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I can’t believe it’s here. We have arrived at the last week of the regular season.
With bad weather issues two weeks ago, the weekday dual slate last week was downright busy while a number of matches including league championship deciding duals have been pushed into this first week of February. Keep in mind, there are NO Section VI class tournaments that would normally be next Saturday, Feb. 8.
With the divisional championships moving to an ‘open format,’ the season will end this week for many Section VI wrestlers, both boys and girls. The Msgr. Martin All-Catholics are Saturday at St. Joe’s, while the first Section VI girls’ championship is Friday Feb. 14 at Sweet Home and the boys on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 15 and 16 at SUNY Fredonia.
If you are one of those wrestlers whose season is ending this week – thank you for your hard work, dedication, and participation this season. Enjoy this last week and make some memories with your team while you can. I look forward to and expect to see you back next year if you are a junior or below. For seniors, best of luck in the future!!!
Last week, a pair of league titles were secured before five teams traveled out of the area for NYS championship events. Otherwise, utter chaos ensued from Monday through Friday.
Firstly, congratulations to Niagara Wheatfield for securing a third straight NFL title and to Gowanda for locking up the CCAA II title for the first time since 2012. Only four league races are yet to be decided this week (CCAA I, ECIC I, II, and III), so stay tuned.
For more on the Falcons and Panthers league championships please visit the links below.
League championship clinching scenarios:
CCAA I – Chautauqua Lake can secure the outright league title with a win at Portville on Tuesday.
ECIC I – Clarence can win the league title outright should they defeat Williamsville North on the road Wednesday and archrival Lancaster at home for a Thursday ‘Border Brawl’ season finale.
ECIC II – Iroquois could secure the outright league title with home wins against Hamburg tonight (Monday 2/3) and Williamsville South on Wednesday. Likewise, the Bulldogs will need to secure two ranked road wins to win the league title with a win at Iroquois and a victory over Amherst in the Jungle on Wednesday.
ECIC III – Pioneer can claim the league outright with a win over Springville on Wednesday. A league championship for the Panthers would be the program’s 10th in the last 11 eleven seasons.
Niagara Wheatfield and Chautauqua Lake again represented Section VI in Syracuse for the 7th NYSPHSAA Wrestling Dual Meet Championships on Saturday while eight teams converged on Dunkirk for the Section VI Girls’ Dual Meet Invitational.
Meanwhile, St. Francis, St. Joe’s, and St. Mary’s traveled to Iona Prep HS in New Rochelle for the annual NYS CHSAA Dual Meet Championships on Saturday and Sunday with the Red Raiders claiming their second consecutive CHSAA title in utterly impressive fashion. If they didn’t already, the Red Raiders may have truly laid claim as the best team in NYS with their performance over the weekend.
While some of the league races were decided, and some made a little clearer last week, you can take my rankings #9 and toss it straight out of the window. The NFL went absolutely bananas with league matches last week, something you like to see this late in the season, showing that even though teams may be out of the league title race, bragging rights are still and will always be on the line.
Although not ‘upsets,’ #5 Pioneer was a decisive road winner over #6 Eden in a major ECIC III showdown of league unbeatens on Friday while #9 Iroquois earned a crucial road win over #8 Amherst in another clash of ECIC unbeatens in ECIC II. Prior to that on Wednesday, St. Joe’s impressed with a quality win over the Tigers while on Thursday the #9 Bulldogs edged the #5 Falcons, 38-35, in the ‘Hamburg Hammer’ ECIC inter-division local rivalry. Senior Evan Braunscheidel picked up his 100th career win in helping Hamburg to victory.
Photo shared by Hamburg High School Wrestling on Facebook
Here's a snapshot of the previously mentioned NFL chaos from Tuesday-Thursday:
HM Kenmore 41 – #7 Niagara Falls 30
Grand Island 38 – HM Kenmore 36
Elsewhere, a handful of other solid duals in other leagues last week showed that teams are surging to the finish line on the season. On Wednesday, Salamanca took down #8 Barker/Royalton-Hartland on the road (two hour drive) while conceding two forfeits. Jack Merrill sealed the win for the Warriors with a pin at 160-pounds with two bouts remaining. As well, Cole Bloomquist secured the match sealing tech fall at 170 for HM Jamestown over HM Orchard Park on Thursday, 33-32, in the second trip in two nights for the Red & Green into Erie County as they visited Clarence on Wednesday.
The resiliency of wrestlers, coaches, and parents especially in our region is truly amazing especially at this time of year after a very difficult January and another long and grueling season.
On Sunday, St. Francis dominated its way to a second straight NYS CHSAA Dual Meet title. The Raiders cruised to a 4-0 record on Saturday before taking down four quality teams in Msgr. Farrell (40-23), Kellenberg (50-18), Iona Prep (50-21), and Chaminade (54-23) on Sunday to claim the programs’ 4th CHSAA duals championship. Seven wrestlers went unbeaten with 8-0 records for St. Francis in Cullen Edwards, Kole Haseley, Rory White, Griffin LaPlante, Tavio Hoose, Zach Caldwell, and Willy Wortkoetter. Wortkoetter had another dominant weekend with all eight wins coming by pin at the Duals. St. Francis’s dual season is now complete as they end with a final record of 24-2.
Photo shared by St. Francis Red Raiders Wrestling on Facebook
Section VI Duals champions Niagara Wheatfield and Chautauqua Lake traveled to Syracuse for the 7th NYS dual meet championships on Saturday. Both squads wound up in pools with the eventual NYS champion team in their respective divisions as the Falcons fell to now three-time NYS champion Minisink Valley Warriors, 55-7, in the opening round of the tournament. Oliver Lyon opened the match with a major decision at 101 while Muntathar Abbas earned a decision at 124 to post the only wins for NW against MV. Shoutout to freshman Luke Richards confidently going out and taking on the #1 high school wrestler in the country at 170-pounds in Minisink’s PJ Duke.
In their second dual, NW took on Section I’s Briarcliff/Byram Hills/Valhalla/Westlake. After falling behind big, the Falcons won four out of five matches from 160 to 285-pounds. Peter Sheehan gave the lead to NW with a pin at 285, 34-29, with only one weight left. However, Briarcliff’s talented lightweight secured the match to send Wheatfield home from the Duals as B/BH/V/W would just edge them out, 35-34.
NW's Garrett Chase // photo courtesy of Bob Blair
NW's Mason Meissner // Blair
NW's Eian Peterson // Blair
NW's Abbas // Blair
Sheehan // Blair
In the small school tournament, 8-seeded Chautauqua Lake took down Section VII champion Peru 54-15 in their first of two pool duals. The Eagles were impressive winning ten weights against the Nighthawks all of which were for bonus points including seven pins.
In their next pool match to decide who would advance to the semifinals, the Eagles met top seeded returning NYS runner-up squad John Glenn HS (XI). Starting with a forfeit at 116, the Knights quickly jumped out to a 29-0 lead to put Chautauqua in a deep hole early in the match. Toby Watson disrupted the John Glenn run with a major decision at 152 but the talented Knights team was too much for the Eagles as they would go on to win 46-28. Colton Hamilton (pin, 190), Mason Maring (pin, 285), Chase Shirley (pin, 101) and Zander Lombardo (forfeit, 108) all earned wins against John Glenn.
Glenn would ultimately go on to capture the NYS Division II title later Saturday night with a 38-29 win over Section VIII’s Plainedge in the title match.
The second Section VI Girls’ Dual Meet Invitational provided a handful of competitive scores amongst some of WNY’s top teams.
WNY #3 Niagara Wheatfield/Niagara Falls went a perfect 4-0 on the day and avenged a previous loss to #2 Chautauqua Lake in the final, 35-29, to capture the team title in Dunkirk. Lily Pieczonka, Gabriella Barone, Jezell Allen, and Laila Ferguson all came up with crucial pins for NW/NF against the Eagles while Emma Greene (technical superiority), Emma Beckles (forfeit), and Emma Ponzi (forfeit) all contributed to the team score as well.
Kassidy Benedetto, Tori Lombardo, Noli Paddock, Olivia Aman, Chloe Hosier, and Meghan Pauley all won matches for CL in the loss to the Falcons.
In their pool duals, NW/NF also picked up wins against #4 Fredonia, #7 Orchard Park, and Health Sciences while Chautauqua picked up wins over #5 Dunkirk, #6 Clarence, and #10 Iroquois/Alden on the way to the final.
In the third place dual, neighboring rivals Fredonia and Dunkirk squared off with the Lady Hillbillies ultimately winning 34-24.
Section VI Girls’ Duals final standings:
1. Niagara Wheatfield 4-0
2. Chautauqua Lake 3-1
3. Fredonia 3-1
4. Dunkirk 2-2
5. Orchard Park 2-2
6. Clarence 1-3
7. Iroquois 1-3
8. Health Sciences 0-4
In the last tournament event of the regular season, Kenmore West hosted the 39th Annual Ken-Ton Invitational for a final tune-up for a number of area teams. Portville claimed the team title behind individual champion Josh Kriger at 215 and five top-4 place winners. Section V’s Alexander claimed 2nd place while Wilson rounded out the top-3 teams.
Some of the finals featured head to heads of some inner-division athletes that could have an effect on seedings for the sectional championships. At 131 Eden’s Trevor DellaPenta vs. Tyler Zwald was a rematch of last weekend’s ECIC final while at 285 Frontier’s Mike Welsh earned a 4-0 decision over Wilson’s Hamza Merrick in the only matchup of returning NYS tournament place winners in the finals. Welsh was also named tournament Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Photo shared by Portville Varsity Wrestling on Facebook
39th Ken-Ton Invitational champions:
101: Cam Crumpler (Niagara Falls)
108: Deni Daghestani (Grand Island)
116: Jaron Barrientos (Lewiston-Porter)
124: Brayden Kellison-Neglia (Williamsville North)
131: Trevor DellaPenta (Eden)
138: Kayden Feagin (Niagara Falls)
145: Ryder Reichert (Alexander)
152: Brody Heckman (Alexander)
160: Jacob Stephenson (Wilson)
170: Evan Braunscheidel (Hamburg)
190: Noah Leavell (Hamburg)
215: Josh Kriger (Portville)
285: Mike Welsh (Frontier)
39th Ken-Ton Invitational top-10 teams:
1. Portville 111.5
2. Alexander 105
3. Wilson 100.5
4. Jamestown 99.5
5. Iroquois 96.5
6. Hamburg 95
7. Niagara Falls 95
8. LeRoy (V) 86
9. Frontier 85.5
10. Kenmore 79.5
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