Tonawanda wins first ECIC III title in four years

Winning the ECIC III title will be a fond memory for the members of the Tonawanda Warriors wrestling team, but the lessons they’ve learned from wrestling will be something they will hold onto for the rest of their lives.

“This might be something cool right now but when we look back and see how successful they become as people; they are going to be great,” Tonawanda coach Dan Bishop said. “They are accountable. They’re going to be successful young men and a young woman throughout their lives.”

The Warriors, WNY Athletics’ No. 8 small school, secured their first league title in four years Wednesday night, beating the Maryvale Flyers 57-27 to finish 7-0 in league action this season.

Senior Zach Braddell is the only member of this year’s team that wrestled for the 2014-2015 squad that shared the league title with Eden.

“I think this one means a little bit more,” Braddell said. “A lot of these guys came in a couple of years ago, knowing nothing about the sport and they all just worked their butts off and it shows. When we won it a few years back we had more established guys and these were up and comers.”

Braddell, who has wrestled on varsity since eighth grade, is a three-time sectional champion, a two-time state placer, and has the second most career wins in the history of the storied Warriors program. The Flyers yielded a forfeit to Braddell at 145-pounds.

“He’s a great leader,” Bishop said. “He has a lot of wins but that’s only a small part of it. He’s one of those cool kids that you want to be around. He’s been a big part of our program for the past five years.”

Tonawanda’s Nick Szortyka (106-pounds), Joey McDonald (113), Caden Herman (160), and RJ Woolcott (195) won their respective matches by fall.

Josh Skillicorn (220) and Kyle Myers (170) each had pins for Maryvale.

In the 152-pound bout, Jayce Diaz of Tonawanda defeated Will Mendofik 9-4 in one of the night’s most entertaining bouts.

Nick Freyburger won the 120-pound match for the Flyers, beating Riley Hardelben 7-1.