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Royals

With a new school year around the corner, look back at Port Jefferson alumni through the years

Richard Olson taught U.S. History in the Port Jefferson school district from 1967-2002. He also served as the yearbook advisor from 1988-2014.

During that time, he amassed a collection of photos from events like homecoming, prom and class trips. With a new school year set to begin, take a look back at alumni from eras gone by.

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Billy Witrock competes in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles during the Eddy Games. Photo from Andrew Witrock
Billy Witrock holds up his first-place trophy. Photo from Andrew Witrock
Billy Witrock holds up his first-place trophy. Photo from Andrew Witrock

Port Jefferson senior Billy Witrock came home from the Eddy Games track and field competition in Schenectady a star.

During the meet, the athlete not only took first place in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, but also set a new Port Jefferson record in the event, with his time of 55.27 seconds.

“I am really happy about it,” said Witrock, who runs on the cross country, winter and spring track teams.

The previous school record of 55.49 seconds was held by Danny Gross and set in 2014.

“He really did an excellent job in a difficult race,” head coach Rod Cawley said.

Aside from being a student-athlete, Witrock also serves as class president. He will be attending Tufts University.

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Nine players score points in total team win

They may be small and they may be young, but the Royals can score.

Teamwork was the name of the game on Thursday for Port Jefferson: Freshman midfielder Matt Murphy tallied four of his team’s 19 goals on the way to a near shutout of Mercy, 19-1, as senior attack Marco Scarda and junior attack Brian Mark added hat tricks, and six other Royals scored or assisted in the team’s win.

“They work hard together,” Port Jefferson head coach Taylor Forstell said. “The more offensive threats you have in any game, the more it’s going to help your team out. A lot of these guys don’t necessarily get a lot of game time, so it’s good that they can come out here and be offensive presences and compete.”

Senior midfielder Max Scandale started the scoring off just over a minute into the first quarter after he swiveled around defenders and shot through traffic for a 1-0 lead. Seconds later, freshman attack Nick Koban scooped up a turnover off the draw and passed to senior midfielder Shane Bruno in front, who found the back of the cage. Scarda scored unassisted next, and then sophomore midfielder Thomas Mark looped around the cage and faked a pass outside to confuse the defense, instead feeding the ball to junior midfielder Chandler Sciara, who scored to give the team a 4-0 advantage.

Next was where Murphy stepped in, taking the ball to goal off a turnover at midfield, and with the goalkeeper hugging the left post, raced past while shooting the ball toward the far open corner.

“The teamwork was there, there was good passing and it wasn’t any singular guy,” he said of the team’s total effort. “We worked together.”

Murphy shot again seconds later and it was deflected in by Brian Mark, ending the first quarter with the Royals leading 6-0. Port Jefferson dominated the time of possession despite struggling at faceoff, as the team’s midfield and defense was able to force multiple turnovers all evening. Mercy held the ball in the final minute, racing into the Royals’ zone to try to get on the board, but Murphy stayed on a Mercy midfielder’s back, knocking the ball out of his stick and out of bounds for a turnover.

“The guys played hard,” Forstell said. “They came out from the first whistle, and to the last whistle they played hard. They stayed true to the game plan.”

The elder Mark scored unassisted to start off the second, and capped off the quarter with his hat trick goal. Murphy also added his second and third goals of the game in the second, as did Scarda.

“We put in a new offense the other day so that’s been helping get the ball around and get it to everybody so that we don’t have to rely on one or two people to carry the team,” Mark said. “Getting everyone else involved makes it more even and makes it harder for other teams to defend against us.”

By the end of the first half, Port Jefferson had a 15-0 lead on Mercy, which scored its first and only goal at the 10:48 mark of the third stanza.

“We did a good job of possessing the ball on offense, keeping it in our end, keeping it away from them so they couldn’t score — and then when it did go over there our defense did a good job of turning it over and getting it back to us,” Mark said. “It was a good job of keeping it on the offensive side and keeping it out of their hands.”

Mark said that despite the team not getting off to a strong offensive start in the beginning of the season, the team has began to click in the last couple of games. Although his Royals (3-6 overall, 3-3 in Division III) had four straight losses prior to their current three-game winning streak, the matchups were close battles, with two of the four being two-goal games.

Port Jefferson is looking to maintain a .500 league record to be in a good position for the playoffs. The Royals have five games left this season, with the next three matchups being against the top three teams in the division. Port Jefferson made it to the first round last year, despite still being a new program, and lost to Mattituck/Greenport/Southold, 16-8, in the Class C semifinals. The Mattituck team is currently at 5-1, while Babylon remains undefeated at 5-0.

“Last year it didn’t feel too good losing in the first round, so we’re looking to get to the county championship,” Mark said. “Once you get there, you never know what could happen.”

Danielle Turner, who is currently the assistant principal at North Country Road Middle School in Miller Place, will take over July 1

Danielle Turner was previously the assistant principal at North Country Road Middle School in Miller Place. File photo from Danielle Turner

A new athletic director has entered the kingdom.

After an extensive search, Port Jefferson school district hired Danielle Turner to be the new face of Royals athletics, taking the helm on July 1 and replacing Edward Cinelli, who has served as interim athletic director since former leader Deb Ferry left in December.

“I’m super excited to get in there and start,” Turner said. “Being an athletic director has always been my goal. It’s a small community, a very supportive community. I think for me Port Jefferson is the perfect fit.”

The Sayville resident and Farmingdale native is the assistant principal at North Country Road Middle School in Miller Place, a role she took after first applying for the athletic director position there. She will follow former assistant principal Robert Neidig to Port Jefferson, who himself left Miller Place to become the principal at Port Jefferson Middle School.

North Country Road Principal Matt Clark said Turner will do a phenomenal job for the Royals.

“She did a really nice job of acclimating right to our culture and I could tell right away she had tremendous initiative,” he said. “We were very impressed when she stepped in and became a big part of the fabric of what we do. She’s done a great job of team building within teachers and she’s also done a really nice job of supervision of both faculty and staff. We’re really proud of her.”

After graduating from Sachem, Turner received a bachelor of science degree in physical education from SUNY Cortland. She followed that up with a master’s in athletic administration and coaching from Stony Brook University, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in educational administration and supervision from St. John’s University. She also holds certification in the areas of the Dignity for All Students Act, crisis prevention intervention and first aid, and is a certified personal trainer.

Danielle Turner will take over as athletic director at Port Jefferson on July 1. Photo from Port Jefferson school district
Danielle Turner will take over as athletic director at Port Jefferson on July 1. Photo from Port Jefferson school district

Turner received her first teaching and coaching positions at Longwood Middle School, where she was a physical education teacher and varsity volleyball coach from 2008-12, while also coaching lacrosse and basketball at different levels. She later served as assistant principal at Eastern Suffolk BOCES’ Premm Learning Center and Sayville Academic Center.

“I went from teaching phys ed with sixth-graders to being a special education assistant principal, which was extremely difficult but also was just a great learning experience for me in terms of the types of students that I dealt with,” Turner said in an interview.

David Falco, a physical education teacher at Sachem North and the school’s varsity football coach, instructed Turner when she was on the girls’ basketball team there. He said his former athlete was a dedicated, tough inside player. As a SUNY Cortland alumnus, he was an integral part of her college discussion.

“She has a love of sports and kids, she has a great rapport with parents and the other administrators in the building, and I’ve seen her interact with all of those groups in a very positive way,” he said. “I think the sky is the limit for Danielle in regard to athletic administration, and I think that’s because of the way she approaches all the different tasks she has — and that’s because of her work ethic.”

Turner, who is also making waves as a female boys’ basketball referee, said she’s thankful for those like Lisa Lally and Deb Ferry, Miller Place and Port Jefferson’s former longtime athletic directors, for paving the way for females.

“I owe it all to them,” she said. “They’ve been super supportive and helpful, and excelled and thrived in the position.”

She thinks Port Jefferson is the perfect place for her because of its small, intimate setting, and said she was excited to learn that the athletic office was within the high school.

”Port Jeff obviously has a great reputation academically, so I definitely keep up with that reputation while getting a feel of the land,” she said. “I want to continue with producing quality student-athletes and ultimately improve upon those programs in whatever way we can. I am again just so thrilled to be able to see the kids in action, and get out there at games supporting our kids.”

Middle Country's Solyman Hatami connects with the ball. Photo by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

Despite wind-whipped conditions, the Middle Country boys’ tennis team managed to pull out its second win of the season over Port Jefferson, 5-2, to earn the No. 3 spot in League VI behind undefeated Longwood and Mount Sinai.

The Mad Dogs, at 2-1, fell 7-0 to Longwood last week, and the Royals, at 1-5, had their hands full again with Middle County, as Port Jefferson fell to its opponent, 4-3, in the season opener.

Port Jefferson head coach Dennis Christofor said the weather made a win difficult, but added that his team has played in worse conditions before, just last week against Comsewogue.

“It’s a matter of who gets more first serves in the box — and they don’t even have to be hard,” he said. “The faster you can get the ball to the other guy’s backhand the faster you’re going to win the point, because at this level, they tend to have weaker backhands than forehands.”

Nick Kafeiti sends the ball over the net in his doubles match. Photo by Bill Landon
Nick Kafeiti sends the ball over the net in his doubles match. Photo by Bill Landon

Port Jefferson sophomore Eli Doyle had his hands full as he battled Middle Country sophomore Brandon Kittle. He won the first set 4-6, but dropped sets two and three, 6-2.

“In conditions like these consistency is the key,” Doyle said. “[You need to be] placing the ball away from your opponent.”

Middle Country senior and four year varsity player Solyman Hatami won his match, defeating his opponent 2-1.

“You need to take into consideration the elements — the wind direction and the chill factor,” Hatami said. “In addition to the athletic aspect, tennis is a very skill-based sport and part of that skill is thinking.”

Port Jefferson junior Nick Kafeiti said each end of the court presented difficult conditions.

“You have to adapt to it — knowing the wind direction makes you play the ball differently,” he said. “We did OK today.”

Middle Country head coach Mike Steinberg was most impressed by seventh-grader Alejandro Perez, whose presence on the court, he said, is well beyond his years.

“It’s one of those sports that when you start young, it’s such an advantage over someone who just picks up the racket for the first time,” he said.

But Christofor said two of his juniors, who have picked up the racket for the very first time this season, have been instrumental in bringing team strategy to an otherwise individual sport.

Alejandro Perez serves the ball. Photo by Bill Landon
Alejandro Perez serves the ball. Photo by Bill Landon

“Nick Kafeiti and Dan Strehle play football and soccer,” he said. “They already have that team mentality and are able to infuse that here. They’ve taught some of the other players that are one-sport athletes how to communicate and to identify their opponents’ weakness, and more importantly, how to exploit that. And that’s a big thing with our team being so young.”

Port Jefferson’s roster is made up of two seventh-graders, two eight-graders, two ninth-graders and five tenth-graders. The team has just five upperclassmen, and Kafeiti and Strehle are two of them.

Middle Country sophomore Zachary Ferrari, who plays football for Newfield, agreed that the conditions were the biggest challenge.

“When you play in this wind it’s very hard to keep the ball inbounds, so it is frustrating at times,” he said. “And we worked on it.”

Struggling to keep the ball in play, Middle Country junior Tyler Berns said he needed to overestimate his shots to compensate for the wind, and put more topspin on the ball. He and his doubles partner, sophomore Joe Cunningham, won both sets, but Berns said he knows he needs to keep a level head.

“Coach is always telling us that tennis is such a mental game,” he said. “You can’t get too confident with today’s win because you never know who you’re going to face next.”

Middle Country hits the road to take on Mount Sinai today, at 4 p.m., while Port Jefferson hosts Mount Sinai tomorrow at 4 p.m.

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Port Jefferson's Matteo DeVincenzo, left, grapples with his Locust Valley opponent Hunter Dusold in the New York State finals matchup. DeVincenzo edged out Dusold, 2-1, for his second state championship crown. Photo by Luci DeVincenzo

Matteo DeVincenzo felt relieved.

As the clock wound down and the whistle blew, the 126-pound Port Jefferson powerhouse put another state championship title in the record books with a 2-1 victory over Locust Valley’s Hunter Dusold.

Matteo DeVincenzo hugs head coach Mike Maletta after earning his second New York State championship crown. Photo by Luci DeVincenzo
Matteo DeVincenzo hugs head coach Mike Maletta after earning his second New York State championship crown. Photo by Luci DeVincenzo

“I expected to win, so it wasn’t surprising, but it felt good,” DeVincenzo said. “Overall, I wrestled real solid and dominated up until the finals.”

That focus and determination from day one led the Royal to an undefeated season. DeVincenzo was 32-0 heading into the state championship bracket. The first upstate challenger he faced he topped 12-2; the second match, a Section X grappler, he ruled over 9-1; the third, a Section III opponent he outscored 8-4. The finals win against Dusold capped it all off for a perfect 36-0 season.

“This whole year has been about domination and preparation, so I’d say no matter where I was in the bracket I would’ve had the same outlook,” he said.

But the senior and his coaches Mike Maletta, Ian Schneider and Nick Miceli were happy to see him avenge his state semifinal loss from last season, to once again stand atop the New York podium.

“This was really his last time wrestling in New York so we knew of the significance of it and it being special,” head coach Maletta said. “Matteo is one of the best of the best. He was unstoppable.”

Schneider, the team’s assistant coach, said being just 23 years old and having the opportunity to coach in the state championship was a phenomenal feeling.

Port Jefferson's Matteo DeVincenzo, right, sizes up his competitor Hunter Dusold of Locust Valley. Photo by Luci DeVincenzo
Port Jefferson’s Matteo DeVincenzo, right, sizes up his competitor Hunter Dusold of Locust Valley. Photo by Luci DeVincenzo

“It was absolutely incredible to watch him do what he does best on the wrestling mat,” he said. “It was exciting, it was nerve-racking, it was all the emotions that ended joyously with him coming out on top. I may not ever coach a kid of his caliber in any sport again. I hope to have that, but he’s one of a kind and he’s something else as a person, as an individual and as a wrestler. He’s one of those rare gems that are out there. It was an absolute honor to coach him.”

Besides the four-time Suffolk County and two-time Eastern States champion, the Royals also sent two other wrestlers to Albany.

Sophomore 120-pounder Joe Evangelista and freshman 99-pounder Ricky D’Elia garnered some extra experience battling the bracket. Evangelista, a three-time All-County wrestler who became a county champion this year and finished with a 22-10 record, had to battle two tough All-State kids. D’Elia, who ended the season 25-7, made a couple of mistakes in a 5-3 first-round loss that sent him to the wrestlebacks.

“For their first time, it was cool for them to see the process for themselves and for Matteo,” Maletta said.

Matteo DeVincenzo has his arm raised by the referee after winning his New York State championship finals matchup. Photo by Luci DeVincenzo
Matteo DeVincenzo has his arm raised by the referee after winning his New York State championship finals matchup. Photo by Luci DeVincenzo

Although DeVincenzo will take one final trip with his coach, and D’Elia, to Virginia for nationals, but then the senior star is taking his talents to the mats of Princeton University. In college-level wrestling he will join his older brother, Tristin, who wrestles at the University of Pennsylvania, and another former Royal, Paul Cavanagh, who competes for the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

The Royals had 11 All-County wrestlers this season. In addition to the three who traveled upstate, Brendan Rodgers, Robbie Williams, Vin Miceli, Joe Longo, Alex Frohnen, Dallas Brett, Jack Collins and Ryan Walsh all earned the accolade.

“I’m proud of what we’re doing here at Port Jeff and people notice us — from the biggest school in Suffolk County to the smaller schools that we wrestle with,” Maletta said. “They know if they’re competing against a kid with a Port Jeff singlet, they’re going to be prepared.”

Seven of those 11 will be returning to the roster next season. And with a young squad that will not soon graduate, the Royals expect only to gain players over the next two seasons.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” Schneider said. “Our middle school program has a bunch of kids where we’ve lacked in the upper weight classes, so when we can fill out the lineup we’ll be that much harder to beat.”

Maletta has enjoyed his time with his grand grappler, and hopes for even bigger and better things in the future.

“I’m 45 years old and there’s been great days in my life — getting married and having kids — but putting on my suit and heading down to see Matteo be crowned a state champion was pretty special, and I’m thankful that Matteo was brought into our lives and into our wrestling room at Port Jeff,” he said. “We put a lot of effort into this and I’m aware that many coaches don’t get to coach a Matteo. I’ve been coaching for 20 years and this is a kid that will be linked with me forever.”

Matteo DeVincenzo stands atop the 126-pound competitors. Photo by Luci DeVincenzo
Matteo DeVincenzo stands atop the 126-pound competitors. Photo by Luci DeVincenzo

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Port Jefferson grad Philip Lanieri III grabs an interception for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Photo from RPI Athletics

Philip Lanieri, a former Port Jefferson Royal and third-year starter at defensive back for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was named a co-defensive player of the year, after helping the Engineers to a 9-2 overall record, a share of the Liberty League Championship and a victory in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Asa S. Bushnell Bowl Championship.

He had a team-high five interceptions with 19 return yards in 11 games. He also broke up nine passes and registered 42 tackles, including 23 unassisted and two for lost yards. He had multiple tackles in 10 games and at least one interception in four contests.

He finished third in the Liberty League in interceptions per game (0.45) and fourth in passes defended (1.27 per game) on his way to earning All-Liberty League First Team, AFCA National All-America and AP Little All-America honors.

The Engineers, who are coached by Ralph Isernia, finished the season ranked eighth in the ECAC Lambert Trophy Poll.

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Jillian Colucci makes her way to the basket untouched after forcing a tunrover. Photo by Desirée Keegan

The No. 1-seeded Port Jefferson girls’ basketball team stayed toe-to-toe with its No. 2 Pierson/Bridgehampton challenger through two quarters on Tuesday, but as time wound down, the hole the Royals found themselves in grew too deep to pull out of. The team fell 69-50 in the Suffolk County Class C finals at Riverhead High School.

“We had a fantastic season,” Port Jefferson head coach Ed Duddy said. “We started out slow, and they all came together to go on a 10-game streak. We won the league, which I didn’t expect at all, and it all came down to this game … and [Pierson/Bridgehampton] won the war.”

The girls also came together in the first 16 minutes of the game.

Port Jefferson junior forward Courtney Lewis scored the first points of a matchup that was just seven seconds old, but a minute later, Pierson countered to even the score. Lewis did it again, and after the Whalers tacked on another field goal, she added a free-throw point. She followed it up with her third field goal to put the Royals out front, 7-4. The junior banked two more points off a layup in the quarter but her team let up on defense, and the Royals were down 16-11 heading into the second quarter.

This time, it was Pierson that scored first, with a 3-pointer, followed by the two teams trading field goals before junior guard Jillian Colucci’s free-throw point made it 21-14.

After another Whalers field goal, Colucci’s own field goal and three free-throw points and junior guard Annabelle Soucy’s 3-pointer helped draw the Royals within one, 23-22. But that was as close as Port Jefferson would come the rest of the way.

“We didn’t tighten up the defense like I thought we were gonna, but also our shots didn’t fall,” Duddy said. “We got into foul trouble a little bit, but that’s the way it goes.”

Despite back-to-back treys by Soucy and Colucci, and a Lewis trifecta with 1:06 left in the third, the Royals deficit remained as a result of the lack of pressure under the boards.

Up 52-44, Pierson went on a 10-point streak before Port Jefferson junior forward Gillian Kenah scored the Royals’ first points of the quarter off an offense rebound from a missed Soucy attempt, with 2:56 left to play.

Duddy said he thought his girls got frustrated after the Whalers knocked down some threes and long field goals. He added that the Royals switched between man-to-man and zone defense and passed the ball to try to minimize the damage, but to no avail.

Lewis finished with a team-high 21 points, Colucci added 11 and Soucy finished with eight.

Despite the season being cut short, Duddy said his Royals can walk away from this season with their heads held high, as it has consistently been able to improve with each season.

“We’ve done a lot of things,” he said. “We just have to take it to that next level come the playoffs. We’re all coming back next year, and [Pierson’s team will] all be back, too. But I’m proud of my girls. I told them in the locker room that I couldn’t ask any more of them.”

With every player returning to the roster next season, the Royals will be looking to make another postseason run, and Duddy is hoping to send them off on a high note.

“I’ve been with them since they were freshmen, and I want to see them out as seniors,” he said.

When asked if he thinks his team can continue to reach new heights, Duddy said, “Hell yeah. I told them, ‘If you’re in, I’m in.’”

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Eleven Royals place in Division II tournament

Port Jefferson's Matteo DeVincenzo competes for a county wrestling title. Photo by Bill Landon

For the fourth time in his varsity career, Matteo DeVincenzo has done it again.

The Port Jefferson wrestler is headed back to states after a 15-0 win over Lajess Sawyer of Center Moriches in the 126-pound final of the Suffolk High School Wrestling Division II championship Saturday night — a win that earned him his fourth county champion title.

Teammates Rick D’Elia and Joe Evangelista also took first at 99 and 120 pounds, respectively. Vin Miceli took second at 113 pounds, falling 3-2 to his Mattituck challenger Jack Bokina, and Dallas Brett was pinned by Babylon’s Bryan Larsen at 145 pounds to put him at second atop the podium.

As a sophomore, DeVincenzo became the first Long Island wrestler ever to capture a D-II state title when he won at 106 pounds. As a junior, he finished third in the state tournament, and this is his last year to try for another state title.

After the disappointing end to his junior season, DeVincenzo is hoping to join Jamie St. John as the only Port Jefferson wrestler to win two state championships in any division.

So far this season, DeVincenzo earned a first-place finish at the David Sorenson Memorial Invitational held at Long Island Lutheran in Brookville, and a week later got a second first-place crown at the Eastern States Classic, held at Sullivan County Community College in Loch Sheldrake. To earn that latter title, DeVincenzo defeated three other state champions from a field of 60 wrestlers, and was voted Champion of Champions by his peers.

DeVincenzo’s winning season continued when he set a school record of 141 career wins during the Armstrong Cup, held in Port Jefferson on Jan. 30.

The graduating senior, who will attend Princeton University in the fall, is now a four-time Armstrong Cup champion, which according to head coach Mike Maletta has never been done before by any wrestler. He surpassed brother Tristin DeVincenzo’s record 137 wins in his first match there.

Also placing in the consolation finals at the county championship were Brendan Rodgers at 99 pounds, who pinned his opponent at 2:59; the 106-pound Robert Williams, who outscored his opponent 6-3; Joe Longo at 132 pounds, who was pinned by his challenger; Alex Frohnen, who was defeated by his opponent 2-1, at 138 pounds; Jack Collins, who lost 7-1 at 160 pounds; and Ryan Walsh, who did not have a challenger at 195 pounds.

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Vin Miceli sizes up his opponent this past season. Photo from Mike Maletta

Although the Port Jefferson wrestling team once again fell short of its goal of a League VII title, plenty of Royals will still see action this weekend — and stepping onto the podium would mean a trip up to Albany at the end of the month for a chance at an individual state crown.

“We have a group of seniors that have been working hard all season,” head coach Mike Maletta said. “It’s still yet to be seen where they’ll end this season, and it all comes down to the next two weeks.”

Matteo DeVincenzo stands atop the podium after his first-place finish at the Eastern States tournament. Photo from Port Jefferson school district
Matteo DeVincenzo stands atop the podium after his first-place finish at the Eastern States tournament. Photo from Port Jefferson school district

The Royals squad ended the year at 5-2 in conference play, suffering a loss to undefeated Mattituck/Greenport/Southold on Jan. 6 and a close 37-36 loss to Bayport-Blue Point in the final league dual meet of the regular season on Jan. 22. The team also beat Hampton Bays, 64-15, in a nonleague meet that didn’t count toward that record.

“We didn’t go 8-0 because we’re missing some of our heavier guys,” Maletta said about the team’s run.

But the team did have success in multiple tournaments.

On Jan. 9, the team took first place by outscoring 14 opponents at the David Sorenson Memorial Invitational held at Long Island Lutheran in Brookville. At the same tournament, teammates Vin Miceli, Joe Evangelista and Matteo DeVincenzo took first-place wins in their individual weight classes.

A week afterward, DeVincenzo took his second first-place crown at the Eastern States Classic, held at Sullivan County Community College in Loch Sheldrake. To earn his latest title, DeVincenzo defeated three other state champions from a field of 60 wrestlers. Simultaneously, he was voted Champion of Champions by his peers.

The Royals also won the LuHi Tournament, a separate tournament at Long Island Lutheran High School, in mid-January.

“We don’t fill out all of our weight classes, so for us to win a tournament means that our guys who were in the tournament wrestled real solid,” Maletta said. “We’ve had steady wrestling all year from guys like sophomore returning county champion Vin Miceli [and] sophomore returning All-County wrestler Joe Evangelista, and seniors Sterling Nenninger, Dallas Brett and Alex Frohnen have done a great job winning and placing in tournaments.”

Joe Evangelista controls his opponent. Photo from Mike Maletta
Joe Evangelista controls his opponent. Photo from Mike Maletta

Jack Collins also placed in two tournaments and freshman 99-pounder Ricky D’Elia won a tournament, while 106-pounder Robby Williams placed in four this season.

“We’re pretty solid from 99 up to 152 pounds,” Maletta said. “The biggest happy surprise has been Rick D’Elia at 99 pounds, how he has over 20 wins as a ninth-grader. He’s gotten valuable experience, he’s undefeated in the league, so the goal is for him to be heading upstate and getting some even more valuable experience in Albany.”

DeVincenzo’s winning season continued when the graduating senior, who will be attending Princeton University in the fall, set a school record of 141 career wins during the Armstrong Cup, held in Port Jefferson on Jan. 30.

DeVincenzo is now a four-time Armstrong Cup champion, which according to Maletta has never been done before by any wrestler. He surpassed brother Tristin DeVincenzo’s win record of 137 wins in his first match there. He’s undefeated right now with a 29-0 record, and plans to remain undefeated at the end of the month, stepping atop the podium at the state championship.

Matteo DeVincenzo may have a unique trip upstate. According to Maletta, his senior star, who is a three-time county champion, state champion and All-State wrestler, may see a familiar face in his weight class — a wrestler who defeated him in the 99-pound final in his freshman year.

“It would be fitting if they meet in the finals this year, and I have all the confidence that Matteo can top him,” Maletta said. “Coach Ian Schneider and Coach Nick Miceli and myself are just enjoying the ride right now. Very few coaches get to coach an athlete like Matteo, so we’re aware of it, and we’re going to enjoy the next month.”

Rick D’Elia competes in his final match of the LuHi Tournament. Photo from Mike Maletta
Rick D’Elia competes in his final match of the LuHi Tournament. Photo from Mike Maletta

For now, Port Jefferson is sending numerous athletes to the Section XI Division II championship on Feb. 13 at Center Moriches High School.

Other wrestlers competing will be Brendan Rogers, James Laffey, Shane DeVincenzo, Joe Longo, Dylan Berger, Brian Webb, Matt Murphy, Joe Collins, Pedro Nobrega, Chris Lepore, Ryan Walsh and Harry Cona.

“We might not be able to outpace some of the other teams that can fill up the brackets with their athletes, but we’re looking to come away with a group of champions that’s going to make Port Jeff proud,” Maletta said.

Two years ago, Port Jefferson sent a record five wrestlers to the state tournament. Last year, the team dropped back a little, sending three, but the head coach is looking to send another handful of guys back to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championship on Feb. 26 and 27.

“We’re excited about moving forward,” Maletta said. “We countdown in practice because we have to enjoy the time together, because we don’t have much longer. They’ll always be my boys, my athletes, my kids. I’m looking forward to enjoying the next week and hopefully extending it further into the end of February. It’s been a good journey.”