Sachem East Wrestling Goes 3-0, Earns 100th Win in Program History

The Sachem East wrestling team headed into the annual Kings Park Classic with the expectation of taking home the title. It would not be an easy task with tough squads from St. Anthony’s and Kings Park on the schedule as well as Patchogue Medford, Newfield and Copaigue.

“Kings Park and St. Anthony’s are strong programs with talented wrestlers, so we were looking forward to taking them on," said Sachem coach Sean O'Hara.

Sachem opened the day against Patchogue-Medford and were able to soundly beat a relatively young Raiders team by a 58-18 final. The victory was the 100^th in program history.

“It’s a nice milestone to reach," O'Hara said, "we have had lots of great kids over the past seven-plus seasons and it’s a credit to their hard work.” 

Round two pitted Sachem against a much-improved Newfield squad. The Arrows were solid and put together a 58-23 win. Next up was an anticipated match-up with Catholic school power St. Anthony’s.

“The Friars beat us in the finals of this event last year and our team was looking to turn that around," O'Hara said. "We knew it would be a tough match up.”

It turned out to be everything it was expected to be with the Arrows clinching the meet when Christian Nunez pinned his opponent in the second period of the 195-pound bout.

“The team knew it was a meet where every point would be critical," O'Hara said. "The team responded, we won the close matches, we got a couple of big pins, and none of our guys got pinned. We were a little tougher in the tough spots and that was the key.”

With round four and a tough match up with Kings Park scheduled, things got a little strange. The power went out in the building and the rest of the event had to be postponed.

“We were looking forward to wrestling Kings Park and then Copaigue, but things like power outages are not something we can control," O'Hara said.

When the event was stopped Sachem East was the only 3-0 team, and the program’s record now stands at 102-42.

Mike Rothbaum, Jakob Restrepo, Conor O’Hara, Anthony Messina, Michael Pistone, Anthony Pistone, Billy Merone, Christian Nunez, and Josh Edmonsen all went undefeated on the day. 

Next up for Sachem is the Long Island Challenge. The Arrows will host some of Nassau and Suffolk’s strongest squads on Dec. 27 and 28.