Cover image courtesy of Falconer Wrestling.
*Separate Erie County roundup to follow.
Friday, May 28th
Pioneer 49 – Lancaster 9
The Panthers had been competing already since May 15th and were finally able to secure a dual meet. The Legends were one of two of the first Erie County teams to wrestle a dual meet this season on Friday. While a small number of matches went uncontested, the squads combined for eight bouts between 126 and 189-pounds with Pioneer claiming wins in seven of them. Defending sectional champion Dan Kirsch added another impressive victory to his resume with a major decision 13-2 win over the Legends’ Myles Gronowski. Brady Heckathorn, Alex Miley, and Zack Russell all secured high quality decision win over impressive Lancaster athletes in the dual as well.
North Tonawanda 52 – Sweet Home 21
NT improved to 2-3 overall on the season with a non-league win over the Panthers in Amherst who, along with Lancaster, are the first two Erie County teams to compete this spring. The Lumberjacks were led by wins from Mason Evarts, Dylan Gagnon, Wesley Licht, Simon Griskonis, Joe Riley, Joey Pasiak, Aden Spina, and Chris Kinney. The ‘Jacks visit Medina on June 1st before hosting a strong Newfane team on Thursday.
Saturday, May 29th
Albion 42 – Medina 30
After storming out to a 24-0 lead, Albion found itself in a 24-24 tie with the neighboring rival Mustangs. The Purple Eagles captured four pins only to be matched by three Medina pins and a forfeit to tie the team score. Abion’s Andrew Uderitz regained the lead with another pin while the ‘Eagles claimed two forfeits in the final three weights to secure their first ‘super league’ win of the season.
Tuesday, June 1st
Starpoint 32 – Newfane 26
The Niagara/Orleans heavy hitters met outside for a showdown of undefeated squads. The Spartans improved to 4-0 this season knocking the Panthers out of first place in the league standings who fell to 5-1 overall this season. Starpoint’s George Thompson broke a 23-23 tie with a huge pin at 160-pounds before they traded decisions at 172 and 182, respectively, to seal the road victory.
North Tonawanda 51 – Medina 18
NT pulled to an even 3-3 overall record with a league road win over the Mustangs. Nine individual Lumberjacks captured wins in the contest.
Lockport 30 – Barker/Royalton-Hartland 24
The Lions earned their first win of the season at home versus the Raider-Rams. Lockport won three of the contested bouts to B/R-H’s four, however all three wins were pins. Numbers were the Lions’ favor as well as they collected two forfeits.
Niagara Falls 63 – Lewiston-Porter 3
Falls improved to 5-0 in the ‘super league’ with wins over the Lancers and Wilson Lakemen on Tuesday. Lew-Port’s Caden Barrientos continues to impress, this time with a 5-4 decision win over another young star in the Falls’ Jaden Crumpler at 110-pounds. The Wolverines’ Jesiere Carter got back on track with a high quality win over the Lancers’ Ciaran Edwards, 6-3, at 152.
Falconer 64 – Jamestown 12
The Golden Falcons hosted the neighboring Red Raiders outside on the brand new turf directly under the new scoreboard at Bill Race Field.
Niagara Falls 78 – Wilson 0
Olean 46 – Gowanda/C-LV 6
Wednesday, June 2nd
Pioneer 32 – Starpoint 25
A night after taking on WNY’s #5 ranked squad, the #4 Spartans hosted the #3 Pioneer Panthers for what was, this time, a non-league dual since the normal ECIC II rivals are without the rest of their Erie County league members. Starpoint took a 12-0 lead early on in the dual, however the Panthers stormed out to 28 unanswered points due in large part to three pins courtesy of Kam Riordan, Brady Heckathorn, and Donald Bennett from 145-160-pounds. The Spartans brought the team score back to within three points but returning Section VI champion and NYS 4th place finisher Dan Kirsch iced the dual with a 9-0 major in the final bout. Pioneer improved to 2-0 with the road victory.
Salamanca 30 – Frewsburg 24
The Warriors are alone atop the CCAA II standings at 3-0. Salamanca already has a win over Randolph, but will have big tests with Portville and Maple Grove in the last two weeks of the season.
Randolph 27 – Maple Grove 25
The Cardinals improved to 2-1 with a road victory over the 2-0 Red Dragons. Randolph will need to win out and rely on either Maple Grove or Portville to win at least one dual against Salamanca to get a share of the league title.
Niagara Falls 67 – Albion 6
Falls regained sole possession of the top spot in the ‘super league’ standings with a perfect 6-0 league record.
Falconer 62 – Southwestern 9
Fredonia 50 – Jamestown 18
Chautauqua Lake 48 – Dunkirk 18
Portville 40 – Franklinville 18
Thursday, June 3rd
Pioneer 57 – Portville 3
The Panthers hosted the defending CCAA II champions and improved to 3-0 heading into the weekend. Next up for Pioneer: a road dual at Chautauqua Lake on Tuesday and a showdown with #1 Falconer on Thursday.
Dunkirk 30 – Gowanda/C-LV 28
Hats off to the Marauders who captured their first CCAA I league dual meet win in two years. Keep up the good work!
Newfane 48 – North Tonawanda 13
Newfane improved to 6-1 in ‘super league’ duals with a win over NT. The Panthers captured six out of eight head to wins while splitting forfeits at two apiece for each team. NT’s Aden Spina and Chris Kinney won the match’s most exciting individual bouts as Spina was an overtime winner, 4-2, at 215-pounds while Kinney captured a 1-0 decision at heavyweight. NT is the first squad in the ‘super league’ to have had to face the top four teams, so surely they will look to try and win out on the league schedule in the last two weeks.
Starpoint 60 – Barker/Royalton-Hartland 9
The Spartans wrestled for the third time in as many nights to improve to 5-0 in the ‘super league.’ While Starpoint received mostly forfeits in the lower half of the lineup, every weight from 152 to 285 was contested with five additional exhibitions after the dual.
Lewiston-Porter 39 – Lockport 30
Lockport 42 – Wilson 12
Niagara Wheatfield 57 – Medina 12
Chautauqua Lake – Olean
