Four teams and sixty total wrestlers took home Section VI Class Championship titles on Saturday across the area. The top four place winners in each weight in classes AA and A and the top five in classes B and C/D advance to next weekend’s Section VI Division I and Division II state qualifiers.
Class AA
Team standings: 1st: Clarence – 229 points; 2nd: Niagara Falls – 199; 3rd: Lancaster – 175; 4th: West Seneca West – 172; 5th: Frontier – 145; Orchard Park, Williamsville North/East, Kenmore West/East, Lockport, Jamestown
Seven Red Devil finalists helped carry Clarence to the team title but Aiden Rabideau was the only individual champion. Rabideau gutted out a 5-4 decision win in the 126-pound final over a very strong opponent in Williamsville North’s Mike Catanzaro.
The Wolverines had five finalists and three Class AA champions. NYS champion Willie McDougald won the 138-pound title. Teammate Deandre Prum earned a 10-4 finals decision to win the 132-pound bracket and Jojo Dixon won the Class AA 160-pound title with a first period fall in the final.
Lancaster was third in the team standing but went four-for-four in the championship matches. Myles Gronowski won the 106-pound Class AA title for the Legends. Nick Barberio toughed out a 5-2 decision win over the Falls’ Mike Snowden to win the 120-pound title. Ryan Stencel used two technical falls and a finals pin to dominate the field and win the 152-pound Class AA title. Codie Scotland avenged two losses this season to Orchard Park’s Mike Pataky in the championship final to win the 195-pound title.
West Seneca had a good showing on Saturday and crowned two champions out of four Indian finalists. Paul Cantafio won the 113-pound Class AA title. Kyle Bauer earend a pin and two major decision wins to take the 145-pound tournament title. Marco Fuoco (132) and Jacob Mancuso (138) were runners-up for West.
Frontier rounded out the top five teams and had two finalists and one champion. Dylan Wojcichowski was the lone Falcon champion at 170-pounds. Teammate Travis Browning was a runner-up at 99-pounds. Orchard Park finished 6thoverall and had finalists at three straight weights at 182, 195, and 220. Blake Harlock was a winner by pin in the final to take the 182-pound Section VI Class AA title. Matt Wagner was the top seed at 220-pounds and backed that seed up by winning the Class title for the Quakers. Williamsville North had three finalists and two class champions in 7thgrader Cam Catrabone at 99-pounds and Ryan Venohr at 285-pounds.
Class A
Team standings: 1st: Niagara Wheatfield – 284.5 points; 2nd: Olean – 191; 3rd: Amherst – 160; 4thGrand Island – 159; 5th: Starpoint – 146.5; Hamburg, Depew/Cleveland Hill, Williamsville South, North Tonawanda, Sweet Home
Wheatfield was paced by six individual champions to storm to the Class A title by nearly one hundred points. 7thgrader Te’Shaun Mathews was the Falcon’s first champion of the night at 99-pounds. Defending Section VI champions Collin Coughenour and Justin McDougald won Class A titles at 120 and 132-pounds, respectively. Defending sectional finalist Jake DeWolf and sectional champion Warren McDougald were each bumped up a weight class on Saturday morning and are locked into their new weights for the rest of the postseason. DeWolf won the Class A title at 145-pounds while Warren won the 152-pound bracket. Section VI champion Josh Thibeault was the final Wheatfield Class champion of the tournament at 170-pounds.
A tough Olean squad had six finalists between 145 and 195-pounds with two wrestlers winning Class A titles. In a battle of 2018-2019 state representatives Olean’s Pat Walsh (6th place NYS) was a 9-6 winner over Grand Island’s Section champion Connor Kenney at 182-pounds. Connor Walsh was the Huskies’ second champion in the 195-pound bracket. Also, defending state tournament wildcard Nick Bierfeldt was 3rd at 132-pounds for the Huskies.
Amherst was third in the team standings with two finalists, both being at the same weight. Ryan Bitka defeated teammate Tyree Orange in the 285-pound final. The 7thseeded Orange took down the weight’s second and third seeded wrestlers on his way to the final.
Grand Island was paced by five finalists and three individual champions. Brian Bielic gutted out a 5-1 win in the final to win the Class A 126-pound title. Adam Daghestani won the 160-pound title and Blake Bielic was an overtime winner to take the 220-pound Class A title.
Starpoint was fifth in the team scoring paced by runner-up performances by Gage LaPlante (99), Sam Stoelting (126), and Jacob Eckler (138).
Hamburg was sixth in the team score and had one champion and three runners-up. Devin Collins won the 138-pound Class A title for the Bulldogs. North Tonawanda’s Tyler Bartolomei avenged a January loss to Grand Island’s Jack Randle in the 113-poound final, edging the Viking grappler by a close 2-0 decision. Finally, Depew/Cleveland Hill’s Carson Alberti won the Class A title at 106-pounds.
Class B
Team standings: 1st: Iroquois – 224 points; 2nd: Pioneer – 211, 3rd: Fredonia – 189; 4th: Newfane – 179.5; 5th: East Aurora – 161; Lake Shore, Tonawanda, Albion, Maryvale, Lackawanna, Lewiston-Porter, Barker/Royalton-Hartland, Cheektowaga, CSAT, Springville, Dunkirk
Iroquois came away victorious in very tough Class B tournament led by three individual champions. Cory Day pinned his way to the Class B 160-pound title. Jake Vergien earned two pins and a semifinal technical fall to meet Fredonia’s Giovani Russo in the final. Vergien was a 5-4 winner by decision in a match of two defending NYS tournament representatives to win the 132-pound title. Donovan Bukaczeski continued his excellent season with a dominating tournament performance to win the 106-pound Class B title. Ryan Sweeney (120) was a runner-up for the Chiefs.
Pioneer only had one champion but placed thirteen wrestlers in having another solid team performance. Mike Rigerman once again pinned his way to the 220-pound Class B title. Daniel Kirsch (113) and Kameron Riordan (145) were both runners-up for the Panthers in very close decision losses that could be potential rematches at next Saturday’s state qualifier.
Fredonia had six finalists and one champion. Cedric Kristan was the lone Class B champion for the Hillbillies. Giovani Russo (132), Dalton Gardner (138), Cole Golembieski (152), Alex Christy (195), and Jake Skinner (220) were runners-up for Fredonia.
Newfane placed fourth overall and had the most champions of any team. Andy Lucinski won the 99-pound Class B title for the Panthers. Josh Gill was the 120-pound Class B champion while Ryan Nugent won the 145-pound title for Newfane. Panther teammates Jaden Heers and Ty Casinelli faced off in the 285-pound final (again) with Heers getting the better of his counterpart, 6-3. Adam Huntington (106) was a runner-up for Newfane as well.
East Aurora had four finalists and two individual champions. Johnny Putney cruised to the 152-pound Class B title and is locked into the weight after having wrestled the season at 145-pounds. Alex Skowronski toughed out a 3-2 win the final to become the 113-pound Section VI Class B champion. Nolan Skowronski (99) and Austin Sitarek (182) were runners-up for the Blue Devils.
Lake Shore placed sixth in the team scoring and had one champion in Julian Martin at 126-pounds. Martin was a winner by decision 2-1 in the ultimate overtime against teammate Kyle Killian in the final.
Tonawanda was just behind Lake Shore in the team scoring and had a pair of champions. Zach Braddell competed at 138, up from his normal 132-pounds, and was a winner by decision 7-4 over Fredonia’s Dalton Gardner in the final in a state-level match. Braddell is a three-time Section VI champion and Gardner a two-time sectional champion. Also winning for the Warriors was Jason Frazer who pinned his way to the Class B 182-pound title. Top seeded Karson Grover won the 195-pound Class B title for Barker/Royalton-Hartland.
Class C/D
Team standings: 1st: Falconer – 277.5 points; 2nd: Chautauqua Lake – 214; 3rd: Portville – 132.5; 4th: Maple Grove – 127; 5th: Eden – 113; Southwestern, Gowanda, Franklinville, Akron, Medina, Randolph, Frewsburg, Wilson, Cattaraugus-Little Valley, Salamanca, Alden
Chautauqua Lake kept it close with their CCAA Div. I rival Falconer through the first few rounds of the tournament, but the depth of the Golden Falcons paced by four individual champions prevailed. Fifteen Falconer wrestlers placed and fourteen advanced to the Division II state qualifier next Saturday.
Eight Falconer wrestlers reached the C/D finals. Brayden Newman won the 99-pound title behind two pins and a finals major decision. Jimmy Kramer weighed in at 145 up from his normal 138-pounds and won the Class C/D title. Nick Saeger, normally at 145 and 152-pounds for the Golden Falcons, weighed in for 160-pounds at the tournament and won the class title on an overtime win in the final. Sectional champion Robbie Penhollow moved up to 195 for the remainder of the season after competing at 182 mostly in 2018-2019. Penhollow earned three pins totaling just over two minutes aggregate time in winning the 195-pound Class title. Joey Pilliteri (126), Bryce Baglia (170), Hudson Johnson (182), and Collin Mower (285) were runners-up for the Golden Falcons.
Chautauqua Lake entered the tournament with the most number one and two seeded wrestlers. Eight T-Birds made the finals with only two winning championships. Austin Bourgeois defeated teammate Brendon Ramsey 7-1 in the final to win the 132-pound Class title. State tournament wildcard Ben Szymanowski won the C/D 285-pound title. Martin Ohlsson (99), Trent Burchanowski (106), Wyatt Meeder (113), Hunter Harris (120), and Derek Ecklund (145) had runner-up finishes for ‘Lake.
Portville was third overall but did not have a champion. Dakota Mascho fell in the 152-pound final after a big win over season-long rival Sam Grey from Cattaraugus-Little Valley in the semifinal. Jarod Zenner also had a runner-up finish for the Panthers at 220-pounds.
Maple Grove had a strong team performance behind champions Luke and Jake Tomlinson. Luke pinned all three of his opponents on the day to take the 120-pound Class C/D title. Jake won the 182-pound Section VI Class C/D title.
The host team Eden was fifth in the team scoring and had one champion in Giovanni Schifano at 152-pounds. This weight should be very interesting at the Division II state qualifier next weekend with the appearance of East Aurora’s Johnny Putney at the weight in Class B.
Southwestern was paced by three finalists and two champions. Garrett Swan used a pin and two techs to win the 113-pound Class C/D title. Dagon Bryant won the 138-pound Class title while Tatyn Bryant was a runner-up for the Trojans at 160-pounds.
Four other teams each had one champion.
Gowanda’s David Ball remained a perfect 30-0 in winning the 106-pound Class title. Medina’s Colby Petrie earned a fall in the semis and final to win the 126-pound C/D title. Franklinville’s Cleon Lawton went 3-0 on the day in winning the 170-pound tournament title. Finally, Randolph’s top seeded Jacob Zachar won the 220-pound Class C/D title for the Cardinals.
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