The LoHud Wrestling Blog

A strong showing from local wrestlers on Friday at Eastern States has Saturday looking like an incredible day filled some really intriguing matchups. 13 out of 15 weight classes have someone still in it, with multiple locals remaining in six different classes. I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed thinking about how many of them that I want to get on video, so I’m going to need your help. Either comment or drop me a line on Twitter @vzmercogliano with the top matches that you want to see. The quarterfinals are scheduled to begin at 9:15 a.m. You can see the full brackets at escapesports.com.

Quarterfinals

99
No. 8 Brandon Fay (Fox Lane) vs. No. 1 Andrew Flanagan (Holley Central)
No. 6 Alfredo Olmedo vs. No. 3 Jake Yankloski (Wayne)

106
No. 6 Matt Grippi (Fox Lane) vs. No. 3 Nick Barbaria (New Rochelle)

120
No. 6 John Muldoon (Pearl River) vs. No. 14 Santo Curatolo (Tottenville) Curatolo pinned Edgemont’s Trey Aslanian in second round
No. 7 Alex Delacruz (Ossining) vs. No. 2 Sean Peacock (Midlakes)
No. 12 Nick Tolli (Arlington) vs. No. 13 Chris Cataldo (MacArthur)

126
No. 1 Dylan Realbuto (Somers) vs. No. 8 Chris Araoz (Wantagh)

132
No. 4 Sam Melikian (Fordham Prep) vs. No. 5 Johnny Do (Framingham)

138
No. 9 Colby Kash (Clarkstown North) vs. No. 1 Nick Kelley (Shenendehowa)
No. 7 Drew Longo (Ardsley) vs. No. 2 Nick Tighe (Phoenix)

145
No. 5 Tom Grippi (Fox Lane) vs. No. 4 Eric Lewandowski (Lancaster)

152
No. 5 Joe Mastro (Yorktown) vs. No. 4 Brendan Goldup (LaSalle)

170
No. 7 Brett Perry (John Jay-EF) vs. No. 2 Danny McDevitt (Wantagh)

182
No. 8 Thomas Murray (Yorktown) vs. No. 1 Zach Zupan (Canastota)

195
No. 9 Scott Wymbs (Horace Greeley) vs. No. 1 Reggie Williams (Johnson City)
No. 4 Steven Sabella (Yorktown) vs. No. 5 Deon Edmund (Kingston)

220
No. 2 Dan Breit (Nanuet) vs. No. 7 Corey Gaffney (General Brown)

285
No. 6 Brent Lobien (Horace Greeley) vs. No. 3 David Varian (Yorktown)

Due to a poor internet connection from my hotel, I haven’t been able to upload all of my videos, and with the alarm set for 7 a.m., I’m thinking a little rest wouldn’t be a bad idea. Here are a few good ones that I was able to get up. I’ll upload all of them at some point this weekend:

• The main event for Section 1 fans today was Ardsley’s Drew Longo’s 5-4 decision over North Rockland’s Matt Caputo at 138 pounds in the second round. Caputo came out strong and aggressive looking like he could take the match early, but Longo weathered the storm and outlasted him. The turning point came at 1:30 mark. Caputo is riding, locks up a cradle and nearly gets back points, but Longo wiggles free and reverses it for two. That’s when momentum shifted. “I know that my training is to never get tired, so I knew I could rely on having a six-minute match,” Longo said. “I know Matt, and he doesn’t usually last that long into the third. He’s a great wrestler, but his gas tank isn’t always there. I kept my composure, and kept on wrestling.”

• Ossining’s Alex Delacruz doesn’t look like he’s cooled off since the Shoreline. He’s so athletic and so explosive, and when he gets on a roll, he can be very dangerous. He pinned both of his opponents in a combined 57 seconds, including this one against Shenendehowa’s Kevin Parker in the second round at 120 pounds. It’s pretty nasty.

• Fordham Prep’s Sam Melikian continues to impress at 132 pounds. He won via tech and fall today, with the pin coming in the second round against Ketcham’s Danny Murphy. Murphy had recorded his 100th career win earlier in the day, as did John Jay-EF’s Luke Minasi. I’m pretty convinced that Melikian is the strongest at 132 that the LoHud area has to offer. “He was strong coming out, but I just worked my stuff,” he said. “He had that single leg in the air and he went for a roll for some reason while I was in control, so I just cradled it up and pinned him.”

• Another private school wrestler who had a nice showing against a Section 1 wrestler was Hackley’s Xavier Carmona. He defeated John Jay’s Billy Gossett by decision, 7-2, in the first round at 195 pounds.