Oceanside's Candela reaches semis

A year after making a spirited run to the 96-pound Nassau Division I wrestling final, Oceanside’s Rocco Candela enjoyed a big junior season on the mat to lead the improving Sailors.

Competing in the 106-pound class, Candela registered 28 victories this winter and landed on the All-County podium for a second straight season by placing fourth in last week’s county tournament at Hofstra University. He was stopped in the semifinals by Long Beach’s Krishna Sewkumar, 5-0, but bounced back to split a pair of wrestlebacks. 

“Rocco wrestled tough,” Oceanside coach Joe Pumo said. “In my opinion, he was in the toughest weight class in the tournament. He won two wars to get to the semifinals and wasn’t at all overwhelmed by the magnitude of the event.”

After winning the qualifying tournament at Plainedge the previous Saturday, Candela earned a bye into the second round of the county tournament where he met talented Hewlett sophomore Simon Greebel. Just a few weeks ago, Greebel was ranked as high as second in the weight class, Pumo said. Candela grinded out a 4-2 victory, then worked overtime in the quarterfinals to beat Massapequa’s Joe Doria by the same score.

“Rocco expects to win every time he steps on the mat,” Pumo said. “He’s a confident kid. He’s always had great wrestling technique. I think what helped him more this season was he got stronger.”

Candela was one of three Sailors to qualify for the county championships. The others are both freshmen: Kash Calderon and Jarron Koretz. Calderon placed third in the qualifier at 99 pounds, and Koretz was third at 126.

“I’m not surprised either kid got to Hofstra,” Pumo said of Calderon and Koretz. “They’re key parts to our building process.”

Calderon won his first match, 5-0 over Massapequa’s Mike Stashin, and lost to Sewkumar in the second round. “Kash has a real bright future,” Pumo said. “I’ve never seen anyone with a better work ethic, and he’s about to become a year-round wrestler. He’s explosive on his feet and can score points in a hurry.”

Koretz lost a tough county opener to Baldwin’s Ryan Brown. “Jarron fell in love with the sport this season,” Pumo said. “He put in a lot of extra work and it paid off. He’s stingy on his feet and doesn’t go down easily.”

The coach is expecting junior Zach Strandberg (126), who had a winning record on the season and served as a team leader, to get to the county tournament next season along with junior Andrew Mercadante and freshman J.T. D’Angelo. They were all big reasons the Sailors doubled their dual meet win total (four) from a year ago.

“We have a bunch of talent coming up from the middle school and we’re also looking to recruit some upper weights to fill out the lineup next season,” Pumo said.