North Rockland Wrestling Wins County Championships

North Rockland placed competitors in the seven of the 15 title bouts in the Rockland County Wrestling Championships Saturday at Tappan Zee, with four winning to help the Red Raiders win the team championship.

Tappan Zee finished second overall in the nine-team tournament, also winning four matches in the championship round. Rounding out the rest of the draw was Nanuet, Clarkstown South, Suffern, Pearl River, Clarkstown North, Nyack and East Ramapo.

Pearl River’s John Muldoon continued his impressive sophomore year by capturing his first county title. He finished second last year.

“Winning county’s was definitely a goal I set for myself before the year started” he said after his 5-1 win against North Rockland’s Troy Feniger. “It’s something I’ve been working toward since last year.”

Earlier in the season, Muldoon beat Feniger 9-7.

“It went better this time than last time I faced him,” Muldoon said. “My top game was a lot better, and I was able to hold him down on the mat more.”

Muldoon was the only Pearl River wrestler in the championship round, much like Adit Thakur, who was the lone representative in the finals for Nyack. Thakur, a senior, won his first county title thanks to a takedown of North Rockland's Jake DiMarsico with 28.3 seconds go in sudden death overtime in the 120-pound match.

“Last year I couldn’t compete because my kneecap popped out so I couldn’t wrestle,” Thakur said. “I came in the morning to watch and as soon as I could wrestle agai,n got back to training so I could come back here this year and win.”

Thakur placed third in his sophomore year at county’s and was ready to get another chance to win the county title. He pinned DiMarsico when they wrestled last week, so Thakur figured DiMarsico would come out fast. He was wrong.

“He didn’t really take any shots,” Thakur said. “He was really defensive the whole match, and when I tried to make a move he would try to get out of bounds.”

Thakur said last time he pinned DiMarsico by sneaking up on him with a cradle, but when he tried Saturday, DiMarsico was ready for it. Still, Thakur pulled out the win and is looking forward to continuing.

“It’s crunch time now,” he said. “I trained to go all the way. This was just the first step.”

Clarkstown North’s Colby Kash also won his first county title when he defeated Nanuet’s Matt Dillon 9-4 in the 132-pound match. Previously, Kash’s best finish at county’s was fifth.

“This was a big step up for me,” Cash said. “I trained hard all offseason because I wanted to win here. This is a big tournament.”

Nanuet’s Joe Dillon kicked off the championship round by pinning North’s Brian Hong. For the sophomore to win his first county title, he had to comeback after an early deficit.

“He took me down first, which I wasn’t happy about,” Dillon said. “I just wanted to break out and get a fresh start.”

It didn’t take long for the match to turn, as Dillon pinned Hong within the first two minutes of the match.

Finals:

• 99 - Joe Dillon (Nanuet) pinned Brian Hong (Clarkstown North)
• 106 - Blaise Benderoth (North Rockland) def. Alex Oliveto (Suffern)
• 113 - John Muldoon (Pearl River) def. Troy Feniger (North Rockland)
• 120 - Adit Thakur (Nyack) def. Jake DiMarsico (North Rockland)
• 126 - Matt Caputo (North Rockland) pinned Austin Fox (Clarkstown South)
• 132 - Colby Kash (Clarkstown North) def. Matt Dillon (Nanuet)
• 138 - James Desimone (Suffern) def. Charles Garcia (Tappan Zee)
• 145 - Mike Caputo (North Rockland) def. Ryan Becker (North)
• 152 - Desmond Djekovic (Tappan Zee) pinned Nick Didio (North Rockland)
• 160 - Nick Giella (Suffern) pinned Matt Oliva (Clarkstown South)
• 170 - Valdon Djekovic (Tappan Zee) pinned Hassan Auwater (Clarkstown South)
• 182 - Ryan Boyle (North Rockland) def. Tome Marku (Clarkstown South)
• 195 - Dan Breit (Nanuet) def. Paul Okeke (Clarkstown South)
• 220 - Chris McGann (Tappan Zee) def. Bryan Burger (Suffern)
• 285 - Michael Manni (Tappan Zee) pinned Josh Nelson (Nanuet)