Nov 29, 202221 min read

WNY Athletics Wrestling 2022-2023 Season Preview

*Cover photo courtesy of Jeff Pataky*

The 2022-2023 high school wrestling season is upon WNY and New York State at large. With all 2021-2022 pandemic restrictions now gone and successful fall sports seasons complete or coming to a close, we as a wrestling community have a lot to look forward to this winter. The first duals of the season start on Wednesday followed up by a solid slate of mostly dual meet tournaments between Friday and Saturday, Dec. 2nd and 3rd.

Last season, a number of powerful teams impressed in league and sectional dual meet competitions throughout WNY. The Section VI Division I dual meet tournament delivered chaos, as usual, as the 4-seed Lancaster upset the 1- and 2- seeds on the way to the program’s second Duals title. In Division II, the high-powered Newfane Panthers cruised to the team’s first sectional dual meet title. However, Section VI made a big statement to the rest of NYS at the 4th NYSPHSAA Dual Meet Championships in Syracuse where Starpoint and Falconer each reached the semifinals as unseeded wildcards while Lancaster and Newfane impressed with 1-1 records in pool duals. This marked only the second time in the short history of the tournament that one section had four teams record at least one win, and the first time a section had four teams all record at least one win and have two teams win at least two each.

Team success for Section VI prevailed at the state individual tournament as well, as both large and small school squads placed top five in the final sectional team scores for only the fourth time since the split-division format was introduced in 2004.

While team competition highlighted the 2021-2022 season, the lingering question of who can and will be WNY’s next state champion remains; for the very first time since the 1998 season (2021 spring season included), Section VI was held without an individual state champion.

Niagara Falls senior Jaden Crumpler is the lone returning wrestler out of a trio of Section VI state finalists from last season. Crumpler is the highest returning state place winner out of nine returning placers (5 Div. I, 4 Div. II), 30 returning state tournament qualifiers, and 32 overall past qualifiers from the whole region. The next highest state placing returning wrestler is Newfane’s Aidan Gillings who is a returning 4th place winner and already a two-time NYS placer.

It is a matter of time before the next WNY wrestler captures a state crown, but until then we will wonder who it will be. The powerful Eastern States Tournament that was sorely missed in 2021-2022 returns this winter and will surely give us a glimpse of who to watch out for as real contenders for NYS titles later in February. (Eastern States weekend is January 13-14, 2023, at Sullivan County Community College).

The biggest news of the offseason was of course NYS girl’s high school wrestling earning ‘emerging sport’ status as defined by the NYSPHSAA Championship Philosophy and confirmed by the Central Committee at the July 26-27 meeting. Keep in mind that a new committee to oversee girl’s wrestling has been formed; the current New York State Wrestling Committee will offer guidance, but the new girl’s committee will be responsible for administering the sport. In the meantime, please be sure to welcome and support **Orchard Park girls wrestling**, the combined **Niagara Frontier League** girls’ team, **Chautauqua Lake girls wrestling**, and **Fredonia girls wrestling** who collectively secured the “4 Sections with at least 4 participating schools” criteria in regard to achieving emerging sport status in NYS. Don’t forget about **St. Mary’s High School girls wrestling** (est. 2019) which was the first girls’ team to form in WNY. There are over 100 female athletes certified and ready to participate in the 2022-2023 season in WNY.

# Administrative notes

True second place matches at last season’s sectional tournaments proved extremely entertaining, interesting, and in some cases heartbreaking. Both Section VI Div. I and II were one of five sections statewide in which the division’s top two place winners at each weight class would qualify for the state tournament. Section VI elected to introduce the true second place match wherein if the 3rd place finisher had not wrestled the finalist runner-up during the course of the tournament, that 3rd place wrestler had a chance to meet the runner-up in a winner-take-all match with state tournament qualification on the line.

In the Section VI big school tournament, five ‘true second’ place matches were contested with a lone wrestler – Niagara Wheatfield’s Casey Robinson – earning a trip to states defeating the runner-up at 215-pounds.

In Division II, a whopping 10 out of 13 weights featured a true second place match. Three wrestlers including returning Randolph senior Ryan Carpenter took down the runner-up in their respective weights to earn a trip to Albany.

Both Section VI Div. I and II are in the 2-auto qualifier per weight tier (amongst the other sections in NYS) again this year so the critical true second place matches at the sectional championships will be just as important for state tournament qualification this season.

In other news from the NYSWC, the two-year pilot program for the new thirteen weight classes we’ve used for the past two seasons has expired, however the committee moved to extend the current weight classes for one more season. At its September meeting, the NYSWC motioned to adopt the NFHS weight classes plus an additional weight recognized specifically by NYS. This was also presented to the NYSPHSAA Executive Committee at the October 19 meeting. The new weight classes (for boys wrestling) starting in 2023-2024 **COULD** be: 101-pounds (NYS), 108, 116, 124, 131, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 190, 215, and 285.

Despite a number of challenges and last minute changes, the 2021-2022 sectional dual meet tournament was completed last January. Quarterfinal matches wherein the lower seeded team visited the higher seeded team were carried out with only the four semifinal squads meeting at Lancaster for the championships. This year, quarterfinal duals **will** occur on site at Lancaster like in previous tournaments. All sixteen – eight large and eight small – teams will battle it out on Sat. 1/7. And, make no mistake, the sectional wrestling committee is holding teams accountable to their commitments to attend if invited.

# League, Class, and Division changes

As is typical between wrestling seasons, some teams are on the move to new league, class, and divisional alignments based on 2022-2023 BEDS numbers and strategic organization.

Usual ECIC I heavyweight **Hamburg** lands in ECIC II this upcoming season leaving seven teams in Div. I. The Bulldogs and Route 62 neighbor to the south, **Eden**, will join forces this season as a combined team which will result in changes in ECIC II and III now too. The staffs of both programs will remain intact this season. However, keep in mind that the move to big schools for Eden wrestlers who normally reside in Division II will surely have an effect on the large school landscape in-section.

Before the news of the Hamburg/Eden partnership broke in late October, **Pioneer** was slated to move back to ECIC II, however the Panthers will stay put in ECIC III.

**Cheektowaga** moves back down to ECIC III which will make a perfect balance in the conference at large with three divisions with seven teams in each division.

In the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association, **Gowanda** and **Salamanca** will flip flop places again as the Panthers move down to CCAA II and the Warriors back to CCAA I. The Gowanda/Cattaraugus-Little Valley partnership is for (at least this season) off since C-LV has no student-athletes signed up for wrestling.

In regard to divisional changes, the **Olean/Allegany-Limestone** combined team drops back down into Division II this upcoming winter. Keep in mind combined team’s BEDS numbers are not simply added together to determine division for the team; a percentage based formula is involved. The Huskies will bring back a number of wrestlers including a few Class A place winners led by defending Division I sectional champion Chris Bargy.

In the days just before practice started on November 14th, **Falconer/Cassadaga Valley** (376 BEDS) was informed it would be re-classed to Class B for the 2022-2023 postseason. Last year’s Class C/D runner-up and NYS final four duals team will balance out Class B at an even 15 teams while C/D will reflect the same as **Springville** (360) will move down to Class C/D. One might consider the Golden Cougars as a way-too-early favorite for the B title, but last year’s co-champs Pioneer and Iroquois (amongst others) will certainly look to defend their territory.

As previously mentioned, Eden (318 BEDS) wrestlers will compete in Class A, Division I alongside Hamburg (752 BEDS) this season, moving up from their usual place in Division II, Class C/D. The most notable Eden athlete included in the jump is returning sectional champion Bryce DellaPenta who captured the Section VI Div. II 110-pound title in February.

Also, please welcome back **Health Sciences** (with Tapestry, Maritime, and Buffalo Academy of Science) to the mat this winter. This newly formed squad competed for the first time in the 2019-2020 season, however the pandemic sidelined the program from spring 2021 through last season. Health Sciences is locked into Class A for the postseason.

# New head coaches

With the departure of Joe Fischer, who led the Steelers in 2021-2022, previous head coach and program alumnus Abdulgawi Mohammed will retake command of Lackawanna Wrestling in the 2022-2023 season.

At Williamsville South, long-time Billies head coach Chris Heximer stepped down to the modified role while TJ Scamurra takes over as the head varsity coach.

The Niagara Frontier League will have a trio of new head coaches this season. Josh Sweeney has taken over as head coach of the Charter School for Applied Technologies Eagles. At Grand Island, eight-year assistant coach Steve Leibler replaces Craig Hoplight as head coach of the Vikings. Hoplight served as head coach for nine years and will remain with the program as an assistant coach this season. North Tonawanda will also be under new leadership as long-time program assistant Tony Fire will take over the ‘Jacks in 2022-2023.

In the Niagara-Orleans League, Mike Sanders takes over as the head man at Albion replacing Pat Uvieno who stepped down after seven years as head coach of the Purple Eagles. Sanders is a 2004 graduate of Albion and has been on the Purple Eagles staff since 2018. Coach Uvieno has also stepped down as the N-O wrestling chairman. Wilson head coach Mike Carlo has taken over as the Niagara-Orleans chairman on the sectional wrestling committee.

Speaking on the sectional committee, the Niagara Frontier League will have a new chairman as well, as Lockport head coach Bill Morello will take over as the lead wrestling representative for the conference.

Maple Grove will be under new leadership this season as Josh Reed takes over the Red Dragons after the departure of Coach Hetrick.

In the Monsignor Martin League, former St. Joe’s head coach Pete Kennedy retakes the reigns of the Marauders after spending the last two seasons on the NYSWC as the CHSAA wrestling chairman. Kennedy previously led the Marauders for fourteen seasons and served as the Msgr. Martin wrestling chairman for eight years. Coach Kennedy will remain as the league chairman this season.

2019 Niagara Wheatfield alumnus Josh Thibeault takes over the Canisius Crusaders after being an assistant to John Baldwin in the 2021-2022 season. Thibeault is the third head coach in four years for Canisius. At 21 years old, Thibeault is the youngest head coach in Western New York this season.

Although not ‘head coaches,’ a number of programs will thoroughly enjoy the addition of legendary former head coaches and experienced wrestling minds to their staffs this winter.

Starting with Clarence, second year head coach Keith Stoerr will welcome back former head coach Jason Chase to the program who with Red Devils all-time program wins leader Aidan Rabideau will coach the modified Devils this winter.

In the southern tier, Southwestern welcomes back former head coach of the Trojans and previously Maple Grove Red Dragons, Mark Hetrick to the coaching ranks. Coach Hetrick will lead the modified Trojans this winter and give valuable leadership within the program.

Finally, Western New York welcomes back the legendary Sweet Home alumnus Mr. Tom Shifflet to the area this season. Coach Shifflet will join Coach Muscarella’s staff of the Williamsville North/East Spartans. Coach Shifflet is a 1990 NYS champion, 3x NCAA Div. I All-American, an internationally experienced wrestler, former NCAA Div. I head coach, and a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

# Returning postseason place winners

Section VI Class AA saw the biggest percentage of its 2022 class tournament place winners depart at graduation as 34 out of 77 (44%) were seniors. In Class B, 31 of 77 class tournament placers departed in June (40%) and 23 of 77 placers graduated out of Class A (29%). Class C/D returns the most tournament place winners this winter as only 18 of the 77 place winners graduated (23%). Class A champion Starpoint returns the most class tournament placers in Division I (11) with ten (!) 2021-2022 sectional place winners. Class C/D champion Chautauqua Lake is the only team that returns double digit class tournament place winners (10) in small schools. Eight of those Thurnderbird wrestlers placed in Section VI last season too.

The exact same number of sectional place winners graduated in the spring from both Section VI divisions I and II (27 out of 78 each), however nine total section champions return from last year’s large schools (six from Class AA, three from A) while only four sectional champions return in small schools, all of whom represent Class C/D teams.

Three of Section VI’s Div. I champions who graduated placed in Albany last winter, (two from AA, one from A), while eight out of 9 seniors who won Div. II sectional titles placed at states are now graduated (two from B, 6 from C/D). The eight senior NYS place winners from Sec. VI Div. II that are now gone will certainly leave much ground to make up for the area’s small schools this winter, especially in the upper weights.

In the Msgr. Martin High School Athletic Association, well over half of the 2021-2022 All-Catholics place winners return this season (36 of 56, 64%) suggesting a very good league championships tournament could be coming up in February 2023.

Where the Association took a big hit was at graduation amongst its eleven 2021-2022 ‘Catholic States’ place winners as eight athletes departed in June including three CHSAA tournament finalists.

The league’s most outstanding wrestler in two-time CHSAA champion and 2022 tournament MVP Austin Zimmerman from St. Joe’s returns as a junior alongside teammate senior Luke Vetnresca as the only defending CHSAA place winners in the league this season (the third athlete has returned to public school). While the Msgr. Martin championships should be another competitive event, the league at large will have some ground to make up at the CHSAA level given the big losses at graduation.

# Returning Section VI NYS tournament place winners

**Class AA**

Jaden Crumpler – senior – Niagara Falls – 2nd place NYS

Amarfio Reynolds, Jr – senior – Niagara Falls – 7th place NYS

Cam Catrabone – junior – Williamsville North/East – 6th place NYS*

**Class A**

Griffin LaPlante – freshman – Starpoint – 5th place NYS

Gage LaPlante – junior – Starpoint – 7th place NYS

**Class B**

Trevor Barry – junior – Iroquois – 5th place NYS

**Class C/D**

Carmine Calimeri – freshman – Southwestern – 6th place NYS

Dominick Callara – senior – Medina – 7th place NYS

Aidan Gillings – sophomore – Newfane – 4th place NYS*

*Also placed in 2019-2020 NYS tournament

# Returning sectional champions and state tournament qualifiers (champions in bold)

**Class AA**

**Eian Peterson** – sophomore – Niagara Falls

Cullen Edwards – freshman – Frontier

**Jaden Crumpler** – senior – Niagara Falls

**Amarfio Reynolds, Jr** – senior – Niagara Falls

**Cam Catrabone** – junior – Williamsville North/East

**Michael Syposs** – senior – Niagara Falls

Michael Schaefer – junior – Lancaster (2019-2020 sectional champion)

Evan Stencel – senior – Lancaster

Jack MacDonald – junior – Orchard Park

**Kevin Daskavitz** – senior – Lockport

**Class A**

**Bryce DellaPenta** – freshman – Eden*

Kenny Schmitz – senior – Hamburg

**Griffin LaPlante** – freshman – Starpoint

Tremell Mathews – senior – Niagara Wheatfield

**Collin Coughenour** – senior – Niagara Wheatfield

Te’Shaun Mathews – junior – Niagara Wheatfield

Gage LaPlante – junior – Starpoint

Cam Millender – senior – Sweet Home

Casey Robinson – senior – Niagara Wheatfield

*Won the Section VI Div. II title last season

**Class B**

Brady Heckathorn – senior – Pioneer

Trevor Barry – junior – Iroquois

**Chris Bargy** – senior – Olean/Alleghany-Limestone*

*Won the Section VI Div. I title last season

**Class C/D**

**Carmine Calimeri** – freshman – Southwestern

Dominick Callara – senior – Medina

Kenji Walters – junior – Southwestern

Jordan Joslyn – junior – Chautauqua Lake

Martin Ohlsson – junior – Chautauqua Lake (2019-2020 5th place NYS)

**Aidan Gillings** – sophomore – Newfane

Trent Burchanowski – senior – Chautauqua Lake

**Tavio Hoose** – freshman – Southwestern

Ryan Carpenter – senior – Randolph

**Msgr. Martin High School Athletic Association (CHSAA)**

Austin Zimmerman – junior – St. Joe’s Collegiate

# Returning 3rd Annual Intersectional Girls Wrestling Championships WNY place winners (champions in bold)

Brenna McCarley – junior – North Tonawanda

Brooklyn Pryll – senior – Falconer

Maleah McKinney-Updegraph – senior – Lockport

Hannah McCarley – junior – North Tonawanda

**Alexiya Thuman** – sophomore – Lake Shore

Alexandria Siliano – junior – Chautauqua Lake

Alexis Creek – sophomore – Cheektowaga

Gabriella Testa – sophomore – Chautauqua Lake

Michaela Thomas – freshman – Iroquois

Madison Szymanowski – junior – Chautauqua Lake

**Meghan Edwards** – senior – Lewiston-Porter

Mia Smith – sophomore – Chautauqua Lake

Sophia Saffrin – sophomore – Orchard Park

Gwyneth Edwards – senior – Lewiston-Porter

Molly Tavenner – senior – Orchard Park

**Christina Evans** – junior – West Seneca

Emylee Bailey – junior – Portville

Jocelyn Munoz – sophomore – Cheektowaga

# Defending league champions & streaks

**CCAA Div. I**: Falconer/Cassadaga Valley extended its remarkable league championship streak to eleven straight titles and 42 consecutive CCAA I victories in the 2021-2022 season.

**CCAA Div. II**: Portville claimed the outright league title for the third time in the last four seasons with a perfect 5-0 mark in the 2021-2022 season.

**Niagara-Orleans**: Newfane had a remarkable dual season in 2021-2022 in which they captured the Section VI Div. II dual title. The Panthers finished another perfect 5-0 in league matches to extend their league win streak to 40 consecutive duals while claiming the N-O title for the 8th straight season.

**Niagara Frontier**: Niagara Falls claimed its second straight NFL title with another perfect 7-0 mark in league duals, improving to 14-0 in division matches in the last two full seasons. The Wolverines also retained possession of the coveted Niagara Cup for a third straight season with a gutsy win over archrival Niagara Wheatfield to wrap up the league slate.

**Msgr. Martin**: St. Francis captured the outright MMHSAA dual title for the first time since 2018-2019 with a perfect 4-0 league mark in one of the most exciting and competitive dual seasons in the Association in recent years.

**ECIC I**: Lancaster claimed its second outright league title in the last two ‘normal’ seasons posting a perfect 7-0 league mark in the jam packed ECIC I division, boasting some impressive scores in those wins.

**ECIC II**: Starpoint captured the division title with a perfect 6-0 mark in ECIC II. It was the first league title for the Spartans since the 2016-2017 season. Starpoint also captured the team title impressively at the ECIC individual championships.

**ECIC III**: Pioneer wrapped up its eighth straight league title and unbeaten season to push its consecutive league victories streak at 57 straight matches, the longest such streak in WNY.

# League outlooks

**CCAA I**: Every year at least one squad in the league seems to rise above the rest to challenge the mighty Golden Cougars and every year (since their last league loss in 2014) Falconer has taken them down. Strong returning groups at Chautauqua Lake and Southwestern may pose this season’s biggest threats to Falconer’s throne. CL returns ten class placers (to Falconer’s nine) and two returning state tournament reps (not to mention a returning 2019-2020 state placer). SW brings back four class placers, three state qualifiers, two sectional champions, a state placer, and a number of new faces that will contribute immediately. Could this be the year Falconer gets unseated or will the Golden Cougars find a way to repel hungry league rivals again? Circle December 14th on the calendar for Southwestern at Falconer and January 18th for Falconer at Chautauqua Lake as well as January 11th for CL at Southwestern. Surely, all three of these teams can/should be in the mix for Section VI Div. II Dual Meet title considerations. In the meantime, don’t forget about a Gowanda team that had a nice season a year ago, Dunkirk who have had strong participation in the last two seasons, and well coached Fredonia and Olean teams each looking for a program resurgence.

**CCAA II**: No one returns more C/D placers in the league than Portville (4), but the Panthers took a big hit with the loss of Dakota Mascho at graduation. The division’s second place team from last season – Randolph – had a strong year behind four class placers including state tournament qualifier Ryan Carpenter (also a current Trench Trophy finalist on the Cardinals’ Section VI Class D champion football team) and sophomore Caden Inkley who impressed especially late in the season. With Xander Hind back this season (football Connolly Cup finalist for Most Outstanding player in WNY) the Cardinals can be primed to make some noise. However, Portville’s grip on the league will be hard to pry away from Coach Milne and company. Maple Grove took a hit with a big loss of Luke Tomlinson at graduation and will be under new leadership this season. The league’s remaining three teams return three total class placers with Franklinville’s Evan Leonard being the lone sectional place winner. Two invitations to the sectional dual championships out of CCAA II are certainly possible.

**Niagara-Orleans**: The defending Section VI Div. II dual champion Newfane Panthers return a number of key contributors from a season ago led by two-time state placer and sectional champion Aidan Gillings. However, the Panthers suffered some big losses at graduation that included two NYS place winners and a third who was one round from placing in Albany last February. Behind ‘Gilly’ are four more returning sectional place winners including classmate Ayden Buttery who reached the 126-pound sectional final but fell in the true second place bout. The league overall had a very impressive dual slate in 2021-2022 where four of the five other teams besides Newfane recorded at least two N-O wins. Medina gave Newfane its closest league dual last season behind two NYS place winners. With a good group back this year led by senior Dominick Callara the Mustangs might be poised to take another run at the Panthers. However, don’t look past Wilson who was the runner-up in the N-O last season. Head coach and new league chairman Mike Carlo returns five Class C/D place winners and four Section VI place winners from a season ago. Albion had a strong showing in 2021-2022 as well with a top three finish at the Class B tournament with eight place winners. The Purple Eagles placed four of those wrestlers at the sectional tournament, however, all four of them graduated last June.

**NFL**: The rugged Niagara Frontier League had an impressive 2021-2022 campaign that saw highly competitive duals from top to bottom. Defending champion Niagara Falls retained the league throne and the Niagara Cup with an impressive 38-12 victory in the season finale over Wheatfield who they had edged 35-24 only three weeks before at the Duals. The Wolverines return seven Class AA placers, six divisional placers, four Section VI Div. I champions, and two state place winners led by returning NYS finalist Jaden Crumpler from last years’ Class AA champion team. While the Falls will certainly be expected to be in the mix again for the Duals title, don’t look past the Falcons who have nine Class A placers back along with 4-time sectional champion Collin Coughenour and three more returning NYS tournament qualifiers. Do not underestimate Coach Sweney & staff’s ability to gameplan and maneuver to find the best opportunities for the Falcons to succeed. A home test with Niagara Falls on Wednesday, January 18th will be appointment wrestling to see. North Tonawanda wrestled to a 3rd place finish in the league for the first time in a number of years, gutting out close wins over Grand Island (42-36), Kenmore (43-27), and Lockport (42-33). Most of that young ‘Jacks squad will be back this season under the leadership of new head coach Tony Fire. At Kenmore, head coach Dave Wilcox will roll out one of the largest ‘DevilDogs’ rosters in recent years this season while Grand Island and Lockport will both return small cores of class tournament place winners.

**Msgr. Martin**: The 2021-2022 season was truly a bounce back season for the Association that had an extremely limited (ie. one week) 2021 ‘spring season’ only months before. Three of the member teams recorded 2-2 dual records in the league with St. Francis stealing the show with a big win over St. Mary’s, a very close dual victory over Canisius, and a decisive win over St. Joe’s in Athol Springs to lock up the Red Raiders’ first dual title since 2018-2019. This season, the league as a whole will miss the departure of a very talented and experienced senior class. St. Joe’s junior Austin Zimmerman is already a two-time defending CHSAA champion and will, arguably, be the Association’s best chance at its first federation tournament place winner since 2019 and the Marauder’s first since 2015. Teammate Luke Ventresca is the only other returning Msgr. Martin CHSAA place winner this season. Also, the Marauders will enjoy the addition of junior Nik Massaro from Grand Island who enrolled this school year. Massaro captured the Section VI Class A 118-pound title last season before a 3rd place finish at the sectional championships. While the Association will be low in ‘Catholic states’ placers, the five member squads will return seven All-Catholics champions and 32 wrestlers with CHSAA tournament experience in order by the most by each team: St. Joe’s (12), St. Francis (11), St. Mary’s (4), Canisius (2), Gow (2). The Marauders are back under the command of past fourteen-year head coach and league chairman Pete Kennedy while Canisius will be led by a first time head coach Josh Thibeault.

**ECIC I**: The division proved to be the deepest in WNY last season where seven of the eight teams in the league appeared in the rankings any given week while all seven landed in the final WNY Athletics dual meet power rankings at season’s end. Lancaster captured its second division title in the last three seasons with a perfect 7-0 league record while looking very impressive in those wins. The Legends also claimed the team’s second Section VI Div. I dual meet title after taking down top seeded Niagara Falls first and then two-seed Starpoint in the final to advance to Syracuse where the team went 1-1 in an impressive performance. While the ‘big’ three big schools in Niagara County took most of the attention last season within the large school landscape, Lancaster once again kept the machine moving and produced one of the more impressive resumes in the section. This season, the Legends will feature some experienced and athletic wrestlers in the middle and upper weight part of its lineup. The biggest threat to Lancaster in the league could be Clarence who will surely benefit from the return of a few key wrestlers, including sophomore Jefferson Long who is a past sectional finalist and a 2021-2022 CHSAA place winner while at St. Joe’s. Consider the Red Devils a dark horse team to potentially cause some disruptions this winter and not just within the league. Last year’s league runner-up, Frontier, had one of the program’s best dual seasons and highest placement in the league in some time. The Falcons took a couple of key losses at graduation with the departure of two NYS place winners and four more Class AA placers now gone from the lineup. Keep an eye on the Falcons, as well as teams continuing to trend upward especially with the likes of Orchard Park, Jamestown, and Williamsville North/East. With some key graduation losses across the league over last season and only four returning wrestlers with state tournament experience, expect ECIC I to be competitive and wide open for the taking.

**ECIC II**: All eyes are on defending league champion and state duals semi-finalist Starpoint. The Spartans start the season at #2 in the NYWN state-wide large school dual rankings and #1 in the local big school ranking (via WNYAthletics). After a record setting performance in 2021-2022, the expectations are big for the Spartans who return eleven Class A place winners, ten sectional placers, and two NYS place winners. The big news of the offseason was the appearance of Lewiston-Porter brothers Caden and Jaron Barrientos whose family moved into the district before the school year where the boys competed in fall sports. The addition of the Barrientos brothers will immediately transform the Spartans from an above average, solid team to an actual threat for NYS honors. Of course, five standout seniors – four of whom are returning sectional placers – amongst supremely talented underclassmen groups is a huge deal in a thirteen-man lineup. We will see exactly what these Spartans are made of when they host a strong field at their own dual meet tournament this weekend before paying a visit to the defending Section V large school champion Fairport Raiders for a showdown between two top 5 state ranked teams on Tues. 12/6.

Hamburg/Eden finds itself in ECIC II this year after spending recent seasons in ECIC I which should make for some interesting duals against some area teams the Bulldogs don’t normally dual. The same can be said for the Eden wrestlers that normally reside in ECIC III. Returning Section VI Div. II champion Bryce DellaPenta (Eden) and Div. I state qualifier Kenny Schmitz (Hamburg) near each other in the lineup will surely cause some matchup problems for opposing teams. Amherst was 3rd in the division last year with a full lineup and plenty of technically sound, well coached wrestlers. The Tigers knocked off a quality Clarence team in the second week of the season and a good Iroquois team later on to catch everyone’s attention. Amherst returns seven Class A placers and three sectional placers after a solid senior group that had three sectional place winners in it at the end of last season. Iroquois saw six seniors depart in 2022 that accounted for six Class A titles or runners-up placements from the co-Class B champion squad, four of whom placed in Section VI. Iroquois will return four Class B placers this season including two sectional placers led by returning NYS 5th place winner Trevor Barry who had an unbelievable season on the gridiron for the high-flying Chiefs offense. We already know that Williamsville South will be under new leadership this winter. Keep an eye on a Sweet Home team that has good numbers as well as s few returning athletes from the lineup a year ago.

**ECIC III**: The eight-time defending league champion Panthers expect to continue success again in 2022-2023 with another solid core group of wrestlers. Pioneer returns seven Class B placers led by sectional finalist Brady Heckathorn. Classmate Xander Kirsch captured the Class B title but fell short of states at the sectional tournament. Kirsch may be primed for a real breakout season in his final year in green. We will get a real good look of where the Panthers are at when they host a number of high quality teams on Dec. 9th and 10th at their own dual tournament. Stay tuned in to Springville and Lake Shore who both put together impressive dual seasons in 2021-2022 and have solid participation on the rosters for this upcoming season. Not counting Pioneer, the rest of the league’s six teams account for only fifteen returning class placers (all in B) and two sectional place winners in Lake Shore’s Blake Hageman and Maryvale’s Robert Rhode. Out of those fifteen, the Eagles account for six of those returning wrestlers with four being seniors.

# Important postseason dates

**Section VI Dual Meet Championships** (Div. I and II)

Saturday, January 7th, 2023 @ Lancaster Field House 10am – 4pm

**NYSPHSAA Girls Wrestling Invitational**

Friday, January 27th, 2023 @ Onondaga County Community College, Syracuse Start time: 1pm

**NYSPHSAA Dual Meet Championships**

Saturday, January 28th, 2023 @ Onondaga County Community College, Syracuse Start time: 9am

**CHSAA Dual Meet Championships**

Saturday, January 28th and Sunday, January 29th, 2023 @ Iona Prep HS, New Rochelle

**Section VI Class Tournaments**

Saturday, February 4th, 2023

Class AA – Williamsville North HS

Class A – TBD

Class B – Charter School for Applied Technologies

Class C/D – TBD

Start time: 9am; Finals (AA and A) 4p; Finals (B and C/D) 5:30p

**57th MMHSAA All-Catholic Championships**

Sunday, February 5th, 2023 @ St. Mary’s HS Start time: 9am

**CHSAA Individual Championships**

Sunday, February 12th, 2023 @ St. Anthony’s HS, Huntington, Long Island

**4th Intersectional Girls Wrestling Championships**

Saturday, February 18th, 2023 @ Chautauqua Lake HS

**NYSPHSAA Federation Individual Championships**

Friday, February 24th and Saturday, February 25th, 2023 @ MVP Arena, Albany Start time both days: 10am

# Initial WNY Dual Meet Team Rankings

# Large schools

1. Starpoint Spartans 2. Niagara Falls Wolverines 3. Niagara Wheatfield Falcons 4. Clarence Red Devils 5. Lancaster Legends 6. Amherst Tigers 7. Hamburg/Eden Bulldogs 8. Williamsville North/East Spartans 9. North Tonawanda Lumberjacks 10. Frontier Falcons

Honorable Mention – St. Francis Red Raiders, Orchard Park Quakers, Jamestown Red Raiders, St. Joe’s Marauders

# Small schools

1. Chautauqua Lake Thunderbirds 2. Falconer/Cassadaga Valley Golden Cougars 3. Newfane Panthers 4. Southwestern Trojans 5. Pioneer Panthers 6. Wilson Lakemen 7. Iroquois Chiefs 8. Randolph Cardinals 9. Portville Panthers 10. Springville-Griffith Institute Griffins