WNY Wrestling Roundup: Week One

It was a quiet first week of wrestling in WNY with Thanksgiving making the school week a short one. Nonetheless, wrestling still took place with a few dual meets and a dual meet tournament between Tuesday, November 26th and Saturday the 30th.

Tuesday, November 26th

Frewsburg 43 – Salamanca 42 (tie breaker criteria)

The Bears earned a win in the first action of the season for both squads and Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Div. II in general, going all the way to the fifth tie breaker criteria (Most Wins by Forfeit) to edge the Warriors. While each team did concede a few forfeits (and one double forfeit at 106), the teams combined for nine individual contested bouts which is three more than in last year’s match and the most between these two teams in a number of years. Acknowledgement should be given to both teams, schools, athletes & families, and coaching staffs for not giving up even when faced with low participation at times.

#3 Fredonia 66 – Dunkirk 18

The Hillbillies, without a handful of stars like Dave Ball, Ceric Kristan, and Jake Skinner, took care of business against cross town rival Dunkirk in the first dual of the season for both teams. While Fredonia was the superior team, compare the eleven contested bouts in this dual to only four bouts in their matchup last season where the Marauders forfeited eight matches. Dunkirk under new head coach Sal Flores conceded only three forfeits on Tuesday and added five exhibition bouts in addition to the varsity contest. Again, acknowledgment to schools and programs that refuse to give up.

Saturday, November 30th

2nd Annual St. Mary’s Lancer Duals

In the only tournament action of the weekend, the North Tonawanda Lumberjacks under second year head coach Wally Maziarz went 5-0 including a 42-41 tie breaker win over #10 small school East Aurora. NT secured eight wins to East Aurora’s seven to win on criteria. In a prime example of how important it is to not give up pins, NT’s Anthony Swan (6th in Class A in 2019) held defending Section VI Div. II champion Alex Skowronski to a technical fall with only two seconds remaining in the bout resulting in five team points for East Aurora instead of six. With the final score tied at 41-41 after the last bout, it was clear that the one team point that Swan helped save was of the utmost importance as the team score tie breaker criteria came down to individual bout wins.

On the day, five ‘Jacks went undefeated including Dylan Gagnon, Jared Vonvolkenburg, Camerin Holmes, Greg McDole, and Aden Spina. St. Mary’s Alex Ellison and Matt Ash went undefeated as well, and Ellison was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. Undefeated for East Aurora were Matt, Nolan, and Alex Skowronski, Braden Prusak, and Joplin Hess. The final standings in order of placement were: North Tonawanda (5-0), East Aurora (4-1), Albion (3-2), St. Mary’s (2-3), Akron (1-4), and Maryvale (0-5).