Wrestling

Port Jervis brothers Sean and C.J. win titles as does teammate Butler; Monticello’s Brugaletta gets 100th career win

By RICHARD A. ROSS

CENTRAL VALLEY, NY — You’d expect high drama at the Section Nine Division One Wrestling Championships, but little could have prepared the sellout crowd at Monroe-Woodbury High School for what they were about to see at the long-awaited finals on February 23.

By night’s end, spectators were literally floored by the wins wrought by brothers Sean and C.J. Floor of Port Jervis, who won their respective 140- and 215-pound titles in stunning comeback fashion.

Sean Floor turned back Section Nine’s all-time wins leader Mike D’Amato in a match named the most exciting of the tournament. Floor justifiably earned the title of the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler.

Floor’s 7-5 come-from-behind win against D’Amato, whom he bested at last month’s Eastern States Tournament, brought the decibel level in the gym to a new level. D’Amato held a 5-2 lead early on in the third period, but Floor closed the gap after D’Amato was called for an illegal move with just over a minute left in the match. With the score now 5-3 and the clock winding down, Floor got a takedown for the tie and then upended D’Amato on his back for the winning points.

Floor was the defending 140-pound titleholder and following the win, he proceeded to counsel his brother C.J. for his later bout with Jared Rosario of Middletown.

Like Sean, C.J. was running out of time as the third period wound on, but deploying seemingly uncanny strength, he roared back to tie Rosado with a takedown and went on to garner an 8-4 win in the heated 215-pound battle.

Port Jervis ended up in fourth place, also propelled by a valiant second-place finish from Evan Muller (152), who fought his way back from an injury at Eastern States. Muller’s last bid for a Section Nine title ended as he succumbed to NFA’s Cinque Mandela by the score of 7-3. Valley Central won the tournament with Monroe-Woodbury and Newburgh Free Academy taking second and third.

Port Jervis’ J.D. Zitone (265) also took second place for the Red Raiders as he lost to defending champ Corey James of Kingston 3-1. Austin Smith (160) won his consolation match for a third-place finish by besting F.J. Ferraiolo of Cornwall by the score of 2-1.

As expected, the finals featured a number of marquee match ups, which are described in detail on www.riverreportersports.com. Some highlights included defending Mike Vespa of Monroe-Woodbury defending his 103-pound title by pinning Ryan Black of Washingtonville in 1:28. Taylor Laraia of NFA (112) bested Section Nine’s most improved wrestler, Nic Smith of Valley Central, 7-3.

When it came to defending state champion Cody Ruggirello’s (119) bout against Kaare Stockdal of Valley Central, the drama really began to build. Suffering a bloody nose and a loss of his contact lenses, Rugirello had all he could handle. The match remained scoreless until the reigning champ worked an escape to garner the only point. Stockdal’s late bid for a takedown ended what would have been the year’s biggest upset bid.

The stoked crowd now moved to the edge of their seats for another barn burner as Cornwall’s Drew Bloss (125) and three-time Section Nine champion Jamie Franco of Monroe-Woodbury got set to renew their rivalry. Bloss beat Franco once this season, but the defending champ had two wins in return.

Bloss had won an exciting semifinal over Valley Central’s Robert Bailey. Franco recorded a takedown of Bloss at 1:35 in the first period and controlled the match from then forward.

Floor’s electrifying win at 140 was followed by a victory by Joey Gambino of Saugerties (145) over Louis Berger of Pine Bush by the score of 4-2. The Port Jervis fans rallied to encourage Muller to battle back against Mandela in the 152 match, but a trio of takedowns by Mandela led to his 7-3 win.

At 189, defending champ Stephen Butler of Port Jervis, the number-one seed, was the heavy favorite to defend his title. Using a pair of takedowns, Butler marshaled the 6-4 gritty win over Minisink Valley’s James Brain by the score of 6-4.

At 215, C.J. Floor was the number-two seed in the tournament behind Rosado but his late dramatics proved he was really number one.

When it came to the heavyweights, Corey James, now 30-0 at 265, proved himself unbeatable against Port’s D.J. Zitone, who simply could not upend James, although he kept the match scoreless for nearly two thirds of the match.

Monticello’s Vinny Brugaletta (145) gets his 100th win and exits with fifth place; fellow senior John Bowens (135) takes fourth

For 31-year veteran coach Ed Kaufmann, the tournament’s outcome was as expected. When push came to shove, his two best wrestlers, Vinny Brugaletta (145) and John Bowens (135), were still in the mix as the finals day began.

Monticello’s other eight sectional contenders, including Jerry Taggart (112), William Lattimer (119), Jordan Papacharalambous (130), Anthony D’Abbraccio (160), Nef Leon (171), Richard Graham (189), Arthur Atanov (215) and Cory Waichman (285), all lost in their first-round bouts.

After pinning Robert Illenberg of Middletown in his opener, Brugaletta lost a 10-7 decision to eventual champ Gambino in a failed bid to garner his 100th-career win. Brugaletta beat Gambino in last year’s sectionals at 140.

Brugaletta remedied that with a 12-2 victory over Robert Webber of Minisink Valley in his first wrestleback to crest the 100-win mark. Brugaletta lost his next wrestleback to Washingtonville’s Matt Zippilli 3-1 in overtime and ended his career with a 5-2 win over NFA’s Tevin Bowman to garner fifth place in the tournament. A year ago, Brugaletta took third at 140.

Brugaletta ended his career with a record of 101-41.

Bowens reached the 135 semifinals with a pin of Gavin Hoffman of Saugerties and a 9-1 major-decision victory over John Maloney of Monroe-Woodbury before losing by a technical fall to eventual champ Doolittle. Bowens overcame a match-long deficit to pin Valley Central’s Jake Fenical in his first wrestleback, but lost to Vinny DeBennedetto of Washingtonville by the score of 9-0 to end up in fourth place in his weight class. A year ago, Bowens finished fifth.

Monticello tied Wallkill for 13th place in the field of 17 teams with 30 points. They ended their season with a record of 4-4 and 2-2 in their league.

Eldred and Liberty wrestlers register wins

in Division II championships

In the Division II championships held on February 16, Eldred’s Brian Corcoran (140) lost to Kevin Dommreis of Millbrook 15-4 in the semifinals, but went on to defeat Colin Waterhouse of Red Hook 9-3 to take third place in the tourney.

In another semifinal, teammate Justin Smith (145) lost a 7-5 decision to Primo Stropoli of Onteora but then pinned Nick Machin of Highland in 2:50 to capture third place in the tournament.

Hector Torres of Liberty (96) pinned Guy Meyer of Ellenville in the quarterfinals but was then pinned by Andy Ehlers of Tuxedo in the semifinal round. Torres went on to win by disqualification over Jorge Chardon of Highland to take third in the tourney.

Jon Geiger (135) of Eldred was pinned by Coutant of Ellenville in the quarterfinals.

Justin Katz (160) of Liberty was pinned by Joe Holway of Highland in the quarterfinals.

Bob Moriggia of Eldred was defeated 3-0 by Vinny Barber of Highland in the quarterfinals.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of hundreds of photos from the Division I championships.