another senior who should be in the hunt too. Anthony Sannella (182) should probably be a top seed. Luke Durland is another factor at that weight. At 195 we’ve got Mike Byrne. At 220 Shane Hamlin is pretty tough. He has a lot of wins and flies under the radar a little bit.
“We have guys that can place every weight class if they wrestle well,” notes Gallagher. M-V was 1-4 at the Union-Endicott Duals all three losses coming by dint of one swing match. “We were in the hunt up there.”
Asked about the success of the program, Gallagher says, “We are consistent. We have a good youth program that starts with kids as young as kindergarteners. We have guys who have been in the program who are interested in helping kids out at that young age. We have a tradition that we are expected to win and kids want to be in our program. They work hard and so do we,” he added.
Asked about the off-season regimen, Gallagher offered, “We go to a team camp every year and usually bring about 25 kids with us. We have open mats during the spring and fall, even when Scott and I are coaching football. We have an assistant coach or team captains where kids are out flipping tires, running the campus or lifting weights. We have the weight room open with the trainer in there.
We also do some off-season tournaments. We have a couple of guys who are year-rounders and other guys who when they’re not playing other sports are wrestling.”
Gallagher understands that the program’s winning tradition continuously draws kids up the pipeline. “It’s easier to get good for a short period of time, but to stay good for a long period of time is a lot tougher. It takes good people throughout the whole program, not just one or two coaches. You need the community involvement.”
Monroe-Woodbury and Warwick are the Warriors’ most stalwart adversaries. M-W wrestles Warwick on Feb 1 and M-V wrestles Warwick on Feb 3. Minisink is in Division I-B, while M-W and Warwick are in I-A.
Fenichal was pleased with his team’s performance which was markedly better than the team’s short-handed outing against Port Jervis. “We’re trying to build some intensity. We have one more intense match at Cornwall on February 3 before sectionals. We’re trying to peak at the right time,” he noted.
“They’re all learning from their mistakes. That’s the only way you can move forward. Next year we’re going to have a lot of young guys. We graduated seven in 2007, but this year there are eight.” It’s been 19 years since Monticello had a Section Nine champion. Gomez avers that he will do his best to end that drought but only time will tell.
Results are as follows:
Section 9 Division I-B: Minisink Valley 61, Monticello 18
99 pounds: Gerard Daly (MV) won by forfeit; 106: Mike Racciopi (MV) pin Chawn Neal 1:16; 113: Mason Rambrose (MV) pin David Ambra 1:37; 120: Victor Vargas (Mon) d. Tyler Mayo 2-1; 126: Paul Gomez (Mon) pin Umberto Lumbrazo 1:22; 132: Kenny Lumbrazo (MV) d. Steven Demestrio 5-0; 138: Luke Evans (Mon) d. Frankie Hernandez 6-0; 145: Devyn Fennel (MV) pin John Doherty 3:08; 152: Nicholas Wentland (MV) pin Travis Kelly 1:25; 160: Jake Hoffmann (MV) d. Adam Kaiser 9-1; 171: Nathan Lake (MV) pin Matt Dennis 0:30; 182: Anthony Sannella (MV) pin Nick Fiore 0:32; 195: Luke Durland (MV) won by forfeit; 220: Mike Byrne (MV) won by forfeit; 285: Michael D’Abbraccio (Mon) won by forfeit.
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