LAKE HUNTINGTON –– The Sullivan West Bulldogs hosted the Fallsburg/Tri-Valley combined team last Wednesday night for a varsity wrestling match. It was an excellent showing of strength and athleticism by both teams. Sullivan West was able to secure a 28-24 win even with Fallsburg getting one more forfeit than the Bulldogs. All but one of the matches were won by pin, with one of them within the last few seconds of the final round. 

Coach Justin Ghawi of Sullivan West said, “It was a great team win and I’m proud of all our guys. We’ve had a lot of sickness hitting us recently but everyone’s coming out and giving us their all. Very proud of my guys tonight!”

Fallsburg coach, David Cornish also told the Democrat, “I thought we did very well tonight. We have a very young team but they’re coming along really well and I’m proud of them.” 

285 lbs: (Justin Burgos vs Inmer Santos-Morales): Burgos struck first with a collar tie pull down and maintained heavy top pressure for the first minute before Morales was able to reverse and take the top. However, there was a timeout for bleeding early into the match. After the timeout Burgos was able to explode out from underneath and take Morales’ back. In the second bout Morales hit a blast double leg takedown and almost had a cradle pin before Burgos was able to kick out and get the top position again. With only one minute left Burgos was close to securing a pin but Morales spun out,  and almost pinned him [Burgos] in the final seconds of the second bout. Starting the final round Burgos was in the lead by one point but had bottom position. After escaping, Burgos got top position once Morales failed a takedown. Within a few seconds Morales took the top spot and secured a pin in the final 30 seconds.

124 lbs: Forfeit goes to John Mingo (Tri-Valley)

131 lbs: Forfeit goes to Ayden Carpenito (Fallsburg)

138 lbs: Forfeit goes to Logan Milk (Sullivan West) 

152 lbs (Dan Taranin vs Michael Kehlenbeck): Both wrestlers tied up for most of the first round before Taranin took down Kehlenbeck after a failed leg sweep. Taranin was able to get the pin quickly after getting top position. This tied the match for Sullivan West at 18-18 overall team points. 

160 lbs: Forfeit goes to Walter Henry (Sullivan West) 

170 lbs (Alec Hubert vs Lekoda Batres): Hubert was able to get a pin in the first 20 seconds after shooting around Batres’ arm and taking his back. 

190 lbs (George Olsen vs Kayden Saravia): After hand fighting for most of the first round, Olsen attempted a single leg but Saravia sprawled well to defend. The first round ended with neither wrestler scoring any points. After getting top position to start round two, Olsen used an ankle pull to try and take Saravia down but Saravia was able to fight through it and stand up. The second round also ended with the score still at 0-0 for both wrestlers. Saravia got a foul and then slipped allowing Olsen to get an easy takedown and back take for a total of 8 points right before the round ended. Saravia got top position to start the final round and after an intense ground battle, Olsen was able to get up and the round ended with a win by points for Olsen. This put Sullivan West up 28-18 over Fallsburg. 

215 lbs: Forfeit goes to Adam Olsen (Tri-Valley)

215 lbs: (Adam Olsen- Tri-Valley vs Justin Burgos- SW) Olsen won this match by a pin over Burgos.