Section VI Division II Dual Meet Wrestling Championships Roundup

The 5th Section VI Dual Meet Wrestling Championships were contested for the fourth time in the history of the event (the 2018-2019 tournament was cancelled) on Saturday at Lancaster High School. This year’s tournament, unlike in previous seasons, saw a very different format that resulted in the same competitive, entertaining, and high quality dual meet showdowns.

The #1 ranked and seeded Division II squad Newfane Panthers captured the program’s first Section VI Dual Meet title on Saturday after taking down three-time defending champion and 2020 NYS small school champion Falconer, 43-24, in the Saturday morning final. Both of these teams have competed in all four Section VI Duals thus far and last met in the 2020 semifinal with Falconer winning that dual 43-31. Newfane’s 3rd place finish in 2020 was the team’s highest placement going into this weekend’s championship.

Newfane claimed seven wins and five pins in the Division II final compared to Falconer’s five wins and only two pins (plus one forfeit). Panthers 7th grader Brayden Kellison-Neglia got Newfane on the board first with a huge pin at 110-pounds. Kellison was bumped up to 110 after weighing in at 102 and took on an experienced Falconer sophomore. The additional bonus points for the pin were huge for the team score and just as importantly set the tone for the Panthers in the very first match of the dual.

Aiden Harris and Ayden Buttery added crucial pins at 118 and 126-pounds, respectively, to put the Panthers up big 18-0 after only three bouts. Falconer’s Karsen DePasquale got the Golden Falcons on the board with a decision at 132, however Newfane’s 2020 state tournament place winner Aidan Gillings secured a first period pin at 138 for the Panthers’ fourth pin in as many wins.

Senior journeyman Adam Huntington earned a crucial win at 145-pounds with a 4-0 decision victory over Falconer’s Austin Chase. Huntington and Chase met at the Linda Knuutila Memorial Tournament semifinals on December 18th with Huntington winning a 1-0 decision. A rematch was on the minds of both coaching staff’s going into this dual. Huntington’s victory gave the Panthers a huge 27-3 lead after six weights.

From 152 to 189-pounds the Golden Falcons closed the gap on the Panthers significantly. Jacob Clark started off a four-win run for Falconer with a decision at 152, followed by a pin courtesy of Dalton Caldwell at 160. Brodie Little received a forfeit at 172 while Devyn Morrison added six more points to the team score with a pin at 189 to bring the team score to within a one match reach, 27-24.

Newfane senior Simon Lingle once again demonstrated heroics for his team this season coming up with a devastating pin at 215-pounds in what was a back and forth, ‘don’t blink’ match with the Golden Falcons’ Kyle Keefe. An early third period pin gave the Panthers some breathing room, 33-24, with only two matches left.

At 285-pounds, Newfane’s returning Section VI Division II heavyweight champion Charles LaRose would meet Falconer’s dangerous David Stein in the critical second to last match. LaRose’s height and weight advantage proved to be too much for Stein late in the third period as LaRose sealed the Newfane victory with a pin to put the match out of reach at 39-24. JJ Lucinski put a cap on the dual with a major decision victory at 102-pounds making the final score 43-24.

The Panthers (3-0 Niagara-Orleans, 13-1 overall) will make the program’s first appearance at the NYSPHSAA Dual Meet Championships on Saturday, January 29th at SRC Arena on the campus of Onondaga County Community College. Falconer (3-0, 11-3) is still in contention for a wild card invitation back to the state championships.

The normally eight-team field at the Duals was narrowed down to four for this event. The original 3-seed Portville was forced to back out only two days before the tournament which would’ve been the Panthers’ first appearance in the tournament. With Newfane originally scheduled to take on Iroquois in the first round, they received a bye into the final while Iroquois was bumped up to the 3-spot for a rematch with Falconer in the semifinal. The Golden Falcons defeated the Chiefs 33-31 on December 29th at the Dick Vincent Duals at Letchworth.

In Saturday’s rematch in the lone small school semifinal, Falconer claimed seven wins in eleven contested bouts with six pins. With a 39-18 lead and only two matches to go, Falconer conceded two forfeits at 215 and 285 with the dual already out of reach for Iroquois. Dylan Newman, Karsen Lundgren, Kailen Kline, and Vinnie Bloomberg gave Falconer  a comfortable 21-0 lead before the Chiefs’ powerful duo of Michael Schiffhauer and Ryan Sweeney gained some ground but were held to a major decision and decision, respectively. Jacob Clark, Brodie Little, and Bryant Morrison sealed the 39-30 victory for Falconer from 145 to 189 while Ethan Pfeiffer and Ricky Hess added wins for Iroquois in the loss.