Small School Sabotage

St. Francis's Griffin LaPlante // Courtesy of Jeff Pataky

The first week of the 2024-2025 high school wrestling season has come and gone in a flash. Mid-week lake effect snow interrupted many Wednesday duals and shutdown a number of schools through the end of the week, but the Friday-Saturday slate did more than make up for it with intense dual meet and individual events throughout the area.

Before proceeding – a quick note. You may or may not be wondering, ‘Where’s my dual meet and weekend roundups? What’s up with the subject pronouns?’ This season, I’ll be changing things up to a more informal column-type, quick rundown on the week’s highlights instead of simply listing results (amongst my other duties) in order to maximize my time. I’m hoping to find a little bit better of a balance while still covering all the great teams & athletes throughout the region.

On to the wrestling.

Only seven of thirteen scheduled matches were contested on Weds. 12/4 due to the weather. All eight NFL squads were in action however with Niagara Wheatfield, Niagara Falls, North Tonawanda, and Kenmore all picking up league wins to start 1-0 in the conference. In the Niagara-Orleans league, Albion picked up a win over Route 31 rival Medina for the Purple Eagles’ first league victory since Jan. 2023.

Reference subject headline. Dual meet tournaments at Sweet Home and St. Francis provided excellent wrestling for two days highlighted by some great team and individual performances. First, a shoutout is in order for Wilson Wrestling, who, as an ‘unranked’ (*record scratch*) team going into the weekend (you know where to find that ranking) cruised to the team title at Sweet Home while posting wins over two top-6 and honorable mention WNY big schools, a top-10 small school, and an also unranked but impressive North Tonawanda squad (6-1, 2nd place at Sweet Home) to start the season 7-0 right out of the gate. Hats off to Coach Mike Carlo and the Lakemen. Not bad for a school with a 240 BEDS number.

Wilson, in the immortal words of NBA legend Shaquille O’Neil in January 2021 to the Houston Rockets’ Christian Wood, “I owe you an apology, I wasn’t really familiar with your game.”

Unbeaten on the weekend for Wilson were 7th grade newcomer Roman Zarbo and state tournament qualifiers Victor Cusatis, Jacob Stephenson, and Hamza Merrick. Cusatis also captured his 100th career victory over the weekend.

A similar shoutout has to go to North Tonawanda, entering the tournament ‘unranked’ but earning quality wins over the field with the only loss coming to Wilson. Impressive wins against Clarence and Lancaster and a big win over NFL rival Grand Island highlighted the weekend for Coach Tony Fire and the Lumberjacks.

A week one Border Brawl preview saw ECIC I rivals Clarence and Lancaster meet in the final round of the tournament. The Red Devils came out victorious, 37-26, while giving a forfeit. Clarence senior and returning state place winner AJ Didas was named tournament MOW. The Legends will make the quick trip to Clarence on Jan. 22 for the rematch, likely to have league implications, and guaranteed to have bragging rights implications.

Final standings from Sweet Home:

1.     Wilson 7-0

2.     North Tonawanda 6-1

3.     Clarence 5-2

4.     Lancaster 4-3

5.     Amherst 3-4

6.     Grand Island 2-5

7.     Southwestern 1-6

8.     Sweet Home 0-7

On the other side of town, the fully loaded St. Francis Red Raiders lived up to the hype in their first competition of the new season, cruising to their own VinLouie’s Pizzeria Southtowns Duals title. The Raiders went 9-0 with wins over six other WNY ranked teams, highlighted by a 50-17 victory over Section V power Honeoye Falls-Lima in a showdown of the top rated large and small school teams in NYS. Eight wrestlers went unbeaten for St. Francis including junior heavyweight Willy Wortkoetter, a returning NYS finalist who picked up an impressive win over another returning NYS place winner on the weekend. Raiders junior Griffin LaPlante was named tournament MOW going 9-0 with four pins and two tech falls.

A half dozen more ranked WNY teams spent the weekend accumulating wins over one another in another entertaining yet chaotic edition of the 18th annual Duals. Honorable mention small school Eden started things on Friday with a big win over #4 large school Niagara Falls, jumping all over the Wolverines 35-0 and ultimately surviving the furious ‘Falls comeback to win, 39-35. On Saturday, the Raiders earned another victory over a top-5 big school with a 35-33 win over Frontier. Five DellaPenta cousins went 5-for-5 with head to head wins against the Falcons in the contest, capped off by Trevor’s match sealing pin at 138-pounds with two bouts left. Two years after combining with Hamburg for the 2022-2023 season, the Raiders are back to fielding a full dual lineup – not bad for a school with a 258 BEDS number.

Also of note, Niagara Falls was a 42-24 winner on Friday over Frontier in a 4 vs. 5 matchup, a result that may be of importance for Section VI Dual Meet considerations later this season.

Final standings from St. Francis:

1.     St. Francis 8-0

2.     HFL (V) 6-2

3.     Newfane 5-3

4.     Niagara Falls 5-3

5.     Eden 4-4

6.     Frontier 4-4

7.     Gowanda 4-4

8.     Orchard Park 3-5

9.     Attica/Batavia (V) 3-6

10.  Fredonia 2-6

11.  Lewiston-Porter 0-8

St. Francis's Kole Haseley // Pataky

St. Francis's Rory White // Pataky

St. Franis's Tavio Hoose // Pataky

St. Francis's Wortkoetter // Pataky

St. Francis coaches // Pataky

Barker/Royalton-Hartland captured the team title at their own first Dick Lang Memorial Dual Meet Tournament going 6-0 with big wins over Alden, Canisius, CSAT, Lackawanna, Lafayette/Buffalo Public Schools, and Tonawanda. The Rams host Wilson for a battle of unbeaten Niagara-Orleans League rivals on Wednesday, Dec. 11. Lackawanna landed a 5-1 record overall for a second place team finish. Also, a shoutout is in order for Alden, who in their second season back on the mat entered a wrestler at all but one weight in six duals on Saturday. Keep up the good work Bulldogs.

Final standings from Royalton-Hartland:

1.     Barker/Royalton-Hartland 6-0

2.     Lackawanna 5-1

3.     CSAT 4-2

4.     Lafayette/Buffalo Public Schools

5.     Tonawanda 2-4

6.     Alden

7.     Canisius 0-6

A handful of WNY squads crossed sectional lines to our neighbors in the greater Rochester area on Saturday.

Defending large school Section VI Duals champion Niagara Wheatfield led a group of five WNY teams at the tough Matthew Marino Memorial Tournament held annually at Webster-Schroeder High School. The Falcons finished in 3rd place overall behind only Brockport (V) and the host Warriors who cruised to the team title with 251.5-points. Wheatfield was led by nine top-7 placers including returning NYS tournament qualifiers Garrett Chase and Chase Richards who captured back to back titles at 152 and 160-pounds, respectively. St. Joe’s was paced to a 5th place team finish by 145-champion Sean Gordon while Iroquois (7th) and Williamsville North (9th) both landed top-10 finishes. North sophomore and returning Section VI champion and NYS 6th place winner Brayden Kellison-Neglia went 5-0 on the day with a 2-1 victory in the 131-pound Marino final over Wheatfield’s Eian Peterson in a rematch of the 2024 Section VI Division I 116-pound final. Keep an eye on the Falcons this weekend who could wrestle either one of or both of the strong Brockport and Schroeder squads at the Cheektowaga Warrior Duals.

Top ranked WNY small school and defending Section VI Duals champion Chautauqua Lake was back in action this weekend at the Byron-Bergen Invitational. Three champions helped to lead the Eagles to 183.5 points for a comfortable 45.5-point final tally over 2nd place Letchworth (V) for the team title. Newcomer freshman Zander Lombardo dominated the 108-pound bracket going 4-0 with four pins. Returning NYS tournament qualifier Thandon Bensink dominated on the way to the 124-pound title while 2024 NYS finalist Mason Maring captured both the 285-pound Byron-Bergen title and his 100th career victory on Saturday. Overall, the Eagles had ten top-5 placers in a solid start to the 2024-2025 campaign. Pioneer was led to a 5th place team finish by 152-pound champion Wyatt Opferbeck while five total Panthers finished in the top-5 of their brackets.

At Alexander (V), three Section VI squads finished 2-3-4 in the final team standings with Sweet Home girls landing a second place finish to lead the locals at the 1st Annual Lady Trojan Invitational. All six Panthers placed in the top-3 of their respective brackets led by 132-pound champion Sofia Guadagna who posted an impressive 6-0 day with three pins and three technical falls. Guadagna’s twenty-eight team points helped to pace Sweet Home to 105-points, barely beating out 3rd place Orchard Park’s 103-points. The Quakers’ Olivia Phillips (120-pounds) and Sophia Saffrin (138) each captured Lady Trojan titles while Iroquois star Michaela Thomas claimed gold at 185 for the Red Hawks.

Sweet Home wrestlers // Pataky

Sweet Home's Georgia Zorich // Pataky

Iroquois's Thomas // Pataky

Orchard Park's Phillips // Pataky

The top girls team in WNY last season picked up where they left off as Lockport captured the Rich Morton Salamanca Tournament title behind five individual champions and nine total top-4 place winners. Gabriella Gelnett (107-pounds), Jamiela-Khai Johnson (120), Neveah Erickson (138), Bella Andes (145), and Ava Bragg (235) all claimed titles for the Lions. 2nd place Clarence landed a trio of champions in Julia Lorenz (114), Cael Vesper (126), and Heather Blatto (132). Chautauqua Lake rounded out the top-3 teams with a pair of title winners in Kassidy Benedetto (94) and Lilly Hyde (152). Gowanda’s Mackenzie Carkeek (100), Health Science’s Knionna Leeper (165), and Springville’s Lauren Winfield (185) rounded out the tournament champions in Salamanca on Saturday.

Portville competing at the AP Duals in Avoca (V), Falconer at Jarvis Memorial Tournament in Athens, PA, and the Rich Morton Salamanca Tournament (boys) rounded out an extremely busy opening weekend for WNY high school wrestling.

Impressive team and individual results from week one set the tone for what should be a huge week two with over two dozen league duals followed up by another Friday-Saturday slate of important tournaments like the Warrior Duals, Jon Vesper Memorial Duals (Clarence), Union Concrete Pioneer Duals, the Southern Tier Wrestling Officials Association Tournament (Jamestown CC), and the North Tonawanda Ladyjacks Tournament to name a few.