Lancaster hosted St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute on Thursday, December 6th in a non-league dual between two of WNY’s oldest wrestling traditions.
‘Joe’s’ gave the defending Section VI Div. I champion everything they had but ultimately fell short, 44-30.
“We battled out a win over a solid St. Joe’s squad” said Lancaster head coach Ron Lorenz after the win. “It wasn’t our best night but we still found a way to get it done. Hats off to St. Joe’s. They wrestled tough.”
The Marauders stormed to an early 12-0 lead after senior Matt Werts gutted out a 10-6 decision victory over the Legends’ Codie Scotland at 195-pounds. Charles Morrison followed up with a 2-1 two-overtime win over David Gaca. Caleb Lesswing earned a first period pin at 285-pounds to extend the lead.
However, a forfeit to Lancaster’s Michael Schaefer put the first points on the board for the home team. Myles Gronowski earned a tech fall at 106-pounds. The next two Legends in Kaleb Schurkus and Nick Barberio pinned their Marauder opponents to give Lancaster the 23-12 lead.
Joe’s climbed its way back into the dual with a pin at 126-pounds and a 7-3 decision win by Garrett Grenauer at 132-pounds bringing the score to 23-21 Lancaster.
Lancaster won four of the last six bouts starting with Bryce Bolognese at 138. Joe’s junior Ben Parrish toughed out a 2-1 win over Lancaster’s Josh Jelonek in one of the best bouts of the night. Parrish was 3rd at ‘Catholic States’ last season while Jelonek placed 3rd at the Section VI Div. I state qualifier. Ronnie Jones put the Marauders back on top 30-26 with only three bouts left when he earned a second period pin.
Keenan Westfall returned the favor and put the Legends back on top for the final time. Two-time Section VI champion Ryan Stencel won by injury default over Sullivan Walsh (3rd place CHSAA 2018) at 170-pounds and Anthony Tigani received a forfeit in the final bout of the night to seal the victory.
St. Joe’s returns four CHSAA tournament place winners and four MMHSAA league champions from a year ago. Lancaster returns five total sectional place winners led by Stencel. Both squads competed at the Palmyra-Macedon duals last weekend but didn’t meet in the crossover pool action. Lancaster will be at the Penfield Hunter Holiday Tournament on Saturday, December 8th. St. Joe’s is entered in the Cheektowaga Warrior Duals this weekend.
