Panthers' Comeback Attempt Falls Short in Loss to Mt. Sinai

Forfeits and a few key losses proved to be too much for the varsity wrestling team to overcome in a 48-25 loss to Mt. Sinai Friday evening.

The Panthers dug themselves in a hole by losing the first five matches, two by pin, two by minor decisions, and one by forfeit. With a double forfeit mixed in, the Panthers saw themselves down 30-6 before some of their top wrestlers even got a crack at the mat.

Nick Feliciano got the first win of the match for Miller Place at 112 pounds with a 4-3 minor decision over Anthony Grippi. After that the Panthers' top wrestler, John Steiger, had his way with Mt. Sinai's Lawrence Paul at 119 pounds with a 12-0 major decision.

Those wins were followed by back to back minor decisions by the Aschauer brothers, Cory and Chris, at 125 and 130 respectively. Nick Cronin then stepped up to the plate with a big pin at 135 to bring the Panthers all the way back to within five at 30-25.

"They’re our foundation," coach Dom LoRe said of his top wrestlers. "They’re our guys that the young guys look up to. They’re our guys that set the tone at practice every day. They’re the guys that stay late, come early and make sure they’re on weight and are ready to rock when the time’s right."

The quick comeback would fall short, however, as another forfeit at 140 was followed by a big loss by Kenny Keenan at 145. Keenan was pinned by Mt. Sinai's Mike Cortese to clinch the win for the Mustangs. Will Coveney lost to Joe Wittpen at 145 and Joe Simon lost to John Ankleman at 160 to round out the 48-25 loss for Miller Place.

"We were a little unprepared stepping out at 145," LoRe said. "I would’ve liked to have seen 152 and 171 go the other way and maybe that could have changed the tide a little bit. And at 215 as well, which was a big match that I wanted to see being a former heavyweight. It just shows where we need to do some work with those guys."

LoRe pointed to both conditioning and a lack of awareness during matches as two of the things he will work on with his team for its next time out.

"Our conditioning needs to be better and I’ll take that responsibility myself, maybe motivating them a little bit more," he said. "Next time we get out there... know the time, know the score and know the urgency. Put all that hard work from the off season and during the week to use when we get out here. All those hours and hours and days and days all come down to how hard you wanted it after 6 minutes."

The Panthers quickly return to the mat for a tournament at Westhampton on Saturday at 10 a.m.