St. Francis captures CHSAA wrestling title

On the same weekend of the first ever NYSPHSAA Dual Meet Tournament, the Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) held its annual Dual Meet Championship at St. Anthony’s High School in Huntington, NY. The St. Francis Red Raiders stormed to the Dual Meet Championship going 8-0 over two days after losing its first and only match of the weekend in the very first dual. St. Joe’s took fourth overall and Canisius also competed.

The CHSAA Duals consists of twelve teams from the Monsignor Martin league here in western New York as well as from Nassau/Suffolk and New York City leagues. Previously, it was attended by only downstate Catholic schools, but in 2009 St. Francis was the first western New York team to attend. St. Joe’s first attended in 2010, and Canisius in 2017.

On Saturday St. Francis started with perennial Catholic school wrestling power Monsignor Farrell from Staten Island in what would be a dual between two of the top contenders. The Red Raiders would end up losing that match 45-33. “We came out flat” said St. Francis head coach Mike Messore, “It was a little disappointing to start things off.” After regrouping as a team, the rest of the tournament was a different story. The Red Raiders would need to win out and rely on some help for a chance at the dual meet title.

After the loss to Msgr. Farrell, Coach Messore added “We got better all day Saturday. And on Sunday, my guys wrestled out of their minds.” On Saturday, the Red Raiders defeated Xavier and Fordham Prep and gutted out tough wins against St. John the Baptist and Iona Prep. On Sunday they took down CHSAA #1 ranked team St. Anthony’s 46-32 as well as #3 ranked Chaminade 48-37. They also defeated Kellenberg and Holy Trinity.

Where St. Anthony’s lineup is toughest, the Red Raiders stepped up. Coach Messore stated “We didn’t give up pins. We were winning mental and physical battles and they made the choice to go out there and do that. They wouldn’t give up.”

The MMHSAA league champions met Chaminade (who had beat Msgr. Farrell earlier in the tournament) in the final dual of the weekend to determine the champion. After the Red Raiders jumped out to a 30-0 lead, Chaminade stormed back to make the score 42-37. However, it was senior captain and 152-pounder Connor Miller who earned a pin in the final bout and secured the Dual Meet title for the Red Raiders.

Brothers Dominik and Nolan Thomas finished the weekend 9-0. Dominik earned first period pins in all nine matches. Slade Merck and Marcus Muffoletto both finished 8-1 on the weekend and Miller posted a 7-2 record on the weekend.

St. Joe’s finished fourth with a 6-3 record including a win over Msgr. Farrell, 39-36.  The Marauders secured wins over Xavier, Fordham Prep, St. John the Baptist, Msgr. Farrell, Holy Trinity, and an exciting final match over Kellenberg 44-29. Head coach Pete Kennedy stated “It was a grind. We traveled eight hours and wrestled great competition in nine dual meets in two days. And, we came out of the weekend healthy. I am proud of the way we wrestled…we wrestled tough.”

Three Marauder wrestlers went 8-1 on the weekend including Matt Werts, Ben Parish, and Ty Slaugenhoupt.

Canisius also represented the MMHSAA at the Duals. Matt Baldwin finished the weekend a perfect 9-0 and Tim Abate and Justin Gill both finished with 7-2 records.

On Sunday, February 4th St. Joe’s will host the MMHSAA All Catholic Tournament to determine MMHSAA league champions and qualifiers for the CHSAA individual state tournament. The top five place finishers in each weight from the MMHSAA will qualify for ‘Catholic states’ February 10-11 at Msgr. Farrell High School. Six wrestlers from the NYC league and five from the Nassau/Suffolk league will qualify as well to fill out the fifteen weights of sixteen-man brackets. The CHSAA champions will participate in the NYSPHAA federation tournament in Albany, February 23-24.