Always listen to your coach.
It’s a truism that applies to any sport at any time throughout the history of competition. The coach is watching from the sidelines, impartial, and has wisdom and vision and all kinds of qualities that the gladiator involved in competition might not be able to see, or possess.
The coach knows best.
Except sometimes, when you ignore the coach and place a big bet on yourself, that works out too.
Giorgio Valenzuela had possibly just a few minutes left in a four-year varsity wrestling career at Glen Cove High School. This is a kid who worked out every single day over the past year and loved wrestling more than anyone, and now it was just 120 seconds from being over.
On Feb. 16 at Hofstra, Valenzuela and Macarthur’s Michael Waters were dead even, 5-5, after two periods of their 170-pound final at the Division I Tournament.
Valenzuela was looking to break a 22-year drought for the Big Red since they last had a grappler win an individual county title and, in the past few minutes, had rallied from a 4-0 early deficit to claw back into the match.
Now, coach Sean Peet and his assistants were telling Valenzuela to choose to start the final period on top. Waters was so, so good when he was on top, pinning so many wrestlers this season from that position.
“We didn’t want to go bottom first unless we absolutely had to,” Peet said. “We told him his best chance was on top. But he was pretty confident.”
Valenzuela chose bottom. And with 20 seconds left, with the match looking certain to head to overtime, the Glen Cove star made an escape from underneath Waters and earned the precious final point.
Finally, the Big Red drought was over, and the prophecy Valenzuela wrote in his journal last summer had finally come true: He was a county champ and is headed to the state tournament on Feb. 28-March 1 in Albany.
“The coaches trust me and left the decision up to me, but they definitely thought I should’ve been on top,” Valenzuela said. “I just had so much confidence in myself that I could escape. And then when the time ran out and it was over, with everyone screaming for me and my coaches going nuts … those are the moments I live for. It felt surreal.
“It still feels surreal.”
Valenzuela became the first Big Red wrestler to win counties since the late Charles McCullough in 2002, whose tournament is named at the school.
Valenzuela nearly saw his dreams dashed in the first period against Waters, nearly getting pinned while getting down by four points.
“We were very worried; he had to use all his strength and smarts to get out of that situation,” Peet said. “But that’s Giorgio, he always finds a way.”
Valenzuela, who is now 38-4 this season, was the top seed in his weight class but had to win four bouts just to make the final, including a triple overtime match in the quarterfinals.
Now that he’s a champ, going to the states and making some noise is next on his agenda. He will become the first Glen Cove wrestler to go to the states since Isiah Jackson in 2020.
“I couldn’t take my eyes off him, how excited he was (after the match) and how big this is for our program,” Peet said. “It was an amazing moment for all of us.”
Valenzuela isn’t the only local wrestler headed to Albany; in the Division II tournament held on Feb. 15,
Wheatley’s Daniel Haroon repeated as county champ.
Fighting in the heavyweight (285 pounds) division, Haroon defeated three wrestlers, including Cold Spring Harbor’s Alex Vitale, in the final with a pin at the 3:25 mark to retain his crown and head upstate.
It’ll be the second straight state tournament appearance for Haroon, a senior at Wheatley.
“It was a lot easier this year (to win) because I feel like I got a lot better, and everyone else stayed the same or got worse,” Haroon said. “It wasn’t the same excitement because last year I wasn’t expected to win, but this year, because I won last year, I felt a little more pressure.”
Haroon won despite dealing with a painful broken rib he suffered about two months ago, which obviously affected his breathing, and he said he missed a week of practice before counties to try and heal.
But Haroon said he’s feeling better and thinks finishing his career with an all-state designation (making Top 8 at states) is a legitimate possibility.
