2025 NYS champion Griffin LaPlante // All photos courtesy of Jeff Pataky
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St. Francis junior Griffin LaPlante dominated the 152-pound Division I bracket on Friday and Saturday at the 62nd NYSPHSAA Wrestling Championships at MVP Arena in Albany to capture his first career NYS federation title. LaPlante made history as not only the first state champion in St. Francis program history, but also in becoming the first federation wrestling champion in the history of the Msgr. Martin High School Athletic Association.
“This is something that has been a goal of his since he has been a young kid,” said St. Francis assistant coach Steve Hart on LaPlante’s NYS championship. “Finally accomplishing that goal has been a huge relief. After having to battle through some adversity, he persevered just like you do in life to climb to the mountain top. What people don’t see is all the work he’s had to put in between practice, strength training, nutrition, overcoming an injury for the first time in his career.”
LaPlante was one of two Red Raiders to reach the state championship title matches and one of six total place winners for St. Francis who captured the individual team title while helping the Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) to a 3rd place finish in the final team standings.
“We wrestled well. It’s super hard to get on the podium at the state meet,” said Raiders head coach Ron Lorenz. “Not only is it super hard to get on the podium, but it’s also hard to do better than we did last year. It’s hard to get on the podium year after year.”
CHSAA wrestlers placed 12 of 13 entries in the big school tournament which completely shattered the Association’s record of eight state place winners in each of the last two tournaments.
Likewise, the Catholic schools’ 3rd place team finish is the highest for the league in its history of competing at the federation tournament going back to 1981. The best team finish for CHSAA up to this year was when it took 5th in 2019.
The Red Raiders outpaced Section IX powerhouse Minisink Valley’s ten wrestlers scoring 115 team points to the Warriors’ 104 to capture the individual team title. St. Francis became the first CHSAA member squad to do so at the state federation championships.
“It’s a testament to the CHSAA…the misconception that CHSAA has been a weak section…it’s not, it’s the toughest in the state,” said Lorenz. “We have Griffin, and we have a bunch of grinders. I’m glad for the CHSAA that we’ve brought light to how tough our section is. It helped our guys in that we were battle tested coming into the state tournament because our CHSAA qualifier is challenging. There is an emphasis on being tougher and working harder because we only have one shot…we have to train to win it or else our season is over.”
LaPlante (49-7 season record) earned the top seed in the bracket going into the tournament. A first round pin, a quarterfinal major decision over 8-seed John De La Rosa from Brentwood (XI), and a pin over 12-seed Horace Greeley’s (I) Chris Nocca sent Griffin to the state title match for the second straight year.
In the final, LaPlante met Farmingdale’s (VIII) Eric Wolf. After an impressive first period of action, Griffin already built up a 9-2 lead with three takedowns. By the end of the second period, his lead was up to a ten point margin, 13-3. Another pair of takedowns in the final two minutes helped Griffin to maintain the lead as he ultimately went on to win the 152-pound title with a 19-6 major decision.
“The schedule that we made for our guys this year really prepared them for the most important time of the year,” said Hart. “When you see a number one seed like Griffin who had seven losses from national level tournaments that we went to like Escape the Rock, Powerade, etc., where he wrestled top-20 kids in the country from the quarterfinals and on. That has prepared him to be in these high-level matches and wrestle like he did this weekend in dominant fashion.”
LaPlante added to his already impressive career resume with a state title and his third state tournament place finish. The North Carolina State bound junior also joined the WNY 200-wins club this season while leading the Red Raiders in the best season in program history.
Freshman Tanner Catrabone also reached the finals for St. Francis who placed all six competing athletes in the top-7 of their respective brackets.
Catrabone reached the title match as the top seed at 101-pounds and back at weight after just missing placing at the 2024 championships. Tanner pinned and majored his way into the title match to set up a meeting with 6-seeded Massapequa (VIII) 8th grader Jon Tutku who upset the 3 and 2-seeds on the way to the title match. Tutku would continue his upset steak in the tournament, ultimately taking down Catrabone by an 8-2 decision. Despite the loss, the state place finish was huge for Tanner’s career resume and for the team effort as he accounted for twenty-four team points in the title effort.
Junior heavyweight Willy Wortkoetter suffered a loss in the 285-pound semifinal that ended his title hopes a year after falling the Division II championships. However, Wortkoetter picked up an important pin the consolation semifinal before earning a critical 1-0 decision win for 3rd place over a familiar foe in Frontier’s Mike Welsh.
The Division I semifinals were an all WNY vs. Section III affair as Welsh met eventual champion Kamdyn Dorchester from Carthage in the bottom side semi. Dorchester would earn a narrow 2-1 decision over Welsh to send him to the wrestlebacks where Mike gutted out a 1-0 consolation semi win over Lindenhurst’s (XI) Chase Frole to ensure a top-4 finish.
Welsh joins Travis Browning (2020 and 2022) as the only two Falcons in program history to place at the state championships twice.
In his first state tournament action, junior Rory White earned the 2-seed at 160-pounds. He reached the semifinals with a pin and technical fall to set up a showdown with Rush-Henrietta’s (V) Jackson Koppers where he eventually fell by an 11-5 decision. In the wrestlebacks, Rory would edge out Saratoga Springs’ (II) 5-seed Danny Dacey, 4-2. Ultimately, White medical forfeited the 3rd place match after suffering an injury in the previous match.
“Rory has had a phenomenal season, but the first time being there it’s hard to get acclimated because of the arena and immenseness sometimes overtakes kids…that absolutely did not happen to Rory,” said Lorenz on White’s first experience in Albany. “Him being there for the first time and wrestling as good as he did and taking 4th was outstanding.”
Also placing for St. Francis were juniors Cullen Edwards and Zach Caldwell.
Edwards landed the 6-seed in the tournament’s arguably toughest bracket that featured five returning state placers including two wrestlers with state tournament titles on their resumes. Cullen reached the semifinal taking down 3-seeded Edward Vass from Valley Central (IX) but fell in a hard fought match to returning state champion Cooper Merli from Newburgh (IX) by a 4-0 decision in the semifinal. A 7-2 win over 5-seeded Dylan Reinhard from Smithtown East (XI) set up a rematch of last year’s 5th place bout with Longwood’s (XI) Anthony LaGala-Ryan where he was ultimately an 8-0 major winner over Edwards on Saturday night.
Finally, returning state finalist Zach Caldwell earned the 3-seed at 215 but suffered a loss to 6-seed Michael Mauro from Section I’s John Jay-East Fishkill in the quarters. Mauro would also take down the 2-seed before taking the 1-seed in the weight class into overtime in the finals. In the consolation blood round, Zach would hold on to a narrow 4-3 decision over William Floyd’s (XI) Josiah Lors to guarantee a second straight podium finish. A 7-3 decision over 4-seed Jacob DeJesus from Washingtonville (IX) landed a 7th place finish for the Raiders junior.
By the end of wrestling Saturday night, Section VI Division I claimed four NYS place winners including Frontier’s Welsh as well as Clarence senior AJ Didas who was the highest placing wrestler from Section VI large schools taking 3rd at 145-pounds.
Niagara Falls freshman Cam Crumpler finished 8th at 101-pounds as did Niagara Wheatfield junior Chase Richards at 152.
Didas earned the 4-seed in the bracket and reached the state semifinals with an impressive 17-7 major decision over fellow returning NYS placer Leo Mongiello from Sayville (XI) in the quarterfinals.
A loss to the eventual champion sent AJ to the consolation round where he met another returning placer in Carthage’s Ryan Munn for their second meeting of the season. With a tie match, 8-8, Didas would earn an escape and hold on to win by one, 9-8, to advance to the 3rd place match against Mongiello. In the consolation finale, Didas earned all eight of his match points in the first two periods of the match as he would hold on to win another one point match, 8-7, for third in NYS.
AJ joins two-time state champion Jeff Ellis (1984 and 1985) as the only two time NYS place winners in Red Devils program history and is the highest placing Clarence wrestler since state finalist Nate Schwab in 2015.
Crumpler earned a podium finish in his second trip to the state tournament taking 8th at 101. After falling to the wrestlebacks, he earned a decisive technical fall in the Saturday morning blood round to ensure a place finish. Crumpler is the Wolverines’ 19th different wrestler in program history to place at the state tournament.
Wheatfield junior Chase Richards became the 34th different wrestler to place in NYS out of the Wheatfield program after his third trip to the NYS tournament. After falling to the wrestlebacks, Chase guaranteed a podium finish with a convincing 11-3 major in the blood round. After suffering an injury in the next round, Chase and his coaches elected to drop out of the tournament resulting in an 8th place finish at 152-pounds.
By the end of wrestling Friday, seventeen of the twenty-six Section VI Division I wrestlers had exited the tournament leaving seven wrestlers remaining for the Saturday morning blood round while Didas and Welsh were left to compete in the semifinals. Crumpler and Richards were the only blood round winners on Saturday to ensure four state placers for the large school team which tied the 2013 and 2014 teams who each only placed four wrestlers in the state tournament.
Unfortunately, the effects of a low number of place winners would be felt on Saturday night when Section VI’s 73-points resulted in a last place finish in the final sectional team standings, a first for thee section in 62-year history of the tournament and including the split the division era which started in 2004.
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