V.S. North presses on despite injuries

Its lineup decimated by injuries, Valley Stream North managed a few bright spots in last Saturday’s Ralph Jansson wrestling tournament and placed seventh out of 11 teams.

“It’s one injury after another,” Spartans coach Tom Maddock said. “I’ve been coaching 30 years and there’s never a year where we’ve been injury free. But we haven’t been through anything of this magnitude.”

Among the injured for North is defending Nassau Division II champion Will Hunter, a senior heavyweight who suffered a broken wrist that may require surgery, junior Shane Saltzman (broken ankle), who won a county championship as a freshman, and senior Peter Scavelli (sprained ankle), who was off to a strong start.

“It’s frustrating because we finished so well last year,” Maddock said of the injury list. “We’ll have to forfeit up to five weights in dual meets.”

Opponents will still have to contend with the likes of junior Jesse Oppenheimer, a two-time All-County wrestler who followed up a first-place finish in the Hank Parris Tournament at Bethpage with third place in the Jansson. “He’s working hard and off to an impressive start,” Maddock said of Oppenheimer, who suffered his first loss of the season to Seaford’s Will Montgomery in the semifinals.

Another defending county champion expected to be a handful for the competition is North sophomore Justin Uslaner. He was runner-up at 112 pounds last Saturday and earned two wins by pin to reach the finals.

Maddock said the biggest surprise of the weekend was sophomore Rich Vergara’s two wins, including one by pin, at 119 pounds. Vergara reached the final and battled tough against eventual champ Milton Calderon of Sewanhaka East. Another sophomore, Nick Gonzalez, is a returning All-County performer with a third-place finish at Bethpage under his belt.

Central’s Vargas wins at 140
Senior Bryan Vargas of Valley Stream Central took the Jansson tournament title at 140 pounds and senior Arsal Lacorte was runner-up at 125 to lead the Eagles, who beat Holy Trinity in their only dual meet so far.

“We have the guys running on all cylinders and are expecting to continue with this improvement throughout the season,” Central coach Mike Luckert said.

Senior Brandon Henry, junior Chris Perez, and sophomore Brian Quiroz all placed fourth. In the Uniondale Tournament to start the season, Vargas and Lacorte placed second. 

Bishop paces V.S. South
Matt Bishop’s victory at 160 pounds and second-place showings by Jacob Podgorsky (103), Adam Tempkin (125) and Zach Silverstein (135) highlighted Valley Stream South’s performance in the Paul P. Grammatico Tournament last Saturday.

Bishop pinned Michael Cerrone of Manhasset in 1:28 in the finals. Podgorky’s run ended with a tough 6-3 decision loss to Hunter Ingram of East Islip, Tempkin came up a little short against Chris Burns of Island Trees, falling 8-4, and Silverstein was pinned by Longwood’s Andrew Stock.