Cover photo courtesy of Jeff Pataky
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Section VI Division II Dual Meet Championship final
The Panthers’ Colin Doxey got Newfane on the board first in Saturday afternoon's sectional championship at Allegany Community Center in Salamanca, but Chautauqua Lake’s Caleb Szymanowski and Colton Hamilton quickly answered with pins at 190 and 215-pounds, respectively, kicking off a run of four pins in five straight wins to give the Eagles a 29-6 lead after six weights in the title match. Returning NYS finalist Mason Maring collected a forfeit at 285-pounds before a pin by Chase Shirley at 101 and a technical fall from Zander Lombardo at 108.
Doxey // Pataky
Lombardo // Pataky
“It was pretty big…they’re young guys coming in here every day,” said Maring on the pins by Szymanowski and Hamilton. “To see them go out there and pin and help the team, it’s great.”
Maring // Pataky
After conceding a forfeit to Jeffrey Wolcott at 116, Chautauqua Lake sealed the victory with another stretch run of four wins by Thandon Bensink (124), Gavin Burchanowski (131), Jordin Eddy (138), and Mason Munoz (145). Pins by Newfane’s Aidan Gillings (145) and Ayden Buttery (152) to end the match brought the final score to 46-23 in favor of the Eagles.
Munoz // Pataky
The 2024 Section VI Division II dual meet title is the third consecutive sectional dual championship for the Eagles who will return to SRC Arena at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse for the 7th NYSPHSAA Wrestling Dual Meet Championships on Saturday, Feb. 1st.
Eddy // Pataky
“We know every day coming into practice is going to be a barn burner,” said Maring after the match reflecting on the current state of the program and the expectations within it. “We preach ‘wrestling the whole six minutes’ cause that’s the way we win. If we get down early, we are going to have to come back and beat them in the end.”
Out of the twelve wrestlers in the lineup on Saturday against Newfane, only Maring will graduate in the spring. Four of those underclassmen earned pins in the contest while two more added decision wins and one technical fall. For Chautauqua Lake, their wrestlers find comfort primarily with wrestling on top, especially in high stakes situations.
“We just want to ride, ride ‘em out, kind of ‘beat ‘em up’ on top, just be able to score those points on top,” said sophomore and returning NYS tournament qualifier Bensink.
Thandon also captured his 100th career victory with his win in the Duals final on Saturday.
Bensink // Pataky
Looking forward to a third straight trip to the state dual meet tournament, Maring added “It all starts in our wrestling room. We need to push each other every day. If we do that, I think we will have a pretty good showing at the state tournament.”
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Consolation final
The Golden Cougars avenged their loss to the Panthers from the first round of the tournament with an impressive seventeen point victory for 3rd place. Falconer picked up seven pins in eight wins in a #NOFORFEITS sectional dual championship special highlighted by wins by Brayden McCarthy (145), Nicholas Russel (152), and Javonte Hackett (215) who all suffered losses against Gowanda earlier in the day. In the seven Section VI Duals that Falconer has competed in, the team has placed third or better in each of them. As for Gowanda, it was the Panthers’ second straight 4th place finish at the sectional duals in which they lost to only the WNY #1 and #2 ranked teams.
Semifinals
After four weights Chautauqua Lake and Gowanda found themselves tied 12-12 with two pins for each team, but Colton Hamilton’s pin at 215-pounds set off four straight pins for the Eagles who jumped out to a 36-12 lead thereafter. All nine CL wins in the contest resulted in pins as they would cruise into the Duals final for the third consecutive tournament. For Gowanda, program progress was on full display as the Panthers reached the Duals semifinal for the first time while also making significant improvement in the final team score against another solid Chautauqua Lake team over the 2024 result against the Eagles at the sectional duals.
Newfane jumped out to a 20-0 lead after four bouts given a favorable starting weight that had Aidan Gillings and Ayden Buttery kick things off for the Panthers. Takota Smith and Chris Howatt cut into the lead at 215 and 285-pounds, respectively, but three more wins for Newfane at the bottom of the lineup extended the lead back to a 20+ margin, now 35-12. Pins by Evan Grandits and Evan Wright gave Pioneer hope coming down the stretch, but Sean Milczarski’s major at 138 ultimately sealed the win for Newfane who proceeded to their third Duals final since 2020. Give credit to Pioneer for their arguably best team day this season under first year head coach Zach Wiedemann.
Gillings // Pataky
Consolation semifinals
Eight bonus team point wins in the first eleven weights secured the Falconer win over the scrappy Panthers to guarantee a top-4 Duals place finish. Leading 23-21 in the team score, the strong trio of Gabe Lundmark (124), defending Section VI champion Dylan Newman (131), and Brayden McCarthy (138), locked up the win for the Golden Falcons with three straight pins with only two weights remaining in the dual. Take note of the Panthers – only two wrestlers in the lineup on Saturday graduate in the spring. Pioneer under the second year of new management and with a more experienced roster may be primed to take another run at the sectional duals title in 2026.
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The Panthers won eight weights to Eden’s five in the dual and led 28-6 after six weights to cruise into the consolation final for the second consecutive year. All eight of Gowanda’s wins against the young Raiders accounted for bonus points while four DellaPenta’s and Charles Geragthy did likewise for Eden who had an excellent showing at the teams' first Duals in program history. Eden fielded one (1) single senior in its lineup Saturday.
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Consolation quarterfinal
Trailing 30-16 with only five bouts remaining, Eden rode a furious comeback of four straight wins from 116-138-pounds to not only take the lead but put the match out of reach with one weight class left. A forfeit accepted by Troy DellaPenta (116), a pin by Ruger Pastwik (124), and a crucial decision by Oliver Walczyk (131) set up Trevor DellaPenta for the match sealing pin at 138-pounds with 145 still left to wrestle.
Quarterfinals
Newfane jumped out to a 29-3 lead on the way to their second win of the season over the Raiders competing in the Section VI Duals for the first time in program history. The Panthers were 39-29 winners over Eden in the very first weekend of the season. Newfane picked up five pins in the dual on Saturday to advance to the semifinal round for the fifth consecutive sectional dual championships.
Pioneer jumped all over the 3-seed Lakemen winning nine of thirteen weights with five pins to take down a strong Wilson team in impressive fashion. Wyatt Opferbeck earned a crucial overtime win at 152-pounds but it was heavyweight Chris Howatt’s ultimate tiebreaker win over returning NYS 3rd place winner Hamza Merrick that highlighted the win for Pioneer who reached the semifinal for the first time since 2018.
Howatt // Pataky
A tough Gowanda squad that has been very much on the rise in the last two seasons especially earned a big program win over one of the top teams and programs in WNY any given year with a 40-29 victory over the Golden Falcons. The Panthers jumped out to a 37-12 lead after nine weights before Zack Stark sealed the win with four weights to go when he earned a 10-2 major decision at 108-pounds. Nathan Warrior (145), Maddox Hudson (170), and Brody Mescall (190) all had crucial pins for Gowanda in three of the first five bouts to help send the Panthers to the Duals semifinal for the first time in program history.
The top seeded Eagles took care of business in the first round of the tournament, but give credit to Salamanca for applying to and competing in the Section VI Duals for the first time in program history.
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