Long Beach stocked with talent

With eight returning All-County wrestlers, led by two-time state champion Jacori Teemer, Long Beach is stacked with talent and looking to maintain its Nassau dual meet championship as well as challenge for the county tournament team title.

The Marines opened the new season in impressive fashion by winning their host tournament, the Battle at the Beach, featuring 22 schools on the first Saturday of December. They totaled 325.5 points and had seven finalists and four champs.

“I think we’re one of the top three teams in the county on paper,” Long Beach coach Ray Adams said. “Wantagh is the defending champion and they’ll be right there along with Massapequa. A lot of other teams will be very tough. It’s going to come down to who stays healthy and who peaks at the right time.”

Teemer is off to a 7-0 start as a sophomore after going 40-0 with two forfeits last season. He won the 126-pound Battle at the Beach crown. Last March, Teemer edged Jake Silverstein of Hauppauge, 4-3, in an ultimate rideout tiebreaker to capture the 106-pound state title. It was the 100th career victory for Teemer, who became the first Long Islander to win state titles in both eighth and ninth grades in the 40 years that middle school students have been permitted to participate in varsity wrestling.  

“Jacori has his work cut out for him, but he’s more than capable of staying on top,” Adams noted. “He’s in great shape and working so hard. He just has to continue to get better every day.”

Junior Tyreek Bromley is another returning state qualifier after earning a wild-card bid last season. He was Nassau runner-up at 182 pounds. “Tyreek can definitely take that next step,” Adams said of Bromley, who finished first in the Battle at the Beach. “He’s a very strong kid with great technique and agility.”

Junior Tyrese Byron, who finished second in the county at 145, was nothing short of dominant in the Battle at the Beach. He took the 160-pound title and pinned all five of his opponents in a combined time of 10 minutes, 9 seconds. “The sky is the limit for Tyrese,” Adams said.

Senior Sean Bourne reached the Battle at the Beach finals at 120 after upsetting a defending county champion, Kyle Mosher of South Side, in the semis, 2-1 in the fourth overtime.

Junior Charlie Spada, fourth in Nassau last season, is looking to improve and challenge for the county championship at 145. He took the 152-pound title at the Battle at the Beach with a hard-fought 9-5 decision over Jesse Bran-Umana of Massapequa.

Junior Matt Maquet has a pair of All-County campaigns under his belt and seeks a trip to the finals after reaching the semis in consecutive seasons. He’ll compete in a difficult 120-pound class.

The coach expects big things from senior Marc Paez (152) and junior Mark Rivera (220), who placed third and fourth in the county, respectively, as well as junior Joe Giorlando. Rivera and Giorlando reached the Battle at the Beach finals.