Long Beach winning with youth

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Long Beach wrestling’s tradition of winning continues with a team of mostly freshmen and sophomores.

At 10-4 overall, the Marines claimed the Conference 2A title with a 5-0 record, defeating some in-league rivals by considerable margins. The 40-man squad competed as the No. 5 seed at the Nassau County Dual Meet Championships last week, after placing fourth among 166 teams from six states in the Eastern States Classic held at Sullivan County Community College, the state’s premier wrestling event Jan. 12-13. 

“Just because we have a young team this year we didn’t take a step back in the competition,” said Ray Adams, the program’s coach for the past 21 years who guided his wrestlers to three straight county dual meet champions from 2015-17. “We go right after it.”

The Marines are led by senior Jacori Teemer, who took first place in the 152 weight class at the Eastern States, winning a 9-5 decision against two-time state runner-up Matt Grippi from Westchester County’s Fox Lane High School. With a 18-0 record, Teemer could become the first wrestler from Long Island to win five state championships, and only the second to do so in the state. InterMat ranks him as the nation’s No. 1 wrestler in the 138 bracket.

“Jacori is electric; his speed and his power are just unparalleled,” Adams said.

Senior Elijah Rodriguez (195) took third at the Eastern States after winning both the Battle at the Beach host tourney and King of the Mat event in Hewlett, both in early December. He’s looking to notch a state title that eluded him after he won a county championship last season.  

Rodriguez and Jonathan Loew of Wantagh are the state’s top wrestlers at 195, but Loew won both matchups this season. As a result, Rodriguez will compete in the 220 bracket at the county championship, on Feb. 10-11, in an effort to win a state title, Adams said.

Teemer, Rodriguez and seniors Michael McCabe (182) and Joel Vega (145) were among the Marines with pins against Locust Valley in the quarterfinals at the county dual meet playoffs Saturday, when the Marines won 48-23 against the top-ranked small school in the state. Wantagh defeated Long Beach in the semis.

In an earlier round, Long Beach defeated Freeport 39-36, in which freshman Jeremiah Echevarria (106) was down 5-0 but won 11-10 in overtime against Jerry Ellis. Sophomore Max Maquet (132) was losing by six points before he pinned Neo Fearon with 30 seconds left.

Echevarria and Maquet are two of the team’s top young wrestlers, as is freshman Kevin Lopez (99), who took second at Battle of the Beach and placed in other tourneys. Junior Dylan Martinsen (138), who is adept at using his legs on the mat to score points, won at the Battle at the Beach and placed third at King of the Mat. Another key contributor is sophomore Amir Hodge, who took the 120-pound title at the Ed Solosky Tournament at Kellenberg High School on Jan. 13.  

Long Beach will host a county qualifying tournament on Feb. 3.