Jake Strianese's pin at 124 pounds sets tone for Oceanside wrestling in win over Massapequa
Jake Strianese is the tone-setter. When the senior captain does something, the rest of the Oceanside wrestling team tends to follow suit. So, it’s no surprise that his pin at 124 pounds helped the Sailors get going in their 46-13 win over host Massapequa in a Nassau Conference I-B dual meet on Wednesday.
“My coaches tell me sometimes that I’m always in the middle of the room, setting the tone of the practice,” Strianese said.
“Being a captain and having other kids look up to me and our other captain, Jared Marine, it’s our job to inspire the team . . . I know that if I get this pin and I’m dominant on the mat, that’ll inspire my teammates to be dominant.”
Strianese took a 9-1 lead over Luke Anderson into the second period, before scoring a reversal and securing the pin in 3:08. It gave Oceanside a 12-4 lead.
“When he’s on, he’s on and it bleeds over into the team,” assistant coach Andy Cuba said.
It bled over into Santino Palmisano’s pivotal match at 170 pounds. The senior caught Ryan Uberti in a headlock before taking him down and securing the pin in 47 seconds. Marine took a forfeit at 190 pounds to take a 34-13 lead and put the meet out of reach with two matches remaining.
“That’s actually how I’m trying not to wrestle,” Palmisano said.
“But I try to win by any means necessary. So, when there’s a headlock and I feel like I can take the kid, I take it.”
“You can never count Santino out of any match,” Cuba added. “He could be down 14-0 and he’ll find a way to win for the team.”
Strianese’s win was the second of a five-match run for Oceanside. He was preceded by Mark Gorny, who beat Kevin Daniel by 5-4 decision at 116 pounds. Chace Morris won a 12-2 major decision over John DiGiorgio at 131 pounds. Michael Scotto and Jesse Bittenbender each won by decision at 138 and 145 pounds, respectively, to give Oceanside a 22-4 lead.
Jackson Keon pinned Nick Carentz in 5:42 at 152 pounds and Michael Murphy won an 8-1 decision over Christian Fiumara at 160 pounds to cut the deficit to 22-13 for Massapequa (13-5, 3-2).
Oceanside (15-1, 5-0) will visit Farmingdale at 5:30 p.m. on Friday with the conference title on the line.
“After tonight, we’re definitely pumped up,” Strianese said. “We try to approach every match the same. But especially after this big win, we’re ready for Friday.”