Much like we witnessed in DI this year with Minisink Valley, there has been an undeniable message that has permeated throughout the Empire State this year in terms of Small School supremacy...
From "womb to tomb" of the 2021-2022 season, there was never a doubt who was going to be hoisting team hardware on the night of February 26th; and that proclamation turned to fact this past weekend as the Kris Harrington guided Tigers of Tioga saw two of their student-athletes ascend to individual thrones, advanced two additional wrestlers to title bouts, and placed three others in the top-8 to both runaway with the team title and obliterate the DII record for cumulative point total...
Splitting their four championship contests, the powerhouse from Section IV received winning efforts out of 118-pound 10th grader, Gianni Silvestri, and fellow sophomore 152-pounder, Ousmane Duncanson!
Silvestri, who has made triumph in MVP Arena/Times Union Center seem habitual on the personal front, is now 2-for-2 in claiming gold on South Pearl Street as he previously was the king off the 99-pound bracket in 2020 (finished 3rd at 2021 J-Men States)...
Squaring off with an opponent that has been so closely linked to him the past three years that they might as well be Siamese twins, just as in the state finals two years ago, it was Silvestri getting his arm raised versus two-time defending NYS silver medalist, Xavier Dejesus-Remchuk (Canisteo-Greenwood)...But unlike the majority of their prior showdowns which have been fairly close margins, Slvestri was utterly dominant in this chapter, registering a 12-3 major decision over his nemesis to put some polish on a brilliant 38-1 season!!!
Leading 4-1 at the end of the 2nd period (TD in the 1st, reversal in the 2nd), our top-seed from Tioga really turned up the pressure during the last 2:00 of regulation, creating separation and earning bonus points when he exploded for two takedowns and a four-point (injury time while in danger criteria) near-fall to assert his will over his very gifted, but overwhelmed opponent!
With the "w", Silvestri swept the two-match series against the Redskin junior, as he had won an 8-3 decision in leading his school to the 2022 NYSPHSAA DII Dual title last month!
Unscored upon in the lead-up to the finals, Silvestri punched his ticket to the blue mat by pitching shutouts by scores of 4-0, 5-0, and 2-0 over 2021 Journeymen State 5th, Trevor Cortright (Chenango Valley), 2020 NYS DII 6th, Carl Santariello (Marcellus-Onondaga), and 2x State medalist (3rd at '21 J-Men), Daniel Kirsch (Pioneer)!
After hard fought losses by Caden Bellis and Donavan Smith at 132 and 145 (will discuss in further detail below), Duncanson stepped to the plate and did his part to ensure that the final moment of the year would be a joyous one for the Tiger faithful, as he utilized a reversal :18 into the 2nd period for his only tally to come away with a 2-1 decision over 2020 NYS DII 6th, #4 Mitchell Gaiser (Alexander) to cap his sophomore season at 44-2...
No stranger to drama during his two-day stay in the state capital, before he was able to worry about winning a crown, Duncanson found himself needing to rally just to get to the title bout...
Trailing 4-2 at the end of the 2nd period in his semifinal clash with 2x State medalist (4th in 2021), Dakota Mascho (Portville), Duncanson earned an escape and converted a TD within the first 1:00 of the 3rd to gain a 5-4 advantage. However, an escape from his S6 opponent with :39 remaining duration set the stage for sudden victory....And in the sudden victory, Duncanson's commitment to staying aggressive paid dividends as he forced a second stall warning in the waning :02 of the extra frame to prevail in controversial 6-5 fashion!
On day #1, Duncanson was able to breath much easier, as he cruised to bonus points in the round of 16 (fall in 5:34 over General Brown's Nathan Snow) and quarterfinals (17-2 TF against Brady Heckathorn of Pioneer)!
Another Duncanson, 8th grader, Jayden, was at the heart of the second wave (consolation bracket) of production, as his 3rd place showing at 110 pounds was complemented by 5th place efforts at 126 by Tyler Roe, and a 7th out of Emmett Wood (160) to round out the SEVEN 2022 NYSPHSAA medals achieved!...Wood is now a two-time state placer, having also finished 7th this past April at the Journeymen States!
Amassing a sum of 146.0 points, Tioga surpassed the old high mark of 110 set by Central Valley Academy in 2017!!
Tioga has now won the DII State Tournament team tournament on three straight occasions (2019, 2020, 2022)!
Any where, any time, any place....That seemed to be the mantra incorporated by Homer's star 215-pounder, Sam Sorenson, during the COVID-plagued 2021 season...
Left without a sanctioned state tournament in which to showcase his skill set, the then Trojan sophomore upper-weight sought and found greener pastures in Wyoming, winning all 31 of his outings to hoist WHAAA gold...
He then returned home weeks later to double his prizes, as he successfully claimed more "yellow medals" at the Journeymen State tournament (winning a decision over 2022 NYS DI champ, Ethan Gallo of Minisink Valley in the finals)!
Thankfully, in his junior season, he was able to avoid all those frequent flier miles and still have the privilege of being an OFFICIAL NYSPHSAA titlist in front of friends of family!
Undefeated when he stepped on the mat on Friday morning, that is precisely how the multi-sport athlete from Section 3 would finish (47-0) on Saturday night, as a rideout in the alternating :30 periods of overtime (after getting his E1 with 11 ticks remaining when he took his turn on bottom) enabled him to earn a 2-1 OT decision over 7th seeded Trent Sibble (Bolivar Richburg) in a low-scoring, but entertaining war of respective immaculate/2021 NHSCA All-Americans (Sorenson 2nd; Sibble 8th)...
The conquest of the 2022 S5 titlist [Sibble] was the only time all tournament that Sorenson could be regarded as vulnerable on his mission to repeat as a NYS gold medalist...All three of his prior matches ended in the same manner, with a slap of the mat in times of 0:49, 2:37, and 3:03 against the sectional champs from S1 (Jacob Cassidy; Putnam Valley) and S9 (Matt Oosterom; Port Jervis), and the S6 runner-up, Trevor Barry (Iroquois)...Sorenson did not allow a single point in locking up the finals nod for a second year in a row!
While no one will argue that Sorenson is the present face of the Homer program, interestingly enough, it was his much lighter teammate, Talan Hubbard (110) beating him to the punch in accomplishing a significant feat...
Because Sorenson's crown occurred at J-Men and not a NYSPHSAA sponsored event, it meant that his 10th grade peer [Hubbard] became the school's first formal NYS State titlist since Tim Payne went all the way at 154 pounds in 1967, when he posted 3-0 goose-egging of Andrew Spaulding (Honeoye Falls-Lima)!
Scoreless after the initial 2:00 of the 1st period, Hubbard, who wrapped up his title journey with a 36-2 record, did all the damage he would need during the middle stanza, gaining a quick escape 12 seconds into the 2nd period before adding some invaluable insurance with a takedown in the last :10 to carry a 3-0 edge into the 3rd...Spaulding opted to begin on bottom, but was unable to free himself as Hubbard rode out the full duration to preserve the shutout!
This was the second occasion in which Hubbard toppled Spaulding; In late-December in the finals of the Windsor Christmas Tournament, he recorded a fall in 4:46!
Positioned on the top line of his bracket (identical to Sorenson), Hubbard too was a force-to-be reckoned with on Friday, as he secured pins in both of his first two matches---2022 S1 titlist, Laaz (Ardsley), and 2022 S3 bronze, Dylan Nolan (JE/PB/US/CM) in matching times of 1:32!
All even at 2-2 heading into the 3rd period of his semifinal contest, a Hubbard reversal, followed by a hard 1:40 ride was the difference-maker in his 4-2 decision over 2022 Section IV 3rd, Aidan Shufelt (Groton), who entered as the #12 seed!
Despite having won two of the four NYSPHSAA State Dual crowns, as well as putting at least one individual on the top of the podium of a NYS Championship tournament in every year since 2014, there remains this stigma that when it comes to Long Island wrestling, they are a predominantly large school focused region!!
On Saturday night, a quartet of natives (two from Section 8, two from Section 11) did everything they could to dispel those misconceptions when they strung together a run of four consecutive titles from 126-145!
In doing so, it marked the second straight appearance for the two downstate powers where they enjoyed equal or greater success in DII than they did in DI (2020: 4 in each classification)!
Getting the proverbial rolling for the Long Island contingent in the finals round was returning 3x All-Stater, Max Gallagher (Bayport Blue Point)...
A state silver medalist (after placing third the prior year) the last time he graced Albany with his presence in 2020, many of the pundits anticipated seeing the current BBP junior win his first state title last season at the J-Men...However, the injury bug bit hard, forcing the top-seed to default out of the tournament after advancing to the semifinals...
Fast-forward to the present, and Gallagher again landed on that first line of the bracket. Only this time, nothing stood in his way of fulfilling his destiny!
Utterly and/or completely dominant from beginning to end, the Barn Brothers/KD Trained standout routinely piled up points in all four of his bouts, with his body of work culminating behind a four takedown, three set of swipes display that yielded an 18-2 technical fall over surprise finalist/7th seeded Johnny Vicario (Eden) in the 126-pound title bout!
To put into perspective how mind-blowingly impressive Gallagher was in his third trip to the NYSPHSAA tourney, it ought be stated that as one-sided as his title match reads, his three earlier victories followed a similar script.
In the round of 16, he used four TDs and two tilts to establish a 15-2 lead before sticking 2022 PSAL champ, Tiki Graham (Eagle Academy) in 2:20...
The quarterfinals was a seven takedown affair where the Suffolk stud held a 15-4 advantage at the time of his pin + win (5:17) over 2021 Journeymen NYS 4th, Gavin Ciarfella (Medina)
More of the same ensued on Saturday morning, as Gallagher blew open a 5-0 lead at the end of the 2nd period by pouring it on to the tune of three TDs + turn to emerge with a 15-3 major decision in the semis versus 4th seed/2022 S3 titlist, Trey Kimball (Camden)
"Max the Magnificent concluded his junior year as the owner of a 36-0 sheet!
Picking up that "title ball" where Gallagher left it was his former high school teammate, Joe Sparacio (34-0), who transferred to Mattituck at the start of the 2020-2021 school year.
A two-time NYS medalist (4th in 2019, injury defaulted to 6th at the '21 J-Men), Sparacio's title came in one of, if not the most competitive bouts of the night (regardless of division), as he climbed out of a 3-0 hole at the end of the 2nd period by striking for six of the final eight bouts en route to a 6-5 decision over the 2x State 4th cited above, [Caden] Bellis...
Surrendering late scores in each of the first two periods (TD with :24 to go in the 1st; escape in the last 15 ticks of the 2nd) to burden himself with the deficit, Sparacio never panicked, and instead responded to the adversity by inching his way back into the bout, starting with a reversal :09 into the third to cut Bellis's edge to 3-2...
Following the reversal, Sparacio was awarded NF to go ahead 4-3 with 1:14 to go in the match. But alas, a coach's challenge, which instigated an extended conference/meeting of the minds resulted in the swipes being waved off, meaning that he again trailed by a single point...
Giving the free release to his S4 foe off the restart to make score 4-2, the Tucker senior notched an equalizing takedown with :44 still on the clock...
Approximately 20 seconds later, the big blow was dealt by the S11 rep when he was able to throw in a leg and cinch up a wrist to pull Bellis onto his back from a standing position for 2NF to seize his first advantage of the match...
Bellis did muster an escape in the last :07, with such short time remaining, any attempts at steal proved frugal!
The dub over Bellis was the second of two triumphs he enjoyed on day #2 over a multiple-time NYS placer....One round earlier, he capitalized on TDs in the 1st and 3rd periods to knock off top-seed/2x medalist (3rd at 2021 J-Men), Nicholas Noto (HFL), 5-2
Sparacio snatched local bragging rights on Friday, pinning Seaford's Louis Cannata in 31 seconds in R16 and then closing out the first day of action with a 10-4 decision against Shoreham-Wading River's Tristan Petretti in a quarterfinal rematch of the 2020 Suffolk Title bout (WBF 3:54)!
Passing the torch to Nassau, it was Drexel University committed/current Clarke senior, Jordan Soriano (37-1), completing the trifecta at 138 pounds behind a 10-1 major decision over #9 seed/2022 S5 champ, Caleb Sweet (South Seneca)!
The first wrestler from his school to win the NYSPHSAA crown, Soriano was also a Journeymen gold medalist last April, not to mention a 2021 NHSCA Junior National 3rd place finisher in Virginia Beach!
Regarded by many as the heavy favorite in his bracket despite being awarded only the #2 seed, the Savage Wrestling Academy protegee did nothing to dissuade the high praise bestowed upon him for the better part of the past year-and-a-half!
Coming out of the gate on fire, the future Dragon propelled himself to an early 5-0 lead (end of the 1st) when he converted a TD 37-seconds into the bout and then added a turn for the full count in the final :15 of the opening period...Never one to rest on laurels or remove his foot from the gas, the Ram tacked on one takedown apiece in each of the next two stanzas to account for his runaway triumph!
In and out of the national polls throughout the past year, Soriano's toughest test came in the semis when fell behind 2-1 at the end of the 1st period against 2022 S3 titlist, Kace Cook (Central Valley Academy)...But to his credit, as he had done repeatedly in the past, he displayed an ability to grow stronger the deeper into the match he got...And, after successfully riding out the entire 2nd period, he took firm control in the 3rd, escaping 24 seconds in to square the match at 2-2, and then beating the buzzer when he transitioned from a single-leg into a double finish for a mere :02 showing on the clock for 2+2!
Earlier (Friday) in the proceedings, there was no cause for suspense, as the S8er pinned Section 7 champ, Sawyer Bell (Beekmantown) in 1:44 in the round of 16, and wrapped up day #1 with a 4:09 stick (while up 13-0) of S4 champion, Nate Merwin (Walton-Delaware Academy)
Putting the finishing touches on "Strong Island's" four-bout title streak was the man who handed Soriano his lone loss of 2021-2022, Cold Spring Harbor 12th grader, Jackson Polo!
Another of former Hofstra All-American, Justin Accordino's pupils at SWA, the Ivy League accepted (UPenn) Seahawk grabbed the top prize in his final attempt (finishes of 5th, 3rd, 3rd from 2019-2021) when he struck for takedowns in the first :18 and :48 seconds into the 1st and 2nd periods en route to a 5-3 decision over Tioga's Donavan Smith (2021 J-Men State 7th) in the 145-pound finale!
Unconquered in all 36 of his appearances in his swan song, the future Quaker did have to survive more than a slight scare in his semifinal match, as he was on the wrong side of a 5-4 scoreboard at the end of the 2nd period versus 3x Section II finalist/2022 champion, Owen Hicks (Fonda-Fultonville-Johnstown)..
Initiating a wild last 2:00 that produced 10 total points and saw both competitors put the other on his back, Polo jumped into the lead for good approximately half a minute into the 3rd, when from bottom he shook Hicks off the top and naturally turned into perfect cradle position for the reversal + 4NF (blood time when in danger) to swing momentum into his favor, 10-5, with just 29 seconds remaining....In the waning moments (:05), Hicks hit his own reversal to the back for 2+2, but the horn sounded before he could collect the necessary allotment of swipes, as he fell 10-9 in an instant classic!
Bonus points were the name of game on Friday for Polo, as he racked up eight TDs and a 3NF to post a 20-5 TF over 3x PSAL champ, Mitchell Barcus (Eagle Academy), before complementing it with a quarterfinal win by fall (4:29) over 3x NYS qualifier, Luke Tomlinson (Maple Grove)...
While the thrill of being a state champion is life-changing for a person regardless of where they reside; there is just something extra special/magical when those years of blood, sweat, and tears are rewarded with a celebration/coronation in own's own backyard!!
For Canajoharie-Ft. Plain senior 172-pounder, Reed Douglas, and Warrensburg-Bolton 11th grader, Tristen Hitchcock, all those hours honing their craft at the Journeymen Wrestling Club culminated with state gold less than one hour apart from one another!
Douglas, who will continue his education and athletic journey (no pun intended) in the SoCON at Presbyterian College, made quite the argument for why the Albany regional should be renamed "Section 172" when he converted his single-leg attempt with :02 remaining in the 3rd period to win a 3-1 decision in the finals against fellow S2 rep, Ray Hutton (La Salle Institute) in a rematch of their sectional title match (won 6-4 in sudden victory by Douglas)...
By virtue of his victory, the soon-to-be "Blue Hoser" handed sectional 2 a sweep of the 172-pound hardware, as Dylan Schell (Queensbury) got the job done on the adjacent DI mat just minutes earlier!
The first wrestler in program history to win a state title, the narrow victory over his sectional teammate was the only time all weekend that Douglas went beyond the 2nd period as reeled off three consecutive falls in the round of 16 thru the semifinals over 2022 S8 titlist Ryan Mastropaolo (Island Trees; 3:00), 2022 PSAL champ, Carlos Guzman (RKA; headlock for the pin in 0:34), and 2022 Section 5 gold medalist, Lucas Dendis (South Seneca; tossed for the stick in 3:04).
#5 in the field; Douglas also had the honor of being the lowest seed to win a small school brass ring this season!
Hitchcock, who unlike his JWC colleague [Douglas] was the furthest thing from an underdog, proudly and successfully lived up to his top-billing when he closed the show (last match to be completed on Saturday night) on the '22 NYSPHSAA season by stuffing a shot and spinning behind for the winning TD with :35 remaining in sudden victory to defeat three-time Section 3 medalist/2022 champ, Nick Rogers (General Brown), 3-1!
Exchanging escapes in the 2nd (Rogers with :04 to go) and 3rd periods (Hitchcock 27-seconds into the period), the junior Burgher almost saw his title aspirations curtailed when Brown got in deep and was within inches of finishing a takedown in the last :20 of regulation...However, Hitchcock bravely maintained a lock around his opponent's torso and was able to survive as the buzzer sounded.
A LONG (several minutes) video review confirmed the the no-take ruling, setting the stage for the Hitchcock to send the crowd home with ear-to-ear smiles!!!
The rest of Hitchcock's path to the first of what could be two career golds (returns in 2023) was met by nothing but mat slaps, as one-by-one, he established leads in the 1st period before ultimately asserting his will in the form of falls over 2022 Section champ, Charles Batista (Lourdes), 2022 S6 titlist, Charles Larose (Newfane), and 3x State qualifier/Section 7 gold medalist, Connor Bushey (Beekmantown) in times of 2:29, 2:22, and 3:08!
His only losses suffered this season coming against undefeated DI State champs, Ethan Gallo (215; Minisink Valley) and Charlie Tibbitts (New Hartford; 285), Hitchcock deserves a bow after compiling a 49-2 resume!
He too is now a trend-setter in the hallways of his school, as the first in history to check the "state crown" box!
If you have followed the storied career of Gouverneur senior, Carter Baer, since the very beginning (7th grade in 2017), then it quite comprehensible to have exhausted the full array of adjectives and superlatives required to properly capture the breadth of his legendary status...
So rather than bust out the thesaurus, instead consider this very real and spot on declaration made by one of our peers at press row during the weekend.
"Baer is at such a different level that most people in this state that he could have shown up on an hours worth of sleep, with two broken feet, and a nasty cold, and he still would have been 1:100 betting favorite just based on reputation and track record."
And as insane and intentionally over-the-top as that comparison was, if we're being candid, it may have still understated the degree to which the future Binghamton Bearcat wreaked havoc on the 160-pound weight class, both this season and especially last weekend!
Putting a bow on a legacy that witnessed him earn a state-level medal on five different occasion (would have been six if not for an injury his freshman year) and finish with THREE consecutive golds, Baer was so lethal on Feb. 25/26th that he never exceeded 2:42 in any of his four matches en route to dropping the hammer in his encore act as a Wildcat!
Registering three takedowns in the first 1:00 of his state title match versus Nick Brown (Springville) to gain the 6-2 lead, the extremely versatile Baer then shifted to some mat mastery, as turned the 2022 S6 titlist three times to increase his cushion to 14-2 at the end of the 2:00.
His opponent [Brown] electing to start the 2nd period on bottom, Baer simply picked up where he left off, tilting his foe twice in the first half-minute (for 2NF each time) to terminate the contest by way of 18-2 technical fall...
In what was accurately labeled as a "rinse and repeat" type of demonstration for the section 10 all-time great, no matter who towed the line against Baer, the outcome did not deviate much!
In the semifinals, he converted a pair of TDs in the first :30 before securing the fall over 2022 S3 bronze medalist, Aydin DeForest (Mt. Markham)!
On Friday, 24 of his 30 total points were scored from the top position as he posted matching 15-0 technical falls in times of 1:22 and 2:42 in the round of 16 and quarterfinals against the runner-ups from sections 3 and 6, Ike Svitavsky (JE/PB/US/CM), and Donald Bennett (Pioneer)!
A perfect 38-0 now finalized, Baer did not go the distance once during all of 2021-2022!
While Islam has Muhammad and Mormonism is credited to Joseph Smith, New York Wrestling has a prophet of their own in the person of Gorilla Grapplers founder/Head Coach, Nate Leonard!
Flashing back to the last summer, Leonard messaged us stating the following..."Florance is about to become the next great one."
That prediction came to fruition on the evening of February 26th, when the 2x State medalist/2021 J-Men States runner-up out of BGAH took "perfection" to an entirely different category, out-scoring his four opponents by a margin of 34-0 to hoist individual hardware in the 102-pound weight class!
Squaring off with returning Journeymen State 4th, Gabe English (Berne-Knox-Westerlo) in the championship contest, Florance drew first blood 90 seconds into the 1st when he converted a TD and then rode out the rest of the period to carry the 2-0 lead...
An escape at the onset of the 2nd was all the scoring that occurred during the next two minutes as the advantage grew to 3-0!
Florance then chose to begin the final stanza on the feet; a decision that paid off 43 ticks later when he iced the "w" with his second takedown of the match to account for the 5-0 final tally!
The budding section 4 superstar's prowess as a mat technician came into play to an even greater degree one round earlier, as all five of his points were earned in this manner when he broke open a scoreless bout after one period but securing a reversal and then locking up/rolling over a cradle for the full set in the 2nd period to do all the damage necessary in his 5-0 decision over HFL's heralded 8th grader, Christopher Noto!
After amassing 11 of 16 points (16-0 TF) in his round of 16 win over Section 1 titlist, Ciaran Egan (Pleasantville), Florance relied on two TDs and a reversal on his way to the 8-0 major decision in the quarterfinals against Noto's HS teammate, Jacob McVige!
In the case of this extraordinary sophomore [Florance], perfection begot more perfection as he concluded his 2021-2022 season with a 28-0 mark!
There wasn't a moment this season that all eyes were not on two-time NYS placer-winner, Gabriel Monroe (Windsor) when it came to discussion of the small school 189-pound map!
For some, those lofty expectation can be a curse; but to this Black Knight senior, pressure was a privilege and he sure manufactured diamonds in his curtain call as Section 4 Royalty!
4th at the NYSPHSAA DII tournament as a sophomore, complemented by a top-6 display at Journeymen States last April, the uncommitted (get on the phone, college coaches) blue chip upper-weight, who seems to be an old soul (fan of the rock band, the Eagles), channeled his inner-Dylan Thomas, because there was not anything gentle about way he manner in which he sprinted into they good night (concluded his career)!!!
Securing falls into three of his four outings last weekend, Monroe used two sets of cradles (one for the TD, then re-locked it) to jump out to a 4-0 lead at the end of the 1st period in his title bout against 2x Section III titlist, Ethan Randall (Central Valley Academy)!
Beginning the middle stanza on bottom, wasted no time in earning a reversal; and once he was back in the advantageous position, he horsed Randall over with a brutal cross-face and held him there until the pin was recorded with :47 remaining in the 2nd period (3:13)!
The flattening of Randall added to the carnage created by Monroe, who only logged 2:13 of mat time on the first day of action, as he notched pins of :17 (cradle) and 1:56 (bundle) in the round of 16 and quarterfinals versus 3x S7 medalist/2022 champ, Jack Hanson (Peru), and S4 teammate, Devin Beach (Susquehanna Valley)...Monroe improved to 2-0 this year against Beach, having also pinned him (3:52) in the section 4 finals!
Section III silver medalist, Jared Bilinski (Dolgeville), was the only opposition to go the distance against Monroe, but a two-TD effort (one each in the 1st and 3rd periods) was sufficient for the latter to emerge with a 5-1 decision!
Windsor's first State titlist since 2013 (Matt Abbott @285), Monroe's senior year comes to its conclusion with him sporting an incredible 38-1 sheet (only loss occurring during the first week of the season in the finals of the Andersen Memorial to DI champ/nationally ranked, Kole Mulhauser, of Central Square)!
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