Hills West rolled through the first three rounds of the Jericho Cup today, only to be derailed by Bayport-Blue Point in the finals.
The day started off with a 64-9 drubbing of Westbury HS including seven pin falls, a technical fall and two major victories. The Colts then dominated Cold Spring Harbor 54-29 in a victory that included six pins. In the semifinals, the Colts beat up Port Jefferson 57-12 with seven pins.
Turning Point: The Colts felt extremely confident going into the finals. Unfortunately, so did Bayport-Bluepoint. The Colts fell behind quickly, losing seven of the first eight matches (five by pin fall). The Colts however, had a run of their own. That run was started by sophomore Tyler Grimaldi and continued with senior Alec Levine, sophomores Joe Piccolo and Jagger Rebozo and finally senior Chris Golinowski. Unfortunately, the Cardiac Colts could not pull one out this time, falling short of their comeback.
Heroes: Don't ask the Colts who the heroes were; to a man, they were disappointed in their inability to pull out the victory. Notable grapplers on this day were sophomore Joe Piccolo (3-0 for the day), junior Zach Aal (4-0 for the day), and Golinowski and Grimaldi, who both remain undefeated this season (4-0 for the day and 9-0 for the season).
Quote: Coach Patrovich was not pleased: "This is not really how I wanted to end this day," he said, and "We did not get the job done when we should have." When asked if there was anything that he could take from his performance today, junior Zach Aal, who dominated his opponents this day said, "I told myself I was going to specifically work on a few moves, including my tilt, and I did that. I would have rather won the tournament though."
Bottom Line: It says a lot for a team to win three of four matches in a day and to leave gym feeling bad. The Colts have very high expectations and felt they did not reach them today.
Next match: is a Dual Meet against former assistant coach Bill Davey and their rivals at Hills East, Wednesday, December 22. The varsity match starts at 6 p.m.
