3 days ago9 min read

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Updated: 3 days ago

Cover photo courtesy of Jeff Pataky

Photos contained within this article may not be used for republication unless authorized by WNY Athletics with prior written consent.

If you are a high school wrestler or coach either one of two of things happened to you this week.

One – you were off of school, but practiced lightly this week, recovered, rested, and are getting ready to glide back into school mode later this week. Or two – you got the world’s shortest holiday break, probably had a little bit more of an intense practice on Thursday, and dove right into a grinding two day tournament on Friday or got one more day of practice on Friday before a long Saturday event.

But hey, that’s the life of the world’s toughest athletes competing in the world’s toughest sport.

If your old pal Matt O could offer some words of wisdom...

Enjoy the grind! You only get to be a high school athlete once. Sports are meant to challenge you but also be fun. One day, you’ll want to look back on these times with fond memories. Who knows, maybe you’ll end up on your couch on a Sunday morning in late December before a Bills game sipping coffee and pouring over results to see all the great things the young men and women accomplished on the mats over the weekend.

As an actual wise man once said: "Burn the Ships."

Enough rambling, on to the wrestling.

Diving right into the top team in NYS. St. Francis divided their resources sending four wrestlers to perhaps the best event in the country over the weekend in the Powerade Christmas Tournament at Canon-McMillan HS south of Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, eleven other Raiders and a host of other local talent competed at the 67th Annual Windsor (IV) Christmas Tournament.

Three wrestlers captured top-6 place finishes for St. Francis at Powerade while one other fell just short with a narrow decision loss in the consolation blood round to land in 26th place in the final team scoring…amongst nearly seventy teams…with only four wrestlers…against some of the absolute best high school teams in the country.

I cannot overstate how big it is to have even one place winner at Powerade, much less three of them.

At 114-pounds, unseeded Cullen Edwards lost a close 7-3 decision in his first match but won three consecutive bouts thereafter on Friday to stay alive to Saturday. Only another close decision, 8-5, to State College, PA’s Kael Davis ended the weekend for Edwards who proved he belonged at Powerade with a 3-2 record in two days at the event.

At 152 (yes 152…LOOK OUT!) 6-seed Griffin LaPlante reached the quarterfinals by Friday evening. The nationally #15 ranked wrestler LaPlante met the #8 in Bishop McCort’s (PA) Devon Magro (rankings via Flowrestling) but ultimately fell to drop into the wrestlebacks. A win in consolation round six guaranteed a second straight Powerade place finish for Griffin while a win the next round guaranteed a top-6 podium finish. With two razor thin losses in his next two bouts by a combined four points, LaPlante ultimately settled for 6th place in the weight class amongst some of the other best wrestlers in the country. For reference, the bracket champion and runner-up both currently reside in the top-8 of the 150-pound national rankings.

At 189, 6-seed Tavio Hoose reached the semifinals taking down the 3-seed, 7-1, in the quarters. A narrow 8-5 loss to the eventual runner-up (who fell 4-0 in the final) sent Hoose to the wrestlebacks where he fell to the 5th place bout. In that match, Tavio overcame a 2-0 second period deficit to take a 5-3 lead late in the third period. A takedown with under a minute remaining in the match gave Tavio an 8-2 lead as he ultimately hung on to win 8-3 to secure a crucial podium finish in his first experience at Powerade.

St. Francis coaches Steve Hart (l) and Kellen Devlin (r) with Hoose (m)

Photo shared by St. Francis High School Wrestling on Facebook

Finally, unseeded heavyweight Willy Wortkoetter fell in his first match in the round of thirty-two, but responded with FIVE consecutive pins in the wrestlebacks to guarantee a top-6 place finish in his first experience at Powerade. Losses in his final two bouts ultimately landed Willy a 6th place finish at 285-pounds in a very competitive bracket.

Back north of the border, wrestlers from three WNY area teams competed at the extremely deep Windsor Tournament on Friday and Saturday. The Raiders placed three of eleven wrestlers for a 6th place team finish at an extraordinarily difficult version of the tournament led by lone individual champion Rory White at 160-pounds. As the 2-seed in the weight class, Rory went 4-0 with all four wins over returning NYS tournament qualifiers on the way to the title. White gutted out decision wins in the quarter and semifinals before a dominating major decision over a returning Section IV champion in the finals. Also reaching the final but settling for second were Tanner Catrabone (101) and Zach Caldwell (215). Catrabone dominated the bracket as the 2-seed on the way to the final but fell in a matchup between fellow returning state qualifiers for a very good individual midseason test.

Also reaching the Windsor podium was Lewiston-Porter’s Jaron Barrientos, (3rd, 116) Newfane’s Aidan Gillings (4th, 145) and Ayden Buttery (4th, 152), all of whom met at least one fellow returning NYS tournament qualifier over the course of the tournament that featured over sixty such athletes.

In Section V territory, Clarence was led by two individual champions on the way to a 9th place team finish in the final team standings in a very deep 58th edition of the grinding two-day round-robin to bracketed style Teike-Bernabi Tournament at Spencerport High School. Senior AJ Didas (145) and freshman Trevor Mueller (152) went back-to-back with tournament titles for the Red Devils while classmate Zach Didas surpassed the 20-win mark for the season with a runner-up finish at 101-pounds. AJ dominated on the way to the final where he was a 9-7 decision winner over Carthage’s (III) returning NYS 6th place winner Ryan Munn. Junior Matt Cox has had a solid start to the season and continued to shine this weekend with a quality 3rd place finish at 170-pounds in Spencerport.

Randolph’s returning NYS 5th place winner made it three straight WNY champions in a row in Spencerport going 7-0 over the two day event earning five pins, one tech fall, and an impressive 10-5 decision win in the title match over returning Section V champion William Wood from Brockport.

St. Joe’s finished just outside the top-10 teams in 11th place led by runner-up Dylan Forant at 152-pounds and Sean Gordon who was 5th at 138. Hamburg, Iroquois, Lancaster, and Cheektowaga all represented WNY in Spencerport as well.

The only local boys’ individual tournament of the weekend was Akron’s 56th Annual Holiday Wrestling Tournament. Frontier outpaced 2nd place Amherst 133 to 124-points while Section V’s Attica/Batavia finished third in the final team scoring. Barker/Royalton-Hartland’s Luke Fay was named tournament Most Outstanding Wrestler with two pins and two tech falls on the way to the 145-pound Akron title. Southwestern junior Carmine Calimeri posted another impressive performance with three pins and a finals tech fall at 131-pounds. During the day, Calimeri secured his 100th career pin. Trojan teammate Adrian Torres backed up a big win at SUNY Niagara from last weekend with another win over a returning NYS tournament qualifier with an impressive 7-3 decision in the 101-pound final over Niagara Falls’ Cam Crumpler.

Southwestern's Calimeri // photo courtesy of Michelle Gilbert/MaxPreps

The Falcons were led by lone champion Mason Tirado at 160-pounds and five more wrestlers in the top-4 of their weights. Amherst crowned lone champion Quinlan Lyle at 138-pounds.

2024 Akron Holiday Tournament champions:

101: Adrian Torres (SW)

108: Sean McDonald (Starpoint)

116: Miles Torres (SW)

124: Quinn Martin (St. Mary’s)

131: Carmine Calimeri (SW)

138: Quinlan Lyle (Amherst)

145: Luke Fay (B/R-H)

152: Abdelraheem Alajii (Lackawanna)

160: Mason Tirado (Frontier)

170: Cole Bloomquist (Jamestown)

190: Andrew Frost (Churchville-Chili-V)

215: Dominic Darch (A/B)

285: James Crooks (Akron)

Top-10 teams:

1. Frontier 133-points

2. Amherst 124

3. Attica/Batavia 104.5

4. North Tonawanda 90

5. Jamestown 86.5

6. Niagara Falls 81.5

7. Barker/Royalton-Hartland 81

8. Lackawanna 80

9. Southwestern 75.5

10. Starpoint 74

The annual grueling two-day Dick Vincent Invitational Duals at Letchworth (V) featured three WNY squads including the #1 and #2 small schools. Top-ranked Chautauqua Lake was the highest placing of the three area teams with an 8-2 dual record for 3rd in the final team standings. The Eagles posted wins over seven Section V squads falling only to Monroe County large school powerhouse Webster-Schroeder and the host Legends, 34-28, in a matchup of two of WNY’s top small school teams.

Quick note – the Eagles and WNY #2 Falconer didn’t match up in Letchworth this time as opposed to recent Dick Vincent tournaments which gave us previews of upcoming Section VI Duals and CCAA I showdowns on a few different occasions.

The Golden Cougars landed a 5-5 dual record in Letchworth while Kenmore wrestled to a 4-6 record as one of only two big schools (600+ BEDS) at the event.

An hour directly south of Letchworth HS in Gainesville was the annual Bolivar-Richburg Wolverine Scuffle. Portville (8-2), Maple Grove (6-4), Olean/Allegany-Limestone (6-4), and Franklinville (1-9) represented Section VI at the event where both Olean and Franklinville recorded their first dual wins of the season.

In a rare Saturday-Sunday event, Niagara Wheatfield made the annual trip east to the Spc. Ken Haines Memorial Tournament at SUNY Oswego against a primarily Section III field of teams, placing 8th out of twenty squads with only nine wrestlers entered. Six Falcons placed in the top-6 of their weights led by 152-pound champion Chase Richards who earned three pins and a finals decision over Cicero-North Syracuse’s (III) Kennedy Thomas, 11-7, in a rematch of last year’s 145-pound Haines final between two returning NYS tournament qualifiers. Garrett Chase reached the finals for Wheatfield as well but fell in ultimate overtime in a state tournament quality match to Webster-Thomas’s (V) Eric McLean at 145-pounds. Also placing for NW where Eian Peterson (3rd, 131), Muntathar Abbas (4th, 131), Jacob Sweeney (4th, 116), and Oliver Lyon (6th, 101).

Grand Island again hosted its Viking Duals for a one day, seven team tournament. The top-3 teams repeated in exact order from the 2023 event as Section V power Pittsford (6-0) repeated as champion followed by Gowanda (5-1) and Grand Island (4-2). Owen Pfaffenbach, Nate Warrior, and Brody Mescall all posted 6-0 tournament records while six more Panthers took only one loss. Gowanda earned a quality win over a solid Vikings team, 53-16, in which the Panthers fielded a full lineup and accepted the only forfeit of the dual. With 13 dual wins so far this season, Gowanda leads WNY in both wins and dual meets wrestled (21).

Photo shared by Gowanda Varsity Panther Wrestling on Facebook

Final Vikings Duals standings:

1. Pittsford (6-0)

2. Gowanda (5-1)

3. Grand Island (4-2)

4. Springville (3-3)

Sheffield, PA

Tonawanda

CSAT

Local girls had a busy Saturday of wrestling as well. Iroquois and Niagara Wheatfield wrestlers competed in the first Midlakes (V) ‘Frosty’s Freestyle Festival’ Girls Wrestling Tournament while the majority of WNY teams attended the Eden Girls Tournament.

At Midlakes, Wheatfield’s Gabriella Barone (120-pounds) and Neveah Senik (126), and Iroquois’s Michaela Thomas (165) dominated their respective brackets on the way to individual titles. Barone again impressed with three technical superiorities and two pins to remain unbeaten on the season. Senik matched with three technical superiorities and two pins of her own including a late match pin in the final over fell returning NYSPHSAA Girls Invitational competitor Chloe Owens from Horseheads (IV). Finally, Thomas continued her unbeaten start to the season with a dominating performance at 165 earning a technical superiority in her first match followed by three straight pins that got quicker in each round ending with a 33-second pin in the final. In total, thirteen NW Falcons placed in the top-8 of their respective weight classes. Emma Beckles (3rd, 132), Emma Ponzi (2nd, 138), Keirstin Bazinet (3rd, 138), Miley Geschwender (2nd, 145), and Laila Ferguson (3rd, 152) all finished in the top-3 of their brackets for the Falcons.

At Eden, wrestlers representing twelve schools competed in the varsity girls’ round robin style tournament.

While a number of wrestlers went unbeaten on the day, three athletes achieved 5-0 marks on the way to titles in their respective brackets. 126-pound champion Gineishka Figueroa from Dunkirk achieved four pins and one technical superiority, 132-pound champion Sophia Saffrin from Orchard Park matched with four pins and one tech, while Lockport’s outstanding 100-pound champion Gabriela Gelnett picked up three pins and two techs on the day. Lockport led all teams with five champions followed by Orchard Park with three Eden title winners.