Section VI Class C/D Tournament Roundup

Cover photo courtesy of Shelly Phillips, Southwestern Trojans Wrestling Facebook page

The hosts and NYS champion Falconer Golden Falcons ran away with the team title outscoring a strong second place #3 Newfane team 288 to 197 points. Falconer crowned only two champions but placed fourteen wrestlers, thirteen of whom will move on to next weekend’s Section VI Division II state qualifier. Newfane was led by four individual champions while #7 Chautauqua Lake finished in third with 176.5 points and three champions. #8 Southwestern and Franklinville rounded out the top five scoring teams, respectively.

99: A packed house at 99-pounds was a fitting preview to what could be all-out chaos in the state tournament qualifier on Saturday, February 15th at Southwestern. Chautauqua Lake freshman and 3-seed Martin Ohlsson captured his first class title earning a decision over the 6-seed then a first period pin over 2-seed Aidan Gillings from Newfane in the semis before taking down top seeded Gavin Ciarfella, 4-0, from Barker/Royalton-Hartland in the final. Joining Ohlsson and Ciarfella at the qualifier will be CL’s Jordan Joslyn, who took 3rd in the bracket, Eden’s John Vicario (4th), and Gillings, who took 5th to ensure a spot at the qualifier.

106: Newfane’s returning sectional champion and state finalist Andy Lucinski cruised past the competition on Saturday pinning all four of his opponents to capture first at 106-pounds. Finalist Ethan Coleman, an 8th grader from Franklinville, was a winner by pin over Falconer’s sectional finalist and state duals hero Brayden Newman in the semifinal to earn a spot in the final. Newman finished in 3rd place, qualifying for sectionals, as did Medina’s RaShawn Bloom (4th), and CL’s Jack Bourgeois (5th).

113: Newfane’s top seeded Adam Huntington defended his seed claiming his first class title. Huntington was a finals winner by pin over Falconer’s 3-seed Austin Chase who defeated 2-seed Trent Burchanowski (CL) in the semifinal. Burchanowski captured 3rd in the weight followed by B/R-H’s Brett Ricker (4th) and Akron’s Travis Fry (5th).

120: The Thunderbird’s third finalist in the lowest four weights in Hunter Harris claimed 1st place going 4-0 on the day. Harris was a decision winner over 2-seed Michael Carnes (SW) in the final. Akron’s Josh Cummings went 4-1 on the day to capture 3rd in the weight followed by Falconer’s Brodie Little (4th) and Newfane’s Miguel Salas (5th).

126: Another top seeded wrestler in SW’s Garrett Swan claimed 1st in the bracket with three pins and a huge finals decision over 2-seed Joey Pillittieri from Falconer, 7-4. Swan cruised past his first three opponents to take down one of the stars of the state champion teams’ lineup to capture his second straight C/D title. A returning sectional place winner in Eden’s Blake Colantino was 3rd in the bracket after falling by only a two-point margin to Pillittieri in the semis. Salamanca’s Trevor Ellis (4th) and Newfane’s Tim Hackney (5th) rounded out the sectional-qualifying wrestlers in the weight.

132: Maple Grove sophomore Luke Tomlinson again made sure to remind the rest of the section that he needs to be in the championship conversation in storming his way to the C/D 132-pound title. Tomlinson earned a pin, a major, and a finals pin to earn back to back class titles. Eden’s 2-seeded Shane Walczyk earned a quality win over Franklinville’s Nolan Palmatier in the semis to reach the final. Falconer’s 5-seeded Hunter Teboe earned four straight wins after falling in the quarters to claim 3rd in the bracket, followed by Randolph’s Xander Hind (4th) and Palmatier (5th).

138: CL’s 2017-2018 Section VI champion Brendon Ramsey continued his strong push toward another title with a solid performance in claiming the C/D 138-pound title. Ramsey earned two pins and a technical fall before taking down Newfane’s 2-seed Nik Voelker in the final, 4-0, in a bout between two returning sectional place winners. T-Bird teammate Brendon Rowe captured 3rd in the bracket with Franklinville’s Tyler Learn and Maple Grove’s Kynan Egan taking 4th and 5th, respectively.

145: Returning state tournament wildcard Ryan Nugent captured the Class C/D title as one of four top seeded wrestlers for Newfane. Nugent earned two pins and a 5-0 decision over returning sectional place winner Dagon Bryant from Southwestern in the final for 1st in the bracket. Portville’s Jaiden Slagle finished 3rd overall in the bracket and defeated Wilson’s 8-seed Cameron Guy in the third place match. Guy won three consolation matches two of which were over higher seeded wrestlers for 4th in the weight. B/R-H’s Colby Hancock qualified for sectionals taking 5th in the bracket.

152: Portville’s sophomore star Dakota Mascho was the lone champion for the WNY #6 Panthers, defeating top seeded Falconer senior Bryce Baglia 7-1 in the final to lead the Panthers to a 6th place team finish. Both wrestlers earned pins in their first three matches to the reach the Saturday night final for a matchup of two returning sectional 3rd place winners. Eden’s 5-seed Alex Millspaugh claimed 3rd in the bracket followed by Gowanda’s Ethan Fort (4th) and Randolph’s Luke Pagett (5th), all of who qualified for sectionals in placing fifth or better.

160: Returning state tournament qualifier Giovanni Schifano captured the C/D title with a 6-0 decision in the final over Falconer’s 2-seed Mack Mikula after pinning two of his first opponents and technical falling another. Schifano has been outstanding this season and should be the favorite to capture his first sectional title at the qualifier next weekend. 5-seed Zachary Wolcott claimed 3rd in the bracket after only falling to Schifano. Unseeded Falconer 8th grader Connor Stein wrestled to a 4th place finish, qualifying for his first sectional championship. Gowanda’s 3-seed Everette Golden claimed 5th and a spot in the state qualifier as well.

170: Franklinville’s returning sectional finalist Cleon Lawton defeated Portville stars in back to back matches to capture his second straight Class C/D title. The 2-seed Lawton defeated the Panthers’ 3-seed Roland Thompson by major, 14-2, in the semis before prevailing over top seeded Jayden Lassiter in the final, 3-2. In the third place match, SW’s Tatyn Bryant was a 3-1 decision winner over Falconer’s John Kozlowski, whom he had lost to 4-3 earlier in the day. Thompson finished 5th in the bracket to roundup up a good group of wrestlers that will represent the class at sectionals next week.

182: The Golden Falcons finally had a champion as top seeded Hudson Johnson pinned his way through the field to capture his first class title. Not one of his four opponents made it out of the first minute of their match with Johnson on Saturday. 3-seed Kyle Trim from Maple Grove defeated 2-seed Everett Leonard from Franklinville in the semi, 8-1, and finished as runner-up to Johnson. Leonard wrestled back to a 3rd place finish followed by Southwestern’s Tyler Williams (4th) and Newfane’s Simon Lingle (5th).

195: Southwestern’s returning sectional 3rd place winner and young star Dontae Hoose claimed 1st in a numbers-wise thin but high quality bracket. Hoose defeated Falconer state duals hero 4-seed Brock Johnson, 5-2, in the semifinals before taking down Franklinville’s 3-seed Kyle Wittenrich in the final, 7-2. Wittenrich was a forfeit winner over Maple Grove’s 2-seed and returning sectional finalist Jake Tomlinson in the semi. Johnson finished 3rd in the bracket with a forfeit win over Tomlinson followed by Medina’s Riley Black who took 5th overall in the weight.

220: Falconer’s Collin Beichner claimed the C/D 220-pound title after cruising past his first three opponents and earning a finals decision win over Maple Grove’s 3-seed Zachariah Padd. Padd was a 6-2 winner over Portville’s 2-seed Julian Morales in the semifinal. Southwestern’s Zach Johnson (3rd), Morales (4th), and Akron’s Ryan Greiner (5th) all qualified for sectionals with top five place finishes on Saturday.

285: Returning Section VI champion Jaden Heers from Newfane captured another class title as he looks to make noise in Albany later this month. Falconer’s 2-seed Collin Mower fell by decision to Heers in the final but only after pinning his first two opponents. B/R-H’s Nico Cacique (3rd), Medina’s Mitchell Silversmith (4th), and Randolph’s Ryan Carpenter (5th) all qualified for sectionals as well.