Kemar Shuriah pins Shaquille Williams for Curtis. (Kendall Rodriguez)
Two years ago, Chris Alena made a phone call and James Holden made a promise.
The Curtis wrestling coach dialed his star after watching the school’s girls basketball team wrap up the PSAL Class A title. He told Holden what he just saw and said it was their turn to bring home a title. The then-sophomore agreed and made a pact with his coach that they would win one before he graduated.
So it came as no surprise that Holden jumped into Alena’s arms after the top-seeded Warriors completed a 39-29 win over No. 2 Brooklyn Tech to claim the school’s first-ever PSAL Class A wrestling title at John Bowne Thursday night. His teammates and coaches crowded around them in celebration.
“Me and Coach just developed a friendship,” Holden said. “Not just a team member-coach friendship but an actual friendship. I had to do it. … I had to jump up there.”
Holden, one of the team’s premier wrestlers, was told to validate his career by Alena before his match at 171 pounds. Teammate Anthony Kiriakos had just earned a pin to make it 27-16 Curtis. The Warriors needed just two more pins to clinch the title. Holden said the phrase fired him up to make sure all his years of hard work became worth it in that moment. He pinned Andreas Kokkoros to move the Warriors closer to the crown.
“I watched him grow up into a fine young man from a little fat pudgy kid who came into that wrestling room as a freshman to now,” said Alena, who started the program 10 years ago. “To watch him grow and mature and become the wrestler that he is and the man that he is going to become, it really is heartwarming for me. It goes beyond winning trophies.”
Brooklyn Tech, which gritted out matches all night, earned a decision from Patryk Kopczynski at 189 to make it 33-17, but Kemar Shuriah quickly put an end to any comeback hopes. The senior, another of Curtis’ studs, pinned Shaquille Williams in 50 seconds after Alena made him aware of an opening.
“I’m pretty much a cocky person a little bit, but I just went out and did what I had to do,” Shuriah said. “No games.”
Added Brooklyn Tech coach Matthew Torres: “I wouldn’t want to wrestle [Shuriah].”
The Warriors (13-0) did trail at one point, 11-10, after Tyler Wong earned a major decision over Anthony Giordano at 130. Camilo Rodriguez answered with a major decision against Constantine Panagakos for Curtis at 135 to make it 15-11. From there, the Engineers (11-2), who lost to Curtis, 45-24, earlier this season, refused to get pinned, until Holden earned his. They battled valiantly against the Staten Island power, which called them their toughest opponent all year.
“When we tell them to try harder they know what that means,” Torres said of his squad. “They know what sacrifice means. They know what it takes to really push themselves to the limit.”
That’s just the way Curtis has approached things since this current group of seniors, including Chris Koehler, Jared Ward and Robert Zyko, entered the program.
But the Warriors had not achieved the ultimate success. They lost last season and in the past in the semifinals. Just making it to the final was an accomplishment in it self. Nothing, though, compared to hearing the referees’ whistle as Shuriah put his opponent’s shoulders to the mat.
“It felt like I was in heaven,” Shuriah said. “It really did.”
