Cover photo courtesy of Jeff Pataky
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It’s absolutely bananas how fast the season is flying (pun intended) by, but here we are in the first week of the near year and the Section VI Dual Meet Championships are complete and the first full week of wrestling after the start of the new year is here.
The biggest events of the weekend were of course the Section VI Division I and II Dual Meet Championships in which Niagara Wheatfield captured its second straight sectional title while Chautauqua Lake three-peated in Division II. Relatively speaking, both tournaments were exceptionally deep with some very close scores and a few ‘upsets’ sprinkled in. Strong dual meet tournaments with close scores, competitive wrestling, and parity amongst our teams is a good thing. Shoutout to our sixteen teams who applied and got into the Duals putting everything on the line and challenging yourselves and one another for the good of your programs and our sport.
Sidenote, I challenge anyone to find me a better location for wrestling than the Allegany Community Center in Salamanca where the Division II tournament was held. It is one of the finest box lacrosse facilities there is and home to some of the greatest players to ever come from the Seneca Nation. On Saturday, and many other times in the past, it is a perfect setup for high school wrestling.
Last minute seeding changes for the Division I Duals at Williamsville North didn’t derail what ended up being a stellar day of wrestling. Previously 4-seeded Clarence moved to the 2, 3-seeded Frontier moved to the 4, and 2-seeded Niagara Falls went to 3. All four top seeds moved on to the semifinals with first round wins. Frontier jumped out to a 25-0 lead on 5-seeded Lancaster, ultimately winning 37-30. The young Legends won five of the final eight bouts to keep things interesting in the second meeting in less than weeks between the ECIC I rivals. The semifinals appearance for Frontier was the first in program history.
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Those same Falcons pushed Wheatfield to the limit in the semifinal round. Frontier won six of the first ten weights against Wheatfield for a 34-22 lead with only three bouts left. However, returning NYS qualifiers Garrett Chase and Chase Richards both picked up crucial pins at 145 and 152-pounds, respectively, for a 34-34 tie score. Dylan Pringle’s major decision at 160-pounds sealed the win for NW, 38-34, sending the Falcons to the Duals final for the third straight tournament and fifth time in program history.
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On the bottom side of the bracket, Clarence won eight bouts with four pins and held Niagara Falls to only four victories and no pins to advance past the Wolverines 36-18 to reach the final for the first time in team history. Clarence, who has qualified for all eight Duals, reached the semis in 2017, 2020, and 2024.
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In the title match, Clarence jumped out to a 15-6 early lead with a pin from Timofey Dolovskiy (215), a forfeit taken by Zach Didas (101), and decision by Gianmarco Ballarin (108) but Wheatfield responded with four consecutive wins from Jacob Sweeney (116), Eian Peterson (124), Muntathar Abbas (131), and Aiden Johnson (138) for their first lead, 26-15.
An important major decision from returning NYS 8th place winner AJ Didas over another returning state qualifier at 145 brought the Red Devils to within seven points of the Falcons, but a critical major decision for NW’s Chase Richards at 152 over a fellow returning state qualifier and a critical decision win for Dylan Pringle at 160 put the match out of reach for Clarence with two bouts left. Matt Cox (170) and Charles Fleming (190) each recorded pins for Clarence to the end the match, a 33-30 final for Niagara Wheatfield.
The Section VI Division I Dual Meet title for the Falcons is the team’s second straight sectional dual championship and the fourth in program history.
Wheatfield will compete in the 7th NYSPHSAA Dual Meet Wrestling Championships on Saturday, Feb. 1st at SRC Arena at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse. It will be the fifth appearance for the Falcons at the state tournament and the team’s third in a row.
On the consolation side of the bracket, the 5-seed Legends took down 8-seed Hamburg and 3-seed Niagara Falls to reach the 3rd place dual, meeting up with Frontier for the second time in a matter of hours. Lancaster took a 21-9 lead after six weights led by a critical win by Isiah Harry at 116, but Frontier would win five of the last seven bouts with Ben Gombos putting the match officially out of reach with a pin at 170-pounds.
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Frontier’s 3rd place finish is the highest at the Duals for the Falcons in team history and the first since taking 4th in 2020. For Lancaster, the 4th place finish is the team’s fifth top-4 finish in seven appearances at the sectional duals.
Section VI Division I Dual Meet Championships results:
Championship final:
Consolation final:
Semifinals:
Consolation semifinals:
Quarterfinals:
Consolations:
Section VI Division I Dual Meet Champion Niagara Wheatfield // photo courtesy of Tom Prince
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Chautauqua Lake captured the team’s third consecutive Section VI Division II Dual Meet title on Saturday at Allegany Community Center in Salamanca.
For a full recap on the Section VI Division II Dual Meet Championships, please follow the link below:
Section VI Division II Dual Meet Champion Chautauqua Lake // Pataky
Moving on from the Duals…
On Sunday, St. Francis travelled east to the Armbar Duals put on by Journeymen Wrestling in Clifton Park. The Red Raiders went head to head with a handful of other top programs from NYS as well as top-5 nationally ranked traditional powerhouse Blair Academy from Blairstown, NJ. The event coincided with duals between NCAA Division I squads University of Maryland, Binghamton University, Columbia University, and Lock Haven University at the same time.
The Raiders posted a 3-1 record on the day earning big wins over Section IX power Monroe-Woodbury, 60-11, Section VIII power and defending NYS Division I dual meet champion Plainedge (now in Division II), 59-12, and a critical win over fellow CHSAA powerhouse Iona Prep, 39-28. St. Francis dropped their first dual of the season to Blair, 52-16.
In a NYS top-4 large school showdown with Iona, St. Francis won seven bouts to the Gaels’ six including five straight wins from 160 to 285-pounds including four pins and a big technical fall from nationally ranked Griffin LaPlante who bumped up to 170 taking down Iona standout Paolo Ciatto. Also earning wins for St. Francis against Iona were Tanner Catrabone (101), Cullen Edwards (116), Rory White (160), Tavio Hoose (190), Zach Caldwell (215), and Willy Wortkoetter (285).
Keep an eye out for a possible rematch at the CHSAA Dual Meet Championships on Feb. 1-2 between two of New York’s top high school teams.
Also of significance – against Plainedge, Hoose met defending NYS champion and #11 nationally ranked (via FloWrestling) Devin Downes at 190-pounds, coming away with a high quality win. Trailing 4-3 late in the third period, Hoose earned a reversal and hung on for the 5-4 decision victory picking up a huge head to head win for his record and resume.
Hoose // Pataky
If you are a fan of Chautauqua Lake wrestling your head was probably spinning this weekend with the boys’ team competing for the Section VI Dual Meet title in Salamanca, the girls team hosting the strong Invitational at Chautauqua Lake High School, and likely anyone else at all available helping to run the 31st Annual Ripley Invitational at CLHS at the same time.
The show goes on for the Ripley Invitational even without Chautauqua Lake-Ripley wrestlers. Still, the smaller ten team field showed up to compete with Randolph capturing the team title behind five individual champions helping the Cardinals to 151 team points, outpacing second place St. Joe’s’ 136.5-points.
Ripley Invitational final team standings:
1. Randolph 151
2. St. Joe’s 136.5
3. Fredonia 94
4. Springville 86
5. Sweet Home 62
6. Frewsburg 61
7. Erie, PA 60
8. Lockport 35.5
9. St. Joe’s B 31
10. Lake Shore 23.5
11. Dunkirk 21
Ripley Invitational champions:
101: Kamren Anderson (Randolph)
108: Jamie Nottingham (Randolph)
116: Alessandro Mancini (St. Joe's)
124: Parker Paterson (Randolph)
131: Issiah Ruiz (Fredonia)
138: Domanik Clark (Randolph)
145: Abduali Mukumov (Sweet Home)
152: Caden Inkley (Randolph)
160: Adam Brown (Springville)
170: Brennen Rice (Lake Shore)
190: Jacob Moser (St. Joe’s)
215: Dylan Capone (St. Joe’s)
285: Brandon Francis (Frewsburg)
In parallel with the Ripley invite was the now annual Chautauqua Lake girls’ tournament that featured likely the deepest field of athletes to date. Niagara Wheatfield stole the show cruising to the team title with 201 points and twenty top-8 place winners, nearly sixty points ahead of the host Eagles’ 144. Nine of the top-10 ranked WNY squads were in action on Saturday and populated the top-9 positions in the final team standings as well. All three of the top-3 squads landed at least three champions apiece suggesting that the currently top-3 ranked teams (Lockport, Niagara Wheatfield, Chautauqua Lake) lead the pack in both paper and practice.
Chautauqua Lake Girls Invitational top-10 team scores:
1. Niagara Wheatfield 201
2. Chautauqua Lake 144
3. Lockport 140.5
4. Dunkirk 97.5
5. Fredonia 86.5
6. Clarence 80.5
7. Sweet Home 67
8. Kenmore 53.5
9. Iroquois 46.5
10. Frewsburg 25
Chautauqua Lake Girls Invitational champions:
94: Kassidy Benedetto (Chautauqua Lake)
100: Gabriella Gelnett (Lockport)
107: Lily Pieczonka (Niagara Wheatfield)
114: Jamiela-Khai Johnson (Lockport)
120: Gabriella Barone (Niagara Wheatfield)
126: Heather Blatto (Chautauqua Lake) *Most Outstanding Wrestler
132: Noli Paddock (Chautauqua Lake)
138: Emma Ponzi (Niagara Wheatfield)
145: Bella Andes (Lockport)
152: Lilly Hyde (Chautauqua Lake)
165: Michaela Thomas (Iroquois)
185: Kimberly Bauer (Fredonia)
235: Aislyn O’Malley (Kenmore)
The 56th Annual Franklinville Invitational featured a smaller than normal field on Saturday but still produced a number of head to head results important to the all-small school crowd competing in the event. Portville claimed the team title with 174 points ahead of Wellsville’s (V) 156 and 3rd place Maple Grove with 134. The Panthers crowned three individual champions while five more wrestled to runner-up finishes.
Franklinville Invitational final team standings:
1. Portville 174
2. Wellsville 156
3. Maple Grove 134
4. CSAT 127
5. Franklinville 114.5
6. Cheektowaga 108
7. Olean/Allegany-Limestone 85.5
8. Alfred-Almond (V) 54.5
9. Alden 43
10. Health Sciences 13
North Tonawanda captured the team title at the 6th Lancer Duals at St. Mary’s High School going 5-0 on Saturday. Spencer Livergood, Jayden Aponte, Mohamed Abdullah, Ilimdar Khasanov, Jon Landen, and Keith Mixon all went unbeaten for the Lumberjacks who improved to 14-1 overall this season. Second place Akron was led by MOW Nick Fry.
Lancer Duals final team standings:
1. North Tonawanda 5-0
2. Akron 4-1
3. Williamsville South 3-2
4. East Aurora/Holland 2-3
5. Maryvale 1-4
6. St. Mary’s 0-5
Photo shared by North Tonawanda Lumberjacks Wrestling on Facebook
Finally, Albion and Canisius competed in the Red Jacket (V) Invitational on Saturday. The Purple Eagles crowned individual champion Stryker Sanders at 101-pounds while Justin Mengs (101) and Drake Schomske (108) wrestled to runner-up finishes. Jaxon Lynch captured 3rd place at 145 for Albion. Gabe Farley was the lone place winner for the Crusaders reaching the 190-pound final.
In Scratch Geometry Dash, your objective is to guide your character through a series of increasingly difficult obstacles.