Hard work. Dedication. Constant drive. Progression.
Those are all adjectives that describe Carle Place sophomore wrestler Moses Morales (126), who punched his ticket to the NYSPHSAA Wrestling championship in Albany.
Morales finished in second place in Nassau County after falling to reigning county champion Brendan Fox, out of Seaford, 2-0 by decision in the Division II title match.
“We were confident going in, but it didn’t work out,” said Carle Place head coach Steve Sebastopoli. “We’ve made adjustments for states and are looking to score points and get on the podium.”
Morales finished in fourth place a season ago as a freshman, his first year wrestling at the varsity level. This was also his first all-county placement. The offseason is where you reflect on your most recent season and fine-tune or completely revamp parts of your game/approach.
“He’s fine-tuned techniques, especially on top, improved his takedowns and matured overall,” Sebastopoli said. “After last season’s fourth-place finish, he showed how badly he wanted it by putting in time during the offseason and doing additional club wrestling sessions after practice.”
Ever since he was called up to varsity as a freshman, he’s taken the bull by the horns.
“He showed a high level of maturity with a strong work ethic,” Sebastopoli said. “He came into practice every day looking for opportunities to improve, and through hard work and dedication, we saw daily progress.”
Carle Place is the smallest school in Nassau County, so it’s no surprise that its wrestling team is smaller than the rest of the county’s. It was a very young group for Sebastopoli, who is about to wrap up his first year as the Frogs’ head coach.
“Moses was one of our captains,” Sebastopoli said. “He brings maturity and passion and helps motivate teammates. Carle Place is the smallest school in Nassau County and about 80% of our roster were first-year wrestlers, so he stepped up as a true leader. As a team, we made the all-honor team with a 90+ GPA, reached the dual meet playoffs and are sending a wrestler to states.”
Wrestling became a passion for Morales just three years ago, when he wrestled for Lindenhurst High School as a seventh grader. His father has made quite the impact on this kid’s young career. Mr. Morales was a Nassau County qualifier when he wrestled for Port Washington High School, but he expects and wants more from his son.
“Everybody in my family wrestled, especially my dad,” Morales said. “He really got me into wrestling and I just never stopped from there. He always wants me to do better than him. You don’t really have many people with that mindset who want you to surpass them.”
Some high school wrestlers will never have the opportunity to participate at this stage. Even though Morales fell short at states, he still achieved something most wrestlers never get to experience as just a sophomore. A lot of preparation still went into the opportunity.
“A lot of it is mental preparation — building confidence, developing game plans and taking one match at a time,” Sebastopoli said. “Moses also dealt with injuries, so working through adversity, improving conditioning and fine-tuning technique on his feet and on top are key focuses.”
Morales entered the tournament as the No. 19 seed, facing off against the No. 14-seeded Peter Filli out of Ichabod Crane. Filli won on a tech fall, sending Morales to the consolations. He then wrestled Long Island native Evan Seppe from Miller Place and lost 10-0 by way of major decision.
Morales’s sophomore season has come to a close, but with the adversity he faced and still reaching this point, the sky is the limit. He’ll have two more years to get back to states and potentially add a podium finish to his resume. That’s been the goal for the Carle Place prodigy.
“We have two more years with Moses, and this is setting the foundation for Carle Place wrestling,” Sebastopoli said. “With many newer wrestlers and Moses returning, we’re looking to continue building the program.”
