Msgr. Martin All-Catholic champion Damien Ndagano // Cover photo courtesy of Jeff Pataky
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I must've blinked in mid-December and ended up in early February because I do not know where the last two months went.
Luckily, a busier than normal last week of duals helped scratch my wrestling itch since we were one of the only five sections and the only one along the I90 corridor to not host postseason class tournaments over the weekend.
While the section did not hold sectional qualifier events, the Msgr. Martin league did with its 59th All-Catholic Championships at St. Joe’s. The host Marauders captured the team title and crowned three champions, but St. Francis ran away with ten of the thirteen individual titles. Keep in mind that the All-Catholics serve as a qualifier for next weekend’s NYS CHSAA Championships at Msgr. Farrell HS in Staten Island. The top-5 wrestlers at each weight from Msgr. Martin will compete at ‘Catholic states,’ but keep in mind only the CHSAA champions are invited to the NYS federation tournament in Albany.
The 2024-2025 WNY high school wrestling dual season officially ended on Friday with both a boys and girls dual meet to close the book on this season’s slate. Our boys’ and girls’ teams combined for nearly 550 contested dual meets this winter. A handful of teams secured league championships this week as well. Please make sure to recognize all eight of our league championship teams as we quickly turn our attention to the individual postseason. In my opinion, winning league dual meet titles is of the utmost importance and something every school's wrestling team across America should strive to do.
On Tuesday, Chautauqua Lake completed a third straight season unbeaten in CCAA I duals to capture the division title while improving to 18-0 in that time.
For more on the Eagles, please visit the link below:
On Wednesday, a pair of league titles were secured as Iroquois and Pioneer each completed the season sweep of their league rivals to capture the ECIC II and III titles, respectively.
For more on the Red Hawks and Panthers, please visit the links below:
Finally, Clarence secured the program’s first outright ECIC I title since 2019 when the Red Devils took down the visiting Legends in convincing fashion in Thursday’s Border Brawl.
For more on the Devils, please visit the link below:
If you read my work regularly, you know that one of my measurements of program health is its average year over year standings in its league. A couple of teams in particular caught my eye this season so I need to share. First and foremost, Gowanda captured the CCAA II title for the first time since 2012. Clearly, whatever the wrestling community is doing there is working. The Panthers traveled to Falconer on Wednesday for a non-league dual but the rubber match to break their season series with the Golden Falcons as both teams have a win against one another. Ultimately, Falconer came out on top 39-31 to cap off the season, but I have to give a lot of credit to Gowanda who, as mentioned in a previous column, have aspirations of being one of the best in WNY. But to be one of the best you have to tangle with some of the best, so who better to dance with than one of the best run programs in upstate NY.
However, a few teams that didn’t win league titles but made significant turn arounds are the subject here.
Enter: Lewiston-Porter, Barker/Royalton-Hartland, Salamanca, West Seneca/Depew, and Lackawanna.
L-P: The Lancers finished the season with a 4-3 record in NFL duals including wins over ranked Niagara Falls and Grand Island teams. Four conference wins in 2024-2025 TIES the number of league wins L-P has won in the last FOUR full seasons combined and ties them with the Falls and Kenmore West/East for 3rd in the NFL standings this year. Hopefully, the programs' robust youth infrastructure will continue to feed the machine to keep the team fully stocked with talent and alive and well competing at the varsity level.
L-P head coach Randy Lombardo // Pataky
B/R-H: The Raider-Rams have not finished over .500 in the N-O since the 2019-2020 season but were able to end that streak this winter going 3-2 in league duals just behind two top-7 ranked teams in #3 Newfane and #7 Wilson.
B/R-H coaches Tony Ricchiazzi (l) and Matt McCauley (r) // Pataky
Salamanca: It’s been a while since the Warriors finished over .500 in CCAA II in a full season (3-2 in the spring 2021 season) but Coach Keith Jones and crew did just that this winter finishing 3-2 in the division behind only #4 Gowanda and HM Randolph while earning wins over Frewsburg, Franklinville, and Maple Grove for the first time in a number of years. Three league wins for the Warriors this year ties their CCAA II wins total from the last five full wrestling seasons.
Coach Jones // Pataky
WS/D: The Warhawks sent legendary head coach Dave Recor out to a well-earned retirement by picking up a pair of league wins in the rugged ECIC I this season for the first time since 2018-2019. Just like all programs, there are times in a teams’ history when wins and losses ebb and flow, however patience, attrition, and sticking with an experienced coach, West Seneca found its way back into the league win column.
Coach Recor (l) // Pataky
Lackawanna: The Steelers had their best season since 2019-2020, going 5-2 this season good for a 3rd place finish in ECIC III in the midst of a surprisingly competitive title race while flipping their 1-5 league mark from a year ago. Lackawanna started the season taking the eventual champion Pioneer to the absolute brink in a tough environment in Yorkshire before a huge win over the defending league champion Springville. A fast start to the season landed the Steelers in my second set of team rankings and they’ve been there ever since. A refurbished gym (check), a new mat (check), and a good outlook for the future after a great season (10-3 overall) I hope are some of the key takeaways to keep the momentum going for Lackawanna Wrestling.
Pataky
When it comes to our girls’ teams, there are a ton of great results to highlight, perhaps first and foremost is that our teams wrestled nearly seventy combined duals this winter. Our top three ranked teams (Niagara Wheatfield-Chautauqua Lake-Lockport) all lost only one dual each while Orchard Park, Kenmore, Iroquois, Barker/Royalton-Hartland, Gowanda, Wilson, Frewsburg, and Salamanca all earned their first ever girls’ dual meet wins.
A few matches last week really stood out, especially ones to decide league races. I’ve already discussed the league clinching wins for Pioneer and Clarence, but a special shoutout for both as youth duals were held at both places before the varsity matches while the Panthers hosted a special ‘generations’ night to honor the alumni and the great wrestlers and teams of the past.
Meanwhile at Clarence, the always anticipated Border Brawl that more often than not decides the league title in one way, shape, or form, was also preceded by a youth dual. Oh, and circling back to Falconer, there was a youth dual there before the varsity match as well. And even more of a coincidence, all six teams involved in these duals are in the top-10 of the large and small school rankings. Me thinks there is a trend here with good programs with good varsity teams having a strong foundation and investment at the youth level.
Also during weeknight duals this week, a trio of wrestlers achieved career wins milestones.
Clarence senior AJ Didas became the third wrestler in program history and the 48th in WNY history to achieve 200 career wins.
Pataky
Iroquois senior Brady Wilkinson achieved win number 150 in the Red Hawks’ league clinching win over Williamsville South.
Photo shared by Iroquois HS Sports on Facebook
Williamsville North sophomore Brayden Kellison-Neglia achieved his 100th career victory.
Submitted photo
Saturday's All-Catholic Championships saw St. Joe’s place thirty-five wrestlers in the top-6 of their weights on the way to an 11th straight team tournament title. Defending champion Damien Ndagano (108-pounds), 145-pound champion Jayovanni Ostrander, and 170-pound champion Aidan Schenk led the way for St. Joe’s who accumulated 418.5-points to St. Francis’s 390.5. The Red Raiders were led by ten champions and three wrestlers who collected special tournament and league honors.
The Raiders’ Zak Massaro earned Most Outstanding Wrestler honors in capturing the 124-pound title. Massaro fought off a late match near fall situation against ‘Joe’s Owen Cassata in the semifinal to hang on for a 10-5 win to reach the title match. In the final, Massaro met St. Mary’s returning CHSAA placer Quinn Martin. A first period takedown for the Raider was the early lead he took and held onto through the match, ultimately going on to win by decision, 4-2.
Massaro // Pataky
Pataky
Pataky
59th All-Catholic champions:
101: Tanner Catrabone (St. Francis)
108: Damien Ndagano (St. Joe’s)
116: Cullen Edwards (St. Francis)
124: Zak Massaro (St. Francis)
131: Kole Haseley (St. Francis)
138: Max McCarthy (St. Francis)
145: Jayovanni Ostrander (St. Joe’s)
152: Griffin LaPlante (St. Francis)
160: Rory White (St. Francis)
170: Aidan Schenk (St. Joe’s)
190: Tavio Hoose (St. Francis)
215: Zach Caldwell (St. Francis)
285: Willy Wortkoetter (St. Francis)
Tournament MOW: Zak Massaro
League MOW: Rory White
Aggregate Pin and Fastest Pin: Willy Wortkoetter
Final team standings:
1. St. Joe’s 418.5
2. St. Francis 390.5
3. St. Mary’s 66
4. Canisius 46
5. Gow School 40
Catrabone // Pataky
Edwards // Pataky
Haseley // Pataky
McCarthy // Pataky
Ostrander // Pataky
LaPlante // Pataky
White // Pataky
Schenk // Pataky
Hoose // Pataky
Caldwell // Pataky
Wortkoetter // Pataky
This will be my last column of the season. With girls' and boys' sectional championships, CHSAA's, and the state championships coming up, please join me in recapping the individual postseason events through the remainder of the season.
Thank you again for riding with me this season! In the immortal words of Leo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street, "The show goes on!"