Cover photo courtesy of Pioneer Wrestling
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After missing out on a 10th consecutive league championship in the 2023-2024 season, Pioneer Wrestling is back on top of the ECIC standings after going 7-0 this season in an improved Division III field that features four WNY top-10 ranked teams. The #5 Panthers took down defending ECIC III champion #10 Springville in Yorkshire on Wednesday in a 35-25 thriller to complete the season unbeaten in conference duals to clinch the outright league title.
The #5 Panthers complete the 2024-2025 season with a perfect record in ECIC duals and 9-8 overall after navigating a difficult schedule. Pioneer also wrestled to a top-3 finish at the ECIC Championships on Jan. 24th and 25th and reached the Section VI Division II Dual Meet Championships semifinal for the first time since 2018.
Although the Panthers ultimately had a successful dual season, the team posted a 1-5 record at its own Union Concrete Pioneer Duals early in the season on Dec. 13 and 14. Unhappy with the result, former assistant and now first year head coach Zach Wiedemann and staff prompted change that ultimately helped to turn around the season. Wiedemann is also a program alumnus with the class of 2014.
“Going 1-5 at our duals was a huge hit for us,” said Wiedemann. “For myself, it made me notice that we as a staff had to change our whole approach. There is a culture here that we’ve had to bring back. Ever since that point, we changed our practices and our approach to duals, and it started to work for us…we refocused on bringing back the Pioneer Wrestling culture.”
Wiedemann // Photo courtesy of Jeff Pataky
The Panthers landed back in ECIC III this season after competing in Division II in 2023-2024. This year’s league championship is the program’s fourth ECIC III title in the last six seasons. They most recently captured the ECIC II title in 2019-2020. In the last eleven seasons, the Panthers are 77-1 in ECIC league duals and have won ten league championships.
“The biggest difference from this year to last year was bringing back what [former head coach Chris] Edwards had started...the aspect of what Pioneer Wrestling is, which is just that we work harder than everybody else," said Wiedemann. "Bringing that mentality back was the key to our success."
In their first league dual of the season on Dec. 11, the Panthers were pushed by a talented Lackawanna squad in a narrow 35-32 victory. After racking up a 5-0 record in league duals, Pioneer visited #6 Eden for a showdown of unbeaten ECIC III teams on Friday, Jan. 31. Against the Raiders, Pioneer won seven of the first nine bouts, all for crucial team bonus points, to jump out to an insurmountable 40-12 lead with only four weights remaining, ultimately going on to win 40-33 an improving to 6-0 in the division.
On Wednesday, after already having locked up at least a share of the league title, Pioneer hosted an experienced and scrappy Griffins squad. Trailing 19-17 with only four weights left and a forfeit at the final weight at 108-pounds, the powerful trio of junior Takota Smith (215), senior Chris Howatt (285), and freshman Owen Bliss (101) all secured pins and eighteen critical team points to take the lead and secure the victory.
Senior Wyatt Opferbeck also secured a pin for Pioneer at 160-pounds while the Panthers held Springville to zero pins in the dual. Howatt led the Panthers going 7-0 individually in ECIC III duals this season.
Going into the last four matches of the night, Wiedemann knew that he'd be able to rely on the trio to get the job done and win the match and the league title for the Panthers.
"Not much was said," stated Wiedemann. "The expectation has always been there this year with those three guys...we've leaned on them all season. I think they already had it in their mentality that that's exactly what they were going to go do...win us the dual."
"Everybody has to be ready to wrestle no matter what, and if your name is called you have to go out there and wrestle tough," added Wiedemann. "It's the 'next man up' mentality and all the kids bought into it throughout the year."
One of the Panthers' 'next man up' moments was sophomore Evan Grandits filling in for a missing starter in the lineup. Grandits held his Griffin opponent to a decision, a performance for which Wiedemann praised as a huge result for the Panthers.
Howatt // Pataky
116: Gioni Stampone (P) dec. Damien Shea (S), 5-4
124: Wyatt Morris (S) dec. Evan Grandits (P), 7-2
131: Geoffrey Grandits (P) dec. Jayden Bushem (S), 8-3
138: Aiden Morris (S) dec. Trey Monin (P), 7-0
145: Bostyn Hackett (P) tf. Anderson Roberts (S)
152: Bailey Oatman (S), tf. Brody Goodemote (P)
160: Wyatt Opferbeck (P) p. Nathaniel Cooper (S), 2P
170: Adam Brown (S) md. Tristan McKerrow (P), 11-1
190: Preston Bond (S) md. Lukas Boyd (P), 11-1
215: Takota Smith (P) p. Carson Bond (S), 1P
285: Chris Howatt (P) p. Domonic Wenzel (S), 3P
101: Owen Bliss (P) p. Max Perry (S), 2P
108: Amanda Tartick (S) fft.
2024-2025 Pioneer scores vs. league opponents:
Dec. 11: Pioneer 35 – #9 Lackawanna 32
Dec. 18: Pioneer 39 – Maryvale 16
Jan. 8: Pioneer 52 – East Aurora/Holland 10
Jan 15: Pioneer 72 – Alden 0
Jan. 29: Pioneer 59 – Tonawanda 11
Jan. 31: Pioneer 40 – #6 Eden 33
Feb. 5: Pioneer 35 – #10 Springville 25
Bliss // Pataky
Opferbeck // Pataky
Smith // Pataky
Pioneer coaches // Pataky
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