County champions!

By STEVE SINISKI

Mac Maldarelli has accomplished quite a bit on and off the wrestling mats for Calhoun High School. Besides being a mentor and, in some respects, an assistant coach of several of the Colts' younger wrestlers, the senior has added the title of Nassau County champion to his list of achievements. 

Maldarelli defeated Plainedge's Dan Spurgeon, 7-2, in the title match at 145 pounds at the Nassau Division I championships at Hofstra University last Sunday. "In the first period [Spurgeon] tried to score, but Mac's first-line defense shut him down," Calhoun coach Gregg Muscarella said. "He wore the guy down with his strength. [Spurgeon] came on again at the end with a last-ditch [attempt] but Mac scored on him again."

Maldarelli ran his season mark to 41-1, and along with 135-pound classmate Joe Chiaffitella, advanced to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships at the Times Union Center in Albany Feb. 26-27.

"He dominated every kid he wrestled," Muscarella said of Maldarelli, who entered the county tournament seeded first and lived up to the advanced billing. "His whole senior year has been a dream season, and he's had a tremendous amount of pins."

Maldarelli breezed through his first two matches at the counties before winning an 11-3 decision in the semifinals over Long Beach's Adam D'Auguste.

The three district high schools, which also include Kennedy and Mepham, had a total of eight wrestlers earn All-County honors by finishing sixth or better.

Chiaffitella improved his record this season to 26-5 and knocked off Long Beach's Nick Khoury, 4-3, in the finals. He battled back from a two-point deficit after the first period by scoring a pair of points on a reversal and later on a takedown. Chiaffitella knocked off South Side's James Rodriquez, 10-5, in the semifinal round. "As he has all season, Joe finds ways to win," Muscarella said.

Junior Anthony Abidin (39-3) advanced to the finals at 119 pounds, where he dropped an 11-3 major decision to Farmingdale's Luke Alber. Abidin's impressive run to the championships gave Calhoun three finalists for only the second time in Muscarella's 19 seasons with the program. The Colts, who placed seventh among the 45-team field, were also boosted by the All-County run made by senior Hunter Spector, who finished fifth at 145 pounds. "The whole team really peaked at the right time at the end," Muscarella said.

Sutherland paces Mepham

Mepham was led by senior Dan Sutherland (30-6), who placed fourth at 171 pounds after falling to Syosset's Guy Macchia, 2-0, in the placing round. The two had grappled earlier in the tournament, with Macchia coming out on top, 4-1, but they were separated on the scoreboard by only a third-period reversal in the rematch. 

Freshman Jamie Dunn racked up a 23-8 mark on the season and took sixth at 103 pounds, turning in one of the more dramatic two-day performances of any Nassau wrestler. Included among Dunn's victories last weekend were a pair of overtime decisions in the second round and wrestlebacks. "He wrestled up a weight class all year, and that will be a tremendous experience because he'll build on it for next year," Pirates coach Rich Anderson said, noting that Dunn is the first Mepham freshman to capture All County honors since 1984. "He had tremendous guts in the whole [tournament]."

The 13 Pirates entrants at Hofstra included 140-pound junior Mike Paccione and 215-pound senior Matt Dato, both of whom were qualifying tournament champions. Mepham hosted one of the six qualifying tournaments on Feb. 6.

Kennedy freshman wins 38

Kennedy freshman Robert Person (38-3) took third at 96 pounds, blanking Plainedge's Conner Sullivan, 6-0, in the placing round. "He works at it and wrestles all year round," said Cougars coach Brian DeGaetano. "He's a tournament wrestler. With all the offseason work, he's always ready for the big match."

Person doubled his victory total as an eighth-grader and posted more wins as a freshman than any other Kennedy wrestler under DeGaetano.

Senior Joe Maher's final victory of the championships was the 100th of his career, and he ended his run with the Cougars as a two-time All-County wrestler and four-time tournament qualifier after taking sixth at 112 pounds. Maher became just the 10th wrestler in school history to hit the triple-digit victory mark. As a team, Kennedy finished 17th and set a school record with an 18-8 mark in 26 dual meets.