Heaney's season ends in disappointment
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Sean Heaney was a win away from guaranteeing himself all-state honors in this past weekend's New York State Public High School Athletic Association Division II wrestling championships in Albany. Unfortunately, it was not to be for the Mattituck/Greenport senior. But the circumstances under which Heaney lost his final match of the season in the 189-pound weight class were of the rarest form.
Less than two minutes into the first period, he had his opponent, senior Zak Griffith of Warsaw, on his back.
Before the championships, Heaney had said that his strategy would be to go for the first takedown, and with it take control of the match. Against Griffith, Heaney had both.
"We were screaming: 'He's pinned! He's pinned!'" Greenport/Mattituck Coach Cory Dolson said of himself and his assistant as they looked on.
One minute 58 seconds into the match, the referee slapped the mat. It was over.
Heaney, who according to Dolson is fairly unemotional, was beaming. Like his coaches, Heaney thought he had won.
"What do you say?" Dolson said. "He thought he'd achieved all-state. That was his goal. For 10 seconds you think you've achieved your goal. Then all of the sudden, you don't. It's tough. You try to tell him he had a great season. The way it ended was kind of difficult to swallow."
Dolson said that in his mind, it was not a good call. But there was no reversing it. Heaney's season had ended one match shy of his goal, his final season record at 35-2.
"That's a great season regardless of what happened," Dolson said.
The 11th-seeded Heaney found himself in Saturday's consolation bracket after experiencing his first defeat of the season at the hands of top-seeded Vincent Gallo, a senior at Schalmont High School in Schenectady.
Dolson said Gallo had a quick and effective double-leg takedown move that Heaney knew would be coming. Early in the match, Heaney was able to fend it off.
But Heaney could not evade it forever, and in one lightning-quick strike, Gallo had both arms around Heaney's legs. He lifted Heaney off the mat for a two-point takedown.
Heaney spent most of the second period struggling to get off the mat, and Dolson said Heaney did not have enough energy in the third to complete a comeback. Gallo won a 6-3 decision in Friday's quarterfinals.
While Dolson said Heaney could have wrestled better, he also said he could have helped Heaney develop a better game plan that could have made the match more winnable. But in the end, Dolson said, Gallo was just a little better.
To get to the quarterfinals, Heaney breezed past junior Rochayne Clarke of Riverdale-Kingsbridge High School in the Bronx. It looked like one of Heaney's opening-day matches in the Section XI Championships when he scored three pins in a total span of less than five minutes. Heaney was victorious over Clarke by a pin at 1:14.
The win made Heaney one of just two Division II wrestlers from Suffolk County to win their opening match on Friday. The other was Oskar Ramirez of Hampton Bays in the 145-pound weight class.
After finishing Friday 1-1, Heaney started quickly again on Saturday, pinning eighth-grader Harry Nicastro of Oyster Bay at 2:42.
Of Heaney's two wins, Dolson said, "He went right out there just like we wanted and went right after the kids, which is something we were working on."
Heaney did it again in the last match of his high school career. But while he had Griffith on his back, Heaney's back was on the mat as well. And that was the bittersweet ending to a career record of 114-32.
"I can't be more proud of the kid," Dolson said. "The program is definitely going to miss him in the near future."
jwilliams@northshoresun.com
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1 comments found
: 3/4/2010
Thank you, Sean, for a VERY exciting wrestling season! Best of luck in all you do.
