Jackson-Milton’s Pizzuto holds off flu for mat victory

By Eric Hamilton

BROOKFIELD — Sick as a dog — that’s the best way to describe how Jackson-Milton wrestler Santino Pizzuto has been feeling this week.

After days of vomiting and having next to no energy, no one could have blamed him if he had stayed at home in bed instead of showing up for his team’s dual match against Brookfield on Wednesday night.

Especially since when it was his turn to wrestle, the Blue Jays already had the match won, leading 45-24 with two bouts remaining.

“There’s no way I wasn’t wrestling tonight,” said Pizzuto in between visits to throw up into a trash can. “I’ve had the flu all week, but I wasn’t quitting because of that tonight.

“I knew it would be a tough match because he [Tyler Thompson] is a tough kid. But losing bothers me and if I had lost, I’d be feeling worse than I already do.”

The match, featuring two returning state placers, was tied 3-3 after the first period. Pizzuto led 7-5 in the second period when Thompson was forced to take time to stop a nosebleed.

While that was going on, Pizzuto made use of the break in the action to find the nearest garbage can and make a deposit.

Pizzuto felt slightly better after that, building a 9-5 advantage after two periods and held on for a 9-8 victory over Thompson — his second win over his rival this season.

That match was the highlight of the night, as Jackson-Milton won nine matches by forfeit en route to a 54-24 team victory.

In all, only five of the 14 matches were wrestled as Brookfield claimed two forfeit victories.

“I guess sometimes those things happen, but it’s the nature of the beast at small schools,” Jackson-Milton coach Dave Tomaino said. “We went down to Wellsville earlier this year and there were a lot of forfeits there, too.

“It’s disappointing in that we have kids on this team that love to wrestle and get in as many matches as they can, but they aren’t getting very many,” Tomaino said. “We are a good tournament team and have four or five guys that can place in almost anywhere we go and score a lot of points.”

Most of those top performers didn’t break a sweat against Brookfield as Vinnie Pizzuto (103 pounds), Tim Wiseman (112) and Johnny Matasic (125) all won by forfeit.

In the five contested matches, the Blue Jays got victories by Jarad Shook at 152 pounds and Dan Clawson at 215 pounds.

Brookfield took wins in two bouts, including standout Dan Miller who scored a first-period pin at 145 pounds. Dom Malone got a win at 130 pounds.