Billy Burton and Tazadon Smith won weight class championships and four other Huntington High School wrestlers finished in the top three to advance to next weekend’s Section XI tournament at Suffolk-West in Brentwood.
Blue Devil junior Billy Burton won the league wrestling championship.
Burton edged Bellport’s Justin Marino in the 106 lbs. finals, 7-0 and Smith pinned Newfield’s Patrick Ganter in 1:16 of the first period to pace the Blue Devils to a fourth place finish in the team standings with 129.5 points.
Huntington sent three other wrestlers into the finals, but all of them fell in the championship round. Samir Rathore was pinned by North Babylon’s Sean Carter in 2:26. Aedan McDonald lost to Newfield’s Nick Calderone by technical fall, 17-0. Robbie Smith dropped a 10-1 decision to Bellport’s Ka’Shaun Parish.
After falling in the semifinals at 99 lbs., Huntington’s Joe Petrone overwhelmed North Babylon’s Vincent Romano, pinning him in 4:51 to take third place.
Tazadon Smith won the Most Pins in the Least Amount of Time Award with three falls in a combined 2:24.
The six Blue Devils who qualified for the Section XI tournament will train all week with coaches Lou R. Giani, Kieran Mock, David Bergmann and Omar Santiago.
Final League IV team scores: 1. Bellport-274.5 points; 2. Newfield-253.5; 3. Comsewogue-156; 4. Huntington-129.5; 5. West Islip-104; 6. North Babylon-88; 7. Deer Park-85
Section XI Tournament Information
Saturday, February 9
Suffolk County Community College Brentwood Campus
10:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. - pigtails and preliminaries
2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - quarterfinals
4:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m. 1st round of wrestle-backs
5:15 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. 2nd round of wrestle-backs
Sunday, February 10
Suffolk County Community College Brentwood Campus
10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. - semifinals
10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. - 3rd round wrestle-backs
12:30 p.m. - 1:45 p.m. – consolation semifinals
1:45 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. consolation finals
5:45 p.m. – consolation matches for 3rd-6th places
Following consolation finals - Parade of Champions and championship finals