John Zarcone rolled the dice. The Grand Street Campus wrestling coach moved Josh Antoine, one of the best 99-pounders in the state, to 106 for the semifinals. Inexperienced sophomore Geudy Tavarez, stepping in for Antoine, would be critical at 99.
“We’re pretty positive that Josh is gonna beat anyone at any weight,” Zarcone said. “It was key for our 99-pounder to get a win. If he doesn’t win, it makes our move no good.”
Tavarez came through in a huge way. He pinned Wingate’s Ryan Davis to give Grand Street six key points in an eventual, 36-32 win Thursday at the PSAL wrestling dual meet semis at Jamaica HS in Queens. The Wolves meet division rival Brooklyn Tech in a rematch of last year’s finals Wednesday at John Bowne HS for the city championship.
“He understands his role on this team,” Zarcone said of Tavarez. “He accepts the fact that he’s not a starter, that he’s behind one of the top kids in the state. But when we give him a chance to shine, he takes full advantage of it.”
Grand Street’s Keanu Thompson also had a huge, 10-1 decision over Kenton Greaves at 120 pounds that helped set the tone for the match. Antoine pinned Chadrick Lee at 106; Yuery Tavarez won a major decision, 10-1, over Nicholas Bynoe at 113; Anatoliy Anchakov won a decison, 9-2, over Nefy Dominguez Caba at 182; and Jamal Aaron pinned Julius Douse at 285.
“When it comes down to it, we have really skilled wrestlers and they did the little things to put us over the edge,” Zarcone said. “The guys we knew who could win all won, but we needed them to get bonus points and they did.”
One of the best matches of the day was at 132 in a battle of last year’s city champions. Wingate’s Ahmed Elsayed won a decision, 4-2 in overtime, over Deuly Espinal. For Wingate, Hu Tyson Palmer pinned Isaiah Segarra at 126; Bertin Saimbeau pinned Christian Duran at 138; Malik Francis won a technical fall, 21-8, over Justin Vazquez at 145; Barry Hart beat Joshua Thomas, 12-6, by decision; and Cedrick Stephens took a decision, 6-0, over Enmanuel Perez.
A rematch with Brooklyn Tech is what Zarcone and his wrestlers hoped for all season.
“We’re ecstatic – that’s what we think it should be,” he said. “Once we saw the brackets, we felt it should be us and Brooklyn Tech. The two top teams in our division are also the top two teams in the city.”
Zarcone, though, said his team is not thinking at all about last year’s final. The Wolves were a young squad then. He feels now is their time. A 45-34 loss to Brooklyn Tech on Dec. 21 is weighing much heavier on Grand Street’s mind.
“That’s the one we want to avenge,” Zarcone said. “What happened last year is over. I feel this is the year we want to focus on. I won’t look farther back than this season.”
Brooklyn Tech 72, Eagle Academy 6: William Hernandez Vargas (113), Christopher Berk (120), Nicholas Rappo (126), Ryan Pang (132), Jonathan Negron (138), Olaleye Ojo (170), Kevin Tynes (182) and Shaquille Williams (285) all had pins for Brooklyn Tech, which meets Grand Street Campus in the final Wednesday.
Saimun Raymond (106), Cristian Masaya (152), Patrick Alcantara (160) and Andres Kokkoros (195) won decisions. Trevor Alston had the lone points for Eagle, pinning Todd Williams at 145.