High school wrestling takes no prisoners — just ask the Tornambe family, which had to pit son against son, a coach to both sons and a mom pulling for a tie when her sons, freshman Anthony and eighth-grader SJ, were pitted against one another in Saturday’s fifth-place bout of the Caruso/Scazillio Mahopac High School Memorial Wrestling Tournament.
Wolf Pac coach Steven Tornambe and his wife, Lisa, handled the matchup between their sons the only way they knew how; like the consummate pros the family has been throughout its rich history on the Section 1 grappling circuit.
Anthony defeated SJ, helping the Wolf Pac to a second-place finish in a field of 22 teams drawn from Florida to Long Island and upstate New York.
“Well, it’s never easy when they wrestle each other even in practice,” coach Tornambe said. “Someone has to lose and all you want for your kids is to be successful.”
In the tournament finals, Wolf Pac 110-pounder Justin Cabuhat continued his season-long ascent, taking aim at a title against Myles Amell of Saugerties. Cabuhat took a 6-0 lead before an injury timeout was charged to Amell, a foreboding situation in the match. The score turned 6-4 after a couple of Cabuhat miscues. Then, he regained control, taking a 9-4 lead after a second-period takedown, forcing another injury timeout for Amell and a declaration to an 11-4 victory for Cabuhat.
“Justin was an absolute stud, winning his second tournament in two weeks,” coach Tornambe said. “We tell our kids that we need to beat the kids we are supposed to beat and wrestle the tough kids tough! All records go out the window. All seeds don’t mean anything come sectionals. The story of the day wasn’t that we placed a wrestler in 11 of the 14 weight classes but how well we are wrestling at the end of the year.
“The memorial tournament is about all of the former wrestlers for Mahopac and how we try to fill the big shoes they have left here,” the coach added. “Charles Przymylski was voted champion of champions. The league didn’t go our way, but the boys bounced back great and put on a great performance in their own gym. Now, we are onto the postseason next week and ready to make a big splash at sectionals.”
Defending Section 1 champion Charles Przymylski went down 3-1 early, then escaped to make it 3-2. With no rhythm to the match, an escape by Pryz made it 3-3, then a 6-3 lead for the Wolf Pac legend. A sweep of the leg led to two more points, then a 9-3 lead and a first-place triumph. After a first-round bye, Przymylski dominated his first three opponents by a combined 40-9 score.
In the 157-pound match, Mahopac senior Pace Zeiler took a 3-0 lead on Lakeland/Panas’ Matt Clyman, then built advantages of 6-1, 7-1 and 10-1 to take total command with just over a minute left in the third, which helped clinch the second-place finish for the Wolf Pac (224 points), behind only Longwood (LI), which ran away with the title (279 points).
In the 165-pound finals, Mahopac’s Hector ‘da Moose’ Perez battled his tail off but suffered a 14-5 loss after a strong daylong effort to finish second.
Sean Coronel (175 pounds) forced a third-place finish in a back-and-forth affair and earned a 22-13 decision. At 144, Billy Camperlago also placed third for the Wolf Pac. Leo Przymylski continued to improve at 150, taking home a fourth-place finish. Jake Clark took fifth place at 190, as did Peter Grishaj at 285, providing key points at the top half of the lineup.
Coach Tornambe said the unit is coming together at the right time — and it will need to be at its best as the seeds are released Feb. 2 for the Section 1 tournament, set for Saturday and Sunday (Feb. 7–8) at the Westchester County Center.
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