By Rob Potter
MONTICELLO — December 27, 2005 – Wednesday night’s non-league wrestling match between visiting Red Hook and Monticello came down to the final match.
Red Hook held a slim 39-36 lead as the 160-pound bout began. The match went all three rounds, with Red Hook’s John Kravic earning a hard-fought 10-6 decision over Monticello’s Andrew Moss.
Kravic’s victory gave the Raiders a 42-36 win in the overall match.
Red Hook improved to 4-4 on the season, while Monticello fell to 2-3.
Scoring pinfall victories for the Panthers were Andres Diaz (at 112 pounds), John Bowens (119), Vinny Brugaletta (140) and Anthony Ng (145). Jesse Campanaro (171) and Alexis Bruno (189) earned victories by decision in their bouts.
But wins by the Raider grapplers Max O’Meara and John Kravic in the final two matches propelled Red Hook to its six-point victory.
Red Hook Coach Mike Bucci said that he had seen many of the Monticello wrestlers compete recently at a Section IX dual meet at Minisink Valley High School and was impressed.
“I thought it would be close tonight,” Bucci said. “Monticello is a tough team.
“I’m happy. Anytime you can come into the gym of a tough opponent and get a win, you have got to be happy,” Bucci added.
Monticello Coach Ed Kaufmann was not pleased with his team’s overall effort.
“Some of our seniors didn’t step up,” Kaufmann said. “You can’t win a match with just five or six guys doing well, everybody needs to step up.”
The veteran coach said that Bowens, Brugaletta, Diaz, Campanaro, Moss and Ng “all wrestled well tonight.”
The final results were as follows: 96 pounds – Jerry Taggart (Monticello) won by forfeit; 103 – Tom Carney (Red Hook) won by forfeit; 112 – Diaz (M) pinned Shawn Hughes at the 13-second mark; 119 – Bowens (M) pinned Steve Nauman at 1:06; 125 – Chris Grover (RH) won by forfeit; 130 – James Schloemer (RH) pinned Anthony Aber at 3:26; 135 – Jordan Tiberio (RH) pinned Rafiq Johnson at :30; 140 – Brugaletta (M) pinned Cody Runyon at 3:10; 145 – Ng (M) pinned James Kravic at 1:23; 152 – Max O’Meara (RH) defeated Bittinger by a 6-1 decision; 160 – John Kravic (RH) defeated Ross by a 10-6 decision; 171 – Campanaro (M) defeated Joe Picard by 2-0 decision; 189 – Bruno (M) defeated Billy Pease by an 11-7 decision; 215 – Paul Rauch (RH) pinned Rod Stickle at 5:30; 275 – Donnie Pervizi pinned Cory Waichman at :50.
Monties Top Goshen
On Thursday night, the Monticello wrestling team bounced back from its loss to Red Hook by defeating host Goshen, 55-15, in a Section IX, Division III match.
Leading the Panthers to the victory were Bittinger, Bruno, Moss and Ng – all of whom won their matches by pinfall.
Campanaro earned a 9-1 decision victory over Ty Sutherland in their 171-pound bout and Diaz won by a 6-1 decision over Evan Search at 112 pounds.
Monticello is now 3-3 overall on the season and 1-0 in Division III. Goshen fell to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in Division III.