Blue Devil Wrestlers Celebrate at Team Dinner

The first season under new head coach Andrew Marlow wrapped up for the Huntington High School wrestling team with a party for 80 parents and wrestlers at the American Legion in Halesite. A variety of awards were presented.

The Blue Devils won 10 dual meets overall while also taking first place in both the Huntington and Glen Cove tournaments and second place in another tournament at Mamoroneck.

Marlow was assisted by Michael Marinello and Anthony Annuniziata. The varsity was captained by senior Thomas Smith. The team consisted almost exclusively of underclassmen, including a long list of talented freshmen and sophomores and extremely promising seventh grader Jason Bencivenga, who won 21 varsity matches.

The team started training last April, shortly after Marlow was named head coach. Dozens of clinics were held in the high school wrestling room, drawing at one time or another more than 40 different Huntington students spread across grades 7-12.

Eight Huntington wrestlers reached the Suffolk League III tournament semifinals. In past years that would have qualified them all for All-League honors and a spot in the county tournament, but a change in how the league tournament is bracketed resulted in four of them being knocked out of the competition and losing an opportunity to advance to the Section XI tournament.

Junior Vincent Pupillo won the league tournament and wrestled on to a sixth place finish in the county tournament. Senior Thomas Smith and junior Walter Kusterbeck both took second place in the league tournament and freshman Christopher Granito finished in third place.

Some of the top varsity wrestlers also included seventh grader Jason Bencivenga; freshmen Charlie Cirlincione, Kingsley Evans and Dante Francis; sophomores Joseph Conklin and Jose Quintanilla; juniors Brandon Canas, Xavier Garcia, Milton Maldonado and William Peters.

Individual season highlights included:

Vincent Pupillo 11th grade, 160 lbs. 33-11 record:

Marlow on Pupillo: “Vinny was a model of consistency this season winning 33 varsity matches. He won four individual tournaments throughout the year including a pin in the League III championship match and he placed in the county tournament, keeping Huntington's All-County streak alive at 54 years and running. Vin is a silent warrior. You wouldn't know it from his mild-mannered demeanor, but he is one of the fiercest competitors walking the hallways of Huntington. He is focused and has a good skillset. Wrestling suits him well.”

Walter Kusterbeck, 11th grade, 131 lbs. 32-8 record:

Marlow on Kusterbeck: “Walter worked hard to put together a nice comeback campaign this year. Last year he suffered a torn shoulder labrum and his season was cut short. Following surgery and extensive rehab, Walter put in a lot of hard work in the offseason and that helped propel him towards his best year ever. He was the league runner-up to the eventual state finalist and won two matches in the county tournament before losing in the placing round, thus falling short of his goal. Hopefully next year, Walter will be able to put the missing pieces of the puzzle together.”

Thomas Smith, 12th grade, 170 lbs. 28-10 record:

Marlow on Smith: “Thomas was our team captain and a senior leader. He anchored the upper-weights and came through with several important wins this year for Huntington in dual meets. Thomas placed in the top three in every tournament he entered this season up to the county tournament, where he dropped an overtime heartbreaker to Sayville. He represented himself well every time he competed and he should feel good about his high school career.”

Chris Granito, 9th grade, 108 lbs. 29-7 record:

Marlow on Granito: “Chris did an awful lot of winning this year as a freshman. It was his second year on the varsity and he made marked improvements from year over year. He is a very strong top position wrestler and continued improvement on his neutral and defense skills will help him close the gap on the top wrestlers in Suffolk, which is where Chris has his sights on.”

Team Highlights: “Placing first in our eight team holiday tournament to open up the season, finishing second to eventual county champion Hauppauge in the 16 team Mamoroneck tournament and winning the Glen Cove tournament with strong efforts in the consolation round from many of our wrestlers,” said Marlow about the team’s highlights. “In dual meets, defeating a competitive Northport squad in our first match ever under the spotlight set the tone for our season and set us on the path towards winning all four home matches this year. In league match action, we were able to find our way to victories over Northport and East Hampton as well as Copiague and Newfield.”

Goals for next year include qualifying for the Section XI dual meet tournament, finishing in the top two of the league tournament and top ten of the county tournament. Individually, Huntington is aiming for 10 All-League and four All-County wrestlers and having six wrestlers win 30 or more matches.