Blue Devils Vie in Suffolk Mat Tournament
February 13, 2023
Seven Huntington High School matmen will vie for All-County honors on Monday and Tuesday at the Section XI wrestling championships at Stony Brook. Several are hopeful of qualifying for the state tournament by finishing in the top three of their respective weight class.
Walter Kusterbeck, Dante Salgado, Max Casiano, Zachary Zboray, Christian St. John, Joe Algieri and Silvio Torres will all take the mat in the county tournament.
Huntington senior Enzo Pupillo also qualified for the competition, but a broken hand sustained in the league tournament semifinals will prevent him from participating.
Casiano (160 lbs.), Zboray (172 lbs.) and Algieri (215 lbs.) are all among the top seeds in their weight classes as a result of winning the Suffolk League III championship.
Seeded No. 3, Casiano will square off against the winner of the bout between Walt Whitman’s Matthew Gervasio and Brentwood’s Louis Rodriguez.
Seeded No. 4, Zboray will face the winner of the bout between Brentwood’s Jean Carlos Almendarez and Deer Park’s Evan Wade.
Seeded No. 5, Algieri will face the winner of the bout between West Babylon’s Jake Howard and Lindenhurst’s Nick Rose.
Kusterbeck is unseeded at 102 lbs. He will face the winner of the bout between Rocky Point’s Tyler Callahan and Kings Park’s Jackson Ainsley.
Salgado is unseeded at 138 lbs. He will square off against Riverhead’s Andrew MacGray. St. John is unseeded at 172 lbs. He will face the winner of the bout between Islip’s Matthew Ferraro and West Babylon’s Nicholas Serrano. Torres is unseeded at 285 lbs. He will wrestle North Babylon’s Alexander Seger.
Five rounds of wrestling will be held on Monday, including pigtails, preliminaries and quarterfinals and two rounds on consolation matches. The semifinals and the third round of consolation bouts will be held on Tuesday at 10 a.m.
Matches for third place and fifth place will be held on Tuesday from 1:10-2:10 p.m. The Parade of Champions will begin at 3:10 p.m. followed by the championship match in each weight class.
The first three finishers in each weight class will advance to the NYSPHSAA tournament in Albany.