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RYE, N.Y. Mike DeBellis watched his Horace Greeley wrestling team prepare for its final match of the annual Bernie Mille Dual-Meet Tournament knowing his Quakers had achieved success.
The Quakers entered their final match with Brewster sporting a 4-0 record. Win or lose, DeBellis was quite pleased with his team, which had wins over perennial Division I powers, Beacon and John Jay-Cross River.
We gave up four weight classes to Beacon and three weight classes to John Jay, said DeBellis, in his fifth year at Greeley. They have been working hard and now they believe that they are a good team.
Brewster defeated Greeley to win the title, but it did not detract from an excellent showing by the Quakers, who have raised their collective of wrestling within the last few years.
Every year we have been picking up freshmen and sophomores and they have been doing a great job, said DeBellis, a former Section 1 champion during his Carmel career. We are getting the guys coming in and they love to wrestle. They have been bitten by the bug and they want to be here. They have been doing the extra work in the offseason and came into the season ready to go.
DeBellis and the program has been bolstered by the arrival of Anthony Tortora, a former Greeley standout and current assistant coach. Tortora was a two-time Section 1 champion, state place-finisher and Hofstra wrestler. DeBellis credits Tortora with handling technique and raising the level of intensity in the room.
We are focused on getting our wrestlers to improve every day so they are ready for sectionals, DeBellis said.
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