Area dual and tournament results & notes for the eighth weekend of high school wrestling (Friday, 1/24 – Sunday, 1/26).
Friday, January 24th
The Bulldogs improved to 3-2 in ECIC I with a solid win over a quality Quakers team. The win also improved Hamburg’s overall record to 17-5 this season, creating a very rare statistical anomaly that the top four teams in the division all have exactly seventeen wins as of Friday. Bulldogs won ten of the fifteen weight classes earning five wins in the process. The dual featured a handful of quality head to heads as the Bulldogs’ Ken Schmitz edged OP’s Simon Cuvellle, 2-1, in his second narrow one point win over the Quaker this season. John Haberman captured his third win over OP’s Matt Wagner this season, however all three matches have been close; now two, 1-0 decisions and an ECIC finals late overtime pin. Tim Cordwell returned to the Hamburg lineup after having been out due to injury, but fell by decision to OP’s Brody Banks, 8-6. Sophomore Dylan Collins recorded his 100th career win in the dual as well.
Friday, January 24th-Saturday, January 25th
Fred Bell Memorial Wrestling Invitational @ Grove City Area HS, PA
Falconer was the only area team competing in Grove City’s grueling two-day, thirty-eight team grinder of a tournament. Two Golden Falcons placed to help the team to a 9th place finish in the standings. Bryce Baglia went 5-1 on the weekend earning three pins and two decisions good for 3rd at 152-pounds. Brayden Newman finished 5th at 106-pounds posting a 3-2 record in the event.
Saturday, January 25th
34th Annual Ken-Ton Invitational Wrestling Tournament @ Kenmore West HS
Niagara Falls Crowns Four Champions, Claims Team Title
Four Wolverines captured individual titles on Saturday at Kenmore West while six more earned place finishes to help lead Niagara Falls to the tournament team title, outpacing second place Hamburg 174.5 to 169.5 points. Willie McDougald continued to impress as he captured first at 145-pounds, winning in convincing fashion by technical fall over Hamburg’s sophomore standout Devin Collins in a rematch of the 2018-2019 Section VI Division I 138-pound final. Collins has certainly been battle tested this year as he has wrestled four upperclassmen with state tournament placements or experience a total of seven times this season. Jaden Crumpler proved again why he belongs in the Division I sectional title conversation in winning the 99-pound Ken-Ton title. Crumpler wrestled and defeated three quality large school wrestlers on Saturday on the way to 1st place in the bracket. The Wolverines’ Levi Cox and Jesiere Carter captured gold at 182 and 138-pounds, respectively.
Hamburg crowned three champions in Dylan Collins, Ryan Forrest, and John Haberman and placed ten wrestlers overall. Collins dominated the 152-pound bracket in taking the gold at Kenmore while also earning the Aggregate Pin Award, as he secured three first period pins and a technical fall on the day. Forrest avenged his only loss of the season to Iroquois’s Ryan Sweeney in the 132-pound final, where the Bulldog senior won by a narrow 4-3 decision and also took home Most Outstanding Wrestler honors. Haberman pinned his way through his opponents in capturing the 220-pound title.
The Chiefs were third in the team standings led by four champions. Peter Gaglio and Michael Schiffhauer were impressive against their opponents to earn the 106 and 113-pound titles, respectively. Donovan Bukaczeski cruised through the 120-pound bracket and also earned his 100th career win in claiming the Ken-Ton title while Tyler Barry captured 1st at 160-pounds. Southwestern was fifth overall in the team standings led by two champions. Tatyn Bryant claimed 1st at 170-pounds while returning section third placer Dontae Hoose pinned his way to the 195-pound title for the Trojans. The host team crowned one champion in Shain Constantin who pinned all three of his opponents in capturing the 285-pound title. Finally, Lackawanna’s Mohamed Alshawi earned two high quality wins in claiming the 126-pound title.
Gary Gross Memorial Wrestling Tournament @ Medina HS
Spencerport Dominates Field in Medina; Barrientos, Wilson Named Tournament MOW’s
Section V Duals champion and #3 state ranked Spencerport crowned five champions out of seven finalists and placed twelve wrestlers overall to score 262 team points, outpacing 2nd place Niagara Wheatfield by eighty-nine points. Sean Cullen, Dom Vinci, Mason Wersinger, Joe Marcello, and Silas Egenlauf captured individual title for the Rangers.
Wheatfield finished comfortably in second place nearly fifty points ahead of Fredonia while only crowning one champion. Justin McDougald earned a tech fall and a pin before taking down defending Section III champion Luca Pirozzolo from Auburn HS 6-1 in the 138-pound final. Nine more Falcons placed 2nd-4th. Despite not having a champion and no Dave Ball in the lineup, Fredonia placed four wrestlers in the tournament.
Grand Island followed Fredonia by only a half point but captured four individual titles. Jack Randle impressed with a finals major decision over Wheatfield’s Collin Coughenour, 12-2, now tying the pairs’ season head to head rivalry at one win apiece. Randle (35-4) has been outstanding this season and is a sectional title hopeful. The Vikings’ Brian Bielec captured gold at 152-pounds pinning his first three opponents in the first period and capping the day off with a 5-2 decision win in the final. Adam Daghestani got back to business in a big way as he pinned all four of his opponents in the first period to take first at 170-pounds. Blake Bielec followed suit with three pins in three matches to take first at 220-pounds.
Amherst was 5th in the team scoring without a champion but led by runner-up performances by Ben Buscaglia and Ryan Bitka. Tyree Orange earned a quality win for his resume with an overtime win over Fredonia’s Jake Skinner at 285 in the quarterfinals. Pioneer finished behind Amherst in the team scoring and crowned one champion in Dan Kirsch at 113-pounds. Kirsch earned two pins and a semis major decision before defeating returning Section V place winner Seth Russo, 3-1, in the final. The Panthers’ Kam Riordan fell 8-2 in the 145-pound final in a well wrestled match to the Rangers’ defending Section V champion Mason Wersinger.
Rounding out the champions were Lewiston-Porter’s Caden Barrientos, who again captured gold in a loaded 99-pound field. Barrientos was a 7-4 winner over Spencerport’s Cal Russo in the final which also earned him light weight Most Outstanding Wrestler honors. Barker/Royalton-Hartland’s Gavin Ciarfella was 3rd in the bracket and won an important major decision for his record over Fredonia’s Mike Ball in the quarterfinals. Albion’s Cody Wilson (23-2) captured 1st place and upper weight Most Outstanding Wrestler honors with a 4-0 decision over Bitka in the 285-pound final. Lockport’s freshman star Kevin Daskavitz was outstanding in claiming the 182-pound Gary Gross title as he defeated Section V place winner Jake Aina, 6-5, in the semifinals then avenged a loss to Fredonia’s returning Section VI champion Ceric Kristan with a 7-5 decision win in the final.
1st Annual Gowanda Round Robin Invitational Wrestling Tournament @ Gowanda HS
Section V’s Bolivar-Richburg ran away with the team title by over 100 points and crowned six champions. Eden’s John Vicario (99-pounds) and Giovanni Schifano (160) captured individual titles to lead the Raiders to second overall in the team standings. Schifano was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler as well. Maple Grove placed third in the team standings led by another impressive individual performance and 1st place finish by sophomore Luke Tomlinson at 132-pounds. Olean crowned a pair of champions in Nate Gabler (120) and Jeremiah Crivelli (152) while Franklinville’s Cleon Lawton captured the 170-pound Gowanda title.
Saturday, January 25th-Sunday, January 26th
Catholic High School Athletic Association Dual Meet Championships @ Monsignor Farrell HS, Staten Island
Three teams represented the Monsignor Martin High School Athletic Association (MMHSAA) at the 2020 CHSAA Duals.
St. Joe’s – The Marauders went 2-7 over the course of the tournament defeating Holy Trinity HS and St. Joe’s by the Sea HS. Caleb Lesswing led the Marauders with a perfect 9-0 record, followed by Luke Vantresca (8-1) and Ben Parish (7-2) and Ronnie Jones (7-2). Jones achieved his 100th career win on Saturday becoming the tenth wrestler and only the second junior to do so in program history.
St. Mary’s – In the program’s second ever CHSAA Duals appearance, the Lancers battled some of the top private high schools in the state and captured a dual win by tie breaking criteria over St. Joe’s by the Sea. A pair of Lancers broke program records as well. Senior Tom Moss set the new program pins in a season record recording his 27th fall this year. Classmate Matt Ash cruised past the program’s single-season wins record as he ended the weekend on his 39th victory this year, passing the former Lancers record of 34.
Canisius – The Crusaders were led by strong individual performances from Barry Colby, Joe Dixon, and Braydon Vandenberg who all went 8-1 on the weekend followed by Luke Brydges (7-2) and Cody Franklin (6-3).
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