Photo Credits to Cal Phillips/WNYAthletics.com
The 2nd Annual Section VI Dual Meet Tournament was held on Saturday at Lancaster Field House, and like the first ‘Duals,’ did not disappoint.
Top seeded Lancaster punched its ticket to next weekend’s state-wide Dual Meet Tournament in Syracuse with a 39-23 victory over 2nd seeded Grand Island in the large school championship. 4th seeded Falconer defeated the top seed Olean Huskies by twenty points in the semifinal and cruised to a 64-11 victory over 6-seed Akron/Alden in the small school championship. Both titles are the first Dual Meet Championships for Lancaster and Falconer. Niagara Wheatfield beat Frontier 61-15 for the third in the large school bracket and Pioneer beat Iroquois 42-37 for third place in small schools.
The Division II (small schools) 6-seed Akron/Alden was the surprise of the day as the Tigers upset 3-seed and #15 state ranked Iroquois 45-40 in the quarterfinal and 2-seed and #8 state ranked Pioneer in the semifinal. However, the Tigers met their match in the final when they faced off against 4-seed Falconer who had upset 1st seeded Olean 48-28 in the semi. The Golden Falcons came away with a 64-11 thrashing of Akron/Alden to win the programs’ first Section VI Dual Meet championship and earn a trip to the first ever NYSPHSAA Dual Meet Tournament at the SRC Arena on the campus of Onondaga CC in Syracuse.
Despite the blowout win for Falconer, some high level individual bouts showed the toughness of both squads and perhaps some things to lookout for as the Class and Sectional Tournaments approach. Jimmy Kramer (3rd in Section VI 2017) made his season debut for the Golden Falcons after recovering from injury. The re-addition of Kramer back into the lineup could be a difference maker in Syracuse next weekend as well as in the Section VI Class C race the following weekend. Kramer went up against Akron/Alden’s Owen Kissell (#3 at 126-pounds in WNY) and won by major decision 8-0 in a dominate performance. Two of the top three 160-pounders in WNY in Falconer’s Dan Torres (#1, defending Section VI champ) won by decision 11-9 in overtime against Akron’s Robbie PeQueen (#3 in WNY) after being down 5-1 early in the match.
The tradition-rich Golden Falcons put their mark on this weekend’s tournament and showed why they are one of the premier wrestling programs in western New York, year in and year out. Falconer (23-3 record) returns three state place winners from last season in Dylan Ingrao (4th NYS 2017), Dan Torres (5th NYS 2017), and Corey Keefe (6th NYS 2017) as well as a host of other solid wrestlers in Robbie Penhollow (current #1 in WNY at 170-pounds), Jimmy Kramer, Nick Saeger, and Bryce Baglia. Despite the win over league rival Olean, the Golden Falcons and Huskies will face off on Wednesday, January 24th to decide the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 title.
Falconer is the 7th seed in next weekend’s Division II Dual Meet Tournament. The Golden Falcons will wrestle Section XI (Suffolk Co./Long Isl.) small school champion Mt. Sinai (15-4) and Section X (Northern NY) champion Gouverneur (14-4) in their pool.
Lancaster rolled to the Section VI large school Dual Meet Championship with wins over Frontier 43-22 and Niagara Wheatfield 44-27. The Legends met 2-seed Grand Island in the final. Earlier in December the Legends traveled to Grand Island to take on the Vikings in a non-league match and won 37-35. Grand Island earned wins over Lockport and Clarence on its way to the final.
In the latest NYSSWA poll the Legends were ranked #11 in large schools. The Legends currently hold a 17-1 record and locked up the ECIC Division 1 title on Wednesday, January 17th. Like Falconer, the Legends return a host of wrestlers who earned post-season awards last season including defending Section VI champions Parker Rozler and Ryan Stencel, as well as All-State linebacker Joe Andreessen who was a wildcard to the state tournament last year and placed 5th NYS large school tournament. Other standouts for the Legends are Myles Gronowski, Jacob Harry, Travis Kilanowski, and John Lapiana.
Lancaster Wrestling added another milestone to its already storied tradition with the Section VI Dual Meet Championship. The Legends should be the favorite to win the Section VI Class AA tournament title and will look to their star wrestlers in seeking the program’s first state champion since Joe Zito in 1986. Many look to 195-pound senior Joe Andreessen. Andreessen started the season as the second ranked 195-pound wrestler in NYS large schools behind only John Franzese (4th NYS 2017) from Section XI’s John Glenn High School.