Freeport's sights on county championships

A season removed from qualifying 13 wrestlers in the Nassau County Individual Championships and placing one as All County, Freeport is poised to compete for spots on the top of the podium this winter.

Fourth-year Freeport coach Matt Cellan is targeting a goal of around 20 wrestlers who will compete on the big stage at Hofstra’s Mack Sports Complex in February and he expects many to be in position to compete for titles. 

“The quality of our guys that are going to make the counties this year is way better,” Cellan said. “We’re not just trying to place, we’re trying to win the tournament and we have three or four guys capable of doing that.”

The Red Devils have big strength in the higher weight classes led by reigning All-County honoree Juan Ramos, who placed sixth at 189 last year and is expected to be a county champion contender at 215 this season. Ramos, a senior, is unbeaten early in the season and was ranked second in Nassau County at 190 pounds in mid-December. 

Senior Christian Greene is also expected to be title contender and was ranked third in the county a 190 in December.  Greene’s lone early-season loss came to Ramos when he was competing at a lower weight. 

Jordan Addison will also be in the mix for a deep run at counties at 215 and has gotten better by competing with Ramos at practice. His only December loss also came to Ramos. 

“They are banging heads every day at practice and definitely makes each other better,” said Cellan of having high-caliber wrestlers at the same weight.  “It’s good to have guys at the same weight having good competition with each other.”

Eighth-grader Christian McCravey is also capable of reaching the podium with a high finish in counties this winter at 102. He made history last year as the first Freeport wrestler to quality for counties as a seventh grader.

Junior Jahari Lloyd is also positioned to reach counties after just missing out on qualifying last year after falling in a double-overtime match in qualifiers last year with a tournament spot on the line. Lloyd brings plenty of experience to the table in his four season on varsity after first making the team as an eighth grader. 

Junior Anthony Velasquez (170), who made strides throughout his sophomore season to quality for counties, also has potential for a high podium finish.

“As a 10th grader he was kind of timid a little bit and then towards the county tournament time he ended up qualifying and doing a really nice job and that got him fired up for this year,” Cellan said of Velasquez. “He's been working real hard and he put in a really good offseason.”

Junior Josh Cabrera (108) and senior Ivo Gonzalez (160) are also looking to build off reaching counties last year. 

The Red Devils will be battle tested leading up to county qualifiers with a grueling dual meet schedule that includes matches against Massapequa and Uniondale. The Nassau County Division I County Championships are slated for Feb. 10-11 at Hofstra.