High School Happenings: What Were Some Highlights Outside of Eastern States?

This article is from 01/14/14

We provided a live blog and a full recap for the Eastern States Classic, a tournament that had some of New York's best at just about every weight class.  However, there were, of course, many other events happening around the state last weekend.  Here are some of the things that caught our attention.

On the Road to Virginia ....

St. Anthony's made the trip south to the Virginia Duals, where the CHSAA squad earned fourth place with a 4-2 record.

Leading the way were undefeated wrestlers such as John Twomey (113), Ben Lamantia (120) and Marshall Winston (132).  Joe Russ put together a 5-1 weekend at 126 pounds and two-time All-State wrestler Freddie Dunau was back in the lineup for the squad, which notched wins over Timber Creek (NJ), St. Christopher's (VA), South Plainfield (NJ) and McDonogh (MD) while falling to third place Colonial Forge (VA) and the silver medal team from Nazareth (PA). McDonogh is currently ranked 32nd in the country by Intermat.

Also Out of State .... In Vermont

At the Mount Anthony Tournament in Vermont, Guilderland nabbed fifth place, driven by championship showings by Josh Logiudice at 106 and David Wolanski at 99.  Andy Cummings was second at 170.  Section 2 squads Averill Park and Salem also took the mat at the event, with Derrick Gardner earning silver for the former (at 145) and Luke Fronhofer taking second at 132 for the latter school.

State Placers Meet, As Do Rival Teams in Section 3 ....

At the Central New York Tournament at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, BGAH's Chris Cirigliano notched an 8-1 victory over Mexico's Theo Powers in a battle of 2013 state placers to win the 106 pound title.

Powers and his Mexico team took the top spot in the team standings, fueled by champions Austin O'Reilly (99), Austin Whitney (132) and Trevor Allard (160).  Behind them was Central Valley, featuring crowns by Laken Cook (138) and Landry Cook (195).

A pair of Dolgeville wrestlers notched quality wins by fall in the finals, with Triston Engle defeating Jacob Woolson at 170 and Kasey Foster topping state qualifier Lane Frost of VVS at 182.

For more, see this link.

Also in Section 3, Baldwinsville edged Cicero-North Syracuse by .5 points to win the Cazenovia Tournament.  One wrestler who has flown under the radar this year, Port Byron's Chris Pinckney, extended his undefeated season with a title at 182 and is certainly someone to watch.

And, in the always-big Section 3 showdown between Phoenix and Fulton, it was the Red Raiders who came away with a 42-36 triumph after recording a pair of pins in the last two matches.  Registering those falls were Aaron Yablonski at 152 and Travis Race at 160 to clinch the win.  They weren't the only pins for the squad, however, as all seven of the Fulton victories were worth six points. Mitchell Woodworth (120), James Bailey (170), Matt Marshall (285) and Tim Holden (138) had falls while Nick Noel (99) got his hand raised by forfeit.

Ranked Wrestlers Get the Job Done ....

Clarence captured first place at the Lockport Tournament, led by a quartet of champions - Dylan Arena (99), Ryan Burns (113), Nate Schwab (160) and Jake Weber (170). The runner up, Lewiston Porter, also put multiple wrestlers on top of the podium with DJ Marshall winning at 132 and Ryan Kromer doing the same at 152.

Several other wrestlers mentioned in our last NYS rankings took care of business, with Lockport teammates Anthony Orefice (126) and Marshall Taylor (220) earning gold, while the same was true for Fredonia's Dakota Gardner at 138.  Gardner had a win over a fellow state qualifier, Andrew Shomers of Lew Port.

Heavyweight David Case of Akron was the MOW.

For brackets, see here.

Speaking of wrestlers who competed at the Times Union Center last year, Southwestern's Ryan Hetrick avenged an earlier loss by beating Dunkirk's Tito Colom at the Patrick J. Morales Tournament in the 113 pound finals.  Meanwhile, 2013 NYS bronze medalist Brad Bihler won at 120.  Falconer, which showed dual strength over the holiday break, captured the team championship by a decisive margin of almost 80 points.

Another NYS third placer, Eden's Alex Smythe, was the MOW at the Williamsville North Tournament.  Lake Shore came out on top as a team and Freddy Eckles led the way with a crown at 126 pounds. The NHSCA All-American picked up a pin and two technical falls on his path.

While we're discussing MOWs for Section 6 teams, here are a few more: Sweet Home's 99 pounder Trent Nadeau received the honors at the Franklinville Tournament after winning all his matches by technical fall and Eddie Hutschenreuter (Alden) and Tristan Almeter (Iroquois) were tabbed at the Alden Bank State Duals.  At that event, Niagara Falls took the team title after going 7-0 over the course of the event.

For more on that, see here.

And In Section 5 .... Some Dominant Performances

At the Robert Bradshaw Invitational at Canandaigua Academy, Webster Thomas won the team race, led by champions Ian Salathiel (145) and Hayden Maltese (195).  The second place squad, Palmyra Macedon, also had two titlewinners - Emerson Block (120) and Max Lloyd (152).

Several state ranked wrestlers earned their way to the top, including Ian James of Greece at heavyweight, Tyler Schaefer of Pittsford at 220 and Derek St. James of Gates Chili at 99.  James and Schaefer both captured 3-2 wins in the finals, while St. James pinned his way through the tournament.

Also notching all falls on the way to first was 2013 state qualifier Isaiah Zimmer of Chenango Forks, who looked sharp despite missing a chunk of the season.  He grabbed the crown at 182 with only one of his four matches going past the first period.

Greece had the most individual champions, with three.  In addition to the previously mentioned James, Chris Fantauzzo (126) and Nick Bentivegna (138) came out on top.

For more on that event, see this link.

Saranac Captures the Dan Wickham Classic ... And More in Section 4

At the Dan Wickham Classic, Section 7's Saranac visited Unatego and walked away with the team championship.  John Devins (106), Codie Gillette (138) and Paul Herrea (220) took titles for the winning squad.

Ryan Marszal of the host school, a state placer in 2013, continued his outstanding season with a crown at 170.   In addition, another wrestler who was on the podium in Albany a year ago, Derek Spann of Adirondack, captured gold at 113. And speaking of winning ways, Walton's Dylan Wood kept the victories coming with another crown at 126.

For more, see here.

Also in Section 4, the Mike Watson Invitational at Watkins Glen showcased some top NYS talent.  220-pounder Ryan Wolcott of Waverly continued his domination with three falls and a 12-point major.  Fellow NYS medalist Curtis Grant of Elmira also nabbed a title in commanding fashion.  His squad won the team crown with another champion - Charlie Mahon at 120.  A few other notes: Israel Byler of Addison continued to pile up victories at 145, while Corning's Blake Abbey won at 106 a week after edging the state's #1 99 pounder, Kelan McKenna.  Kobe Garrehy of Maine Endwell topped state qualifier Joel Rosko at 126 for the title.

For more, see here.

Further Downstate . . .

At the Lindenhurst Tournament, Kings Park's Nick Weber continued to wreak havoc on the 195-pound class with a pin in the finals in less than a minute.  Tim Byrnes of Fayetteville-Manlius collected with MOW accolades.

Patchogue-Medford won the team race with four titlewinners - Chris Gomez (99) Bobby Pease (113), Pete Pasqualino (152) and Jake Horton (182).

At the Sachem North Invitational, Sean O'Hagan of the host team won the title in a competitive 132-pound bracket.  He topped Islip's Brad Wade 8-6 in the championship bout, with Tommy DiBenedetto of John Glenn and Owen Bachelder of Hewlett in the third and fourth positions.

Also capturing gold for Sachem North was Anthony DiMatteo, who beat Craig Hinrichs of Islip at 220 by fall.  Matt Stallone (106) and Matthew Marino (138) rounded out the champions for the squad.

John Glenn also had four gold medalists - Andrew Friedman (113), Chris D'Amico (126), Derek O'Brien (152) and Matt Porrello (160). Islip had three titlewinners -  Joe DiPalma (99), Nick Finnegan (170) and Ronnie King (182).

While we're talking about Long Island, it's worth mentioning that Plainedge took the title at the Clarkstown South event in Section 1 by a sizable margin over North Babylon.  Robert Ng (182), Anthony Bowles (170) and Tyler Altan (120) were champs for the first place group while Hector Guerrero (113), Jake Lerner (126), Justin Albano (138), Mike Dotzler (152), Jake Schozer (160) and Robert Oliver (195) were finalists as well.

State qualifiers Tyler Aslanian of Edgemont (113) and Corey Jamison of Huntington (126) also nabbed crowns.

As always, feel free to e-mail newyorkwrestlingnews@gmail.com with more news and notes.

To see our recap of the Eastern States Classic, click here.  For the replay of the live blog of that event, see this link.