The St. Joe’s Marauders defeated archrival Canisius Crusaders by a score of 48-28 on Tuesday, to move into sole ownership of first place in the Monsignor Martin High School Athletic Association (MMHSAA) with a 3-0 league record.
It was the twelfth straight victory for Joe’s in the series and it’s eighteenth since 1998. The Marauders picked up five pins as well as two forfeits in the dual. With five weights to go in the match, the Crusaders led 28-27, but Joe’s picked up a pin and the two forfeits in the last five bouts to take the final lead. Canisius dropped to third place in the league with a 2-1 league record.
The St. Francis Red Raiders picked up a league victory on Thursday to sit firmly at second place with a 2-0 league record.
St. Joe’s will meet St. Francis on Jan. 19 to try to defend its MMHSAA league title. However, Canisius still has a chance to disrupt the league standings with an upset win over St. Francis on Jan. 24 should the Red Raiders defeat St. Joe’s. Currently, Gow and St. Mary’s share fourth place with 0-3 league records.
St. Joe’s
So far this season, the Marauders have a 7-5 overall record and are ranked fourth in the New York State Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) rankings and sixth in the western New York large school rankings. The team finished sixth at the Byron-Bergen Triple O Tournament and 11th at Teike-Bernabi in Spencerport.
Fifteen Marauders competed at last weekends’ tough NFWOA Tournament as well. The most recent CHSAA individual rankings feature eight St. Joe’s wrestlers in the top six, including Ty Slaugenhoupt currently ranked first in 160-pound weight class in the ‘Catholic Schools’. Ben Parrish is currently the second-ranked wrestler at the 132-pound weight class and Sam Baker (120-pounds) and Sullivan Walsh (170) are the third-ranked wrestlers in Catholic schools at their weights.
St. Francis
The Red Raiders are currently 11-1 and ranked second in CHSAA and fourth in WNY large schools. The Red Raiders placed second at the Portville Invitational and third at the Akron Holiday Tournament. There were fourteen Red Raiders entered the NFWOA tournament as well. The lone loss came at the hands of top-ranked WNY small school Pioneer. There are ten ranked wrestlers in the top six of their weight classes for St. Francis, including four in the top three. Slade Merck (132) and Dominick Thomas (170) are the top-ranked wrestlers in CHSAA at their weights. Logan Lauck (106) and Nolan Thomas (195) are both the second-ranked wrestlers at their weights.
Canisius
The Crusaders are the third-place team in MMHSAA and ranked ninth overall in CHSAA with an overall record of 3-8. The Crusaders have four wrestlers in the latest CHSAA rankings led by junior Matt Baldwin as the top-ranked wrestler in the 152-pound weight class.
Gow and St. Mary’s both have one wrestler each ranked in the CHSAA individual rankings. St. Mary’s Tyler Guz is currently fifth at the 106-pound weight class and Gow’s Max Carrier is fifth at 126.
MMHSAA is part of the CHSAA which includes Catholic high schools in New York City, Westchester County, and Long Island. In total there are twenty-two competing schools in the CHSAA. Some of the usual top teams besides the locals are St. Anthony’s, Chaminade, Kellenberg, and Fordham Prep.
There is a CHSAA ‘Catholic States’ tournament in which qualifiers from the Catholic leagues compete against one another. The fifteen Catholic states winners are invited to compete at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) Division 1 (large schools) tournament in February. There is also a CHSAA dual meet tournament that will take place at St. Anthony’s Jan. 27 and 28. St. Joe’s, St. Francis, and Canisius will all compete.
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