The Big Red JV Basketball Team won its third consecutive league game to up its record to 3-0.

Sophomores Tim Jackson and Craig Hansen led the way to victory. Tim Jackson scored 25 points, had 10 rebounds and four assists. Craig Hansen had 13 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots. Sophomore Andrew Morra chipped in six points and freshman Brandon Alexander scored all eight of his points in the fourth quarter. Sophomores Anthony Belotte (4 pts.) and John Heffernan (7 pts.) also had strong games. Glen Cove was down 29-25 at half-time, but outscored Division 38-22 in the second half to win 63-51.

On Jan. 11 Glen Cove scored another win against a scrappy Garden City team, 51-42.

Sophomore Captains Tim Jackson and Craig Hansen led the Big Red to victory. The pair combined for 44 of the Big Red's 51 points. With the score tied at 15-15 at half-time, Tim Jackson scored 25 of his 30 points in the second half. Sophomores Andrew Morra and John Heffernan chipped in two points each. Freshman Brandon Alexander and Kris Osbourne each made their first starts of the year.

After struggling through a strong non-league schedule against Kellenburg, Chaminade, MacArthur, Baldwin and Oyster Bay, Glen Cove opened its league schedule with a convincing 53-28 victory over New Hyde Park on Jan. 4.

The strong Glen Cove defense allowed only seven points in the first half. Sophomore Tim Jackson led all scoring with 23 points. Sophomores Andrew Morra (5 pts.), John Heffernan (7 pts.), Tom Foote (3 pts.), Craig Hansen (9 pts.) and Ryan Hahn (4 pts.) all contributed to the winning effort.

The Big Red JV will be at home again on Jan. 29 at 11 a.m. Go Big Red!

The Glen Cove High School wrestling team continued building on a successful season as they faced Roslyn in a dual meet on Friday, Jan. 7. For the second year in a row, the much-improved Roslyn team gave the Big Red all they could handle.

The match opened with Freshman George Gooden facing Roslyn's tough Chris Murray. George won the opening takedown, but came out in a tough spot after a flurry of moves between both competitors. After the opening loss, Pete Loidice picked up the pace winning a technical fall over Shane Mitchum. In a very unselfish move, Steve Sarmiento volunteered to wrestle up a weight class to take on Adam Panzer. Steve came up one second short of beating the much larger opponent in regulation time. In overtime, Panzer was able to score a takedown to give Roslyn the 9-6 lead. Sophomore Jason Lee also took one for the team as he wrestled up to Roslyn's senior captain, Mike Schwartz. With Roslyn now winning 15 - 6, Mike Smith stepped up big winning a technical fall over Marc Goldstein.

With the match now scored at 15-12 Roslyn, Victor Hidalgo returned to the mat to face Mike Kessler. Victor jarred his ankle and was not able to continue. The rest of the team rallied around Victor and the courage he showed by coming back from the 21 - 12 deficit. Jose Martinez got things rolling again with a 7-5 win over Noah Spitalnick. Jose was wrestling up a weight class to help the Big Red cover all of the weight classes. Junior Jeff Rudloff, who was also wrestling up faced the rugged Arsalan Moulana. After building a commanding lead over Moulana, Jeff was able to pin his opponent. This tied the score at 21-21. Senior Captain Mike Petikas was able to dominate Stuart Cohen to give the Big Red the 26-21 lead. Senior Mike Petulla faced Roslyn's David Barash. Barash may be Roslyn's best wrestler. After taking the early lead over Barash, Mike was caught by a slick move to give up the pin. This again gave the lead to the Bulldogs, 27-26. Matt Hurwitz lost a close match to Terry Tan. The score was now 30-26 Roslyn, and Glen Cove breathed a sigh of relief. The Big Red knew they were finishing up with Dave Graziosi and Carmine Portaro and the match was as good as won. Dave was able to score a pin over Marc Dreyfuss in the first period. The Big Red was now back in the lead 32-30. Carmine Portaro would now decide the match. Carmine left little doubt in anyone's mind who was going to win. Carmine was able to pin William Molina in 40 seconds giving Glen Cove the 38-30 victory.

This was a big win for Glen Cove as they faced a solid team without a full lineup. The wrestlers made up for the missing Marcus Bianconi by moving to some different weight classes and coming away with the win!

There was little time to rest as Glen Cove was wrestling Saturday morning at the Locust Valley tournament. In the JV tournament, Brian Meyers took first place while pinning his last two opponents. Gian-Carlos Ceceres went 3-1 on the day finishing with the third place medal.

The Varsity tournament was a tough one as many of the top-ranked teams in Nassau County showed up to do battle. Glen Cove again had a successful tournament placing 10 wrestlers out of the 15 weight classes. Sophomore Jose Martinez, who was out sick for three weeks, took a huge step forward by placing fourth in the tournament.

Glen Cove had three wrestlers place third in the tournament. George Gooden wrestled his way to the semi-finals with a win over Matt Piervinanzi of Herricks. George then lost to the tough Dave Worsdale of Bellmore Kennedy. George's day was not over though as he wrestled back to beat Danny Moroni of Baldwin 14-9 and Nairan Mahmood of Mepham 13-3.

At 140 points, Jeff Rudloff also wrestled to the semi-finals. After losing a decision to Rob Scholl of Mepham, Jeff pinned Joey Carbone of Carle Place to take third place.

Mike Petulla also took third by going three and one on the day. Mike pinned Mike Thorgramason of Locust Valley to advance against Chris Weidman of Baldwin. Mike's day was saved as Weidman, who won the tournament, made it to the finals giving Petulla a second chance. Mike did not waste this chance as he beat John McCabe of Herricks and Steve Jacobs of Lawrence to capture third place.

Six of the Glen Cove wrestlers made it to the finals. Steve Sarmiento continued his winning ways as he made it to the finals of the Locust Valley tournament for the third year in a row. Unfortunately for Steve, he had to face Travis Sickle of Bellmore Kennedy. Sickle placed fifth in last year's New York State tournament and is considered one of the finest wrestlers in Nassau County. Steve was glad he got to face Sickle. He said he knows how much harder he will have to work to get to where he wants to be.

Mike Smith saw a similar fate as he beat Steve Capello of Oyster Bay in the first round and then won a tough battle with Baldwin's Matt Strollo in the semifinals. Mike lost to the rugged Mike Abgarian of Bellmore Kennedy to take second place.

Carmine Portaro had this date marked on his calendar as soon as he found out that Herricks was going to be in the tournament this year. Carmine knew that Anthony Antoniades would be at the tournament this year. Antoniades placed third in last year's county tournament and is ranked by many as the top heavyweight in Nassau County. Carmine worked his way to the finals for a chance to face Antoniades. Carmine battled tough, but was caught on his back and was pinned in the third period. This was Carmine's first loss to a Nassau County opponent this year. He looks forward to facing Antoniades again, hopefully well into the county tournament.

Sophomore Charles McCullogh took another step forward as he made the finals in the third tournament this year. Charles lost to Rob Monti of Herricks, but continues to develop as a solid young heavyweight.

Senior Captain Mike Petikas won his second championship of the season and his second straight Locust Valley tournament championship. After beating Manny Sanchez of Lawrence in the semifinals, Mike faced Adam Schweitzer of Bellmore Kennedy. Mike wrestled well and won a 14-4 decision in the finals. Mike's record is now 15-2 and he looks stronger with each match.

Dave Graziosi had another solid tournament as he took first place honors in the 189 pound weight class. In the semifinals Dave pinned Charlie Horman of Mepham in the first period. He then faced Andrew Degeronimo of Herricks in the finals. Degeronimo was a Nassau County qualifying tournament champion in 1999 and was a formidable opponent. Dave was sloppy early as he put himself to his back to give up four points. Dave never panicked. He went on to score 12 unanswered points before pinning his opponent in the second period.

Glen Cove has now had 17 different wrestlers place in tournaments this year. Seven of those wrestlers have won tournament championships. As the season continues, it looks like it will be another big successful season for the Big Red!

Congratulations to team champion Bellmore Kennedy and their coach, Glen Cove's Brian DeGeatano.