Sayville wins final three matches to nail Suffolk League VI tournament title

Entering Saturday afternoon, the league tournament wrestling title had repeatedly found a way to elude Sayville’s grasp on far too many occasions.

And with only four matches remaining, it appeared Miller Place was on the verge of continuing that trend by winning three first-place matches and snatching the lead from Sayville.

Then Mack Murtha took the mat, flipped the momentum for good and helped put his team back on top for the first time in a long time.

Murtha’s 7-4 win over Anthony Bartolotto of Miller Place in the 172-pound weight class brought the Golden Flashes within one and was the first of the team’s three consecutive match victories, sparking Sayville to the Suffolk League VI tournament title at Miller Place.

With 243 points over Miller Place’s 234, the victory was Sayville’s first league tournament championship since 1983, when it won Suffolk V. Islip finished third with 179 points.

"It’s definitely a great victory," Murtha said. "I’m more excited about the team’s victory than anything . . . I like to throw so I pretty much just tried to do that and it worked."

Cody Lopresti followed up Murtha’s win by defeating Wyatt LaFountaine of Harborfields, 3-2, at 189. The Golden Flashes never looked back.

SEE PHOTOSPhotos: Suffolk League VI wrestling tournament

Sayville earned a guaranteed victory at 215 in the ensuing match when David Christiansen pinned teammate Carter White in 2 minutes, 36 seconds en route to the title.

Other winners on the day included Rocky Point’s Aidan Donohue (102) and Nick LaMorte (132), Miller Place’s Nicholas Bloom (110), Justin Klein (145) and Gavin Cirolli (152), Brayden Fahrbach (126) of Mt. Sinai and Zach Miller (138) of Islip, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. The winners advanced to the county championships, which will take place Feb. 12-13 at Bay Shore.

Reflecting on the significance of helping his team clinch its first league title in nearly four decades, Lopresti said the moment was even sweeter for him.

"This means a lot to us," Lopresti said. "Especially for me since I was out last year and was unable to wrestle with a back injury and needed to get surgery. It was a long process and I didn’t think I was able to get back to where I am wrestling-wise. But I worked hard and now I’m better than ever."

Adding to Sayville’s joyous feat was the presence of head coach Gary Pesko, who is in his 27th year at the helm — 32nd overall on the team’s coaching staff — and was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler of that League V tournament himself 39 years ago.

"Someone brought it up to me last night, and I thought it would be a cool thing to bring up to the kids," Pesko said. "They really stepped up today. We thought we had one of the best teams in the county and we proved it today . . . This was full circle and to have this great team and do this with them is an awesome feeling."

Leo Mongiello also pinned Mt. Sinai’s Bennie Franquiz in 35 seconds at 118 early in the finals, as Sayville finished with a total of four champions and finally secured the league tournament title that had eluded them for far too long.

"We couldn’t have done this without our coach," Mongiello said. "This was a great day for Sayville."