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It was Carmona’s second consecutive Mamaroneck title. Carmona, a New Rochelle resident, won his weight class despite weighing 198 pounds and yielding at least 20 pounds to Serrano.
“I felt I was a little off and I was afraid I was not going to perform to the best of my ability,” said Carmona, a New Rochelle resident. “He was focusing on using his weight to his advantage. My coach said if I could control his hands, I would be able to explode and I would be back in the match.”
Carmona was referring to Hackley coach Fran Stanek after Serrano took a 2-1 lead into the third period.
Carmona chose bottom to start the third and would reverse Serrano one minute into the third period. From that point on, Carmona remained in control as Serrano tried desperately to extricate himself.
“I just needed to keep following him and needed to keep him on the mat,” Carmona said. “I also wanted to tire him out because I also felt that stamina was good and my drive was good.”
Carmona said he wanted to win the tournament even more so this year, especially considering he was undersized, weight-wise.
“I am used to being the smaller guys in a weight class so I wanted to show it’s not the size of the man in a fight but the size of the fight in the man,” Carmona said.
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