The Rye Garnets wrestling team lost at home Tuesday to the Eastchester Eagles, 47-31.
Despite the loss, Rye Head Coach Matt Beckley was pleased with the Garnets' performance.
"The majority of them wrestled well," he said.
Both squads were without injured wrestlers, but still had a competitive match.
"Nobody gave up," Beckley said.
Steven Valencia (171) was one of them. Valencia, who wrestled in place of Peter Julian (171), pinned Eastchester's Joe Schonborg, cutting the overall score to 35-25.
The Garnets' Joe Simolacaj (189) would get pinned, but Jake Concavage (215) would be successful against Dave Schonborg, creating another 10-point differential, 41-31.
Early in the competition, the Garnets came up big in the 112-pound weight class when Connor McWilton won by major decision for a 12-4 overall score.
Fritz Zahringer (119) was up next, but got pinned. The next bout was a tough but good three rounds for Will Florio (125), as the Eagles' Alban Kurkaj won by pin.
The Garnets came up big again in the 130-pound weight class on a good performance by Peter Kennedy. With the match score tied at 11 and a scoring discrepancy, Eastchester's Nick Perleshi was declared the winner. However, after questioning and further review, Kennedy came out on top after a compromise to put the score at 11-11 with the first takedown winning. Kennedy would then beat Perleshi for the 13-11 match score, cutting the Eagles' lead by three.
Ben Breitel (135) continued the Garnets streak, pinning Jon Spice Handler. Breitel wrestled again at 140 but would lose on a pin by Eagle Dave Masot for a 25-13 overall score.
Jake Stone (145) then lost his match as the Eagles increased the margin 29-13.
The Garnets would rebound in the 152-pound weight class, as Graham Zahringer pinned Kevin Lee and put the Garnets to within 10, 29-19.
Eastchester would then win by pin over Temur Iman (160). Rye's Steven Valencia had a stellar performance in the 171-pound weight class, but it wasn't enough to secure a victory for his team. The Eagles won by forfeit in the 225- pound weight class for the 31-47 final score.
Rye next competes in sectionals on Saturday at Sleepy Hollow, with the top four wrestlers advancing to the sectional championship. The team's current record is 8-10.
