WNY Wrestling Weekend Roundup Seven

Area tournament results and notes for the seventh weekend of high school wrestling (Friday, 1/17 – Saturday, 1/18).

Friday, January 17th

#8 St. Joe’s 47 – Canisius 27

The Marauders improved to 3-0 in Msgr. Martin duals setting up another league title match with St. Francis (3-0) on January 31st. The Crusaders actually won the head to head battle six wins to five, however three forfeits was dooming for Canisius. The marquee match of the evening was a Joe Dixon decision win over Ronnie Jones, 13-6, in a highly entertaining dual between two of Msgr. Martin’s top athletes. A full recap can be found here: https://wnyathletics.com/article/st-joes-downs-rival-canisius-sets-up-msgr-martin-league-title-showdown

Friday, January 17th – Saturday, January 18th

ECIC Wrestling Championships @ Eden HS

Legends Cruise to Team Title; Clarence’s Rabideau Achieves Fourth Individual Title, 200 Wins

WNY #2 large school Lancaster had five finalists, two champions, and seven more place winners to earn 246.5 team points, outpacing second place Iroquois’s 185 for the team title. The Chiefs also had five finalists but crowned three individual champions. Frontier and Clarence finished third and fourth, respectively, each crowning one individual champion. Hamburg rounded out the top five teams led by two champions and two runners-up.

Ryan Stencel and Codie Scotland captured individual titles for the Legends. Stencel, a returning 5th place finisher in NYS last season, claimed his second career ECIC title with a dominating performance in the 182-pound final, pinning another returning state tournament representative. Codie Scotland captured his first league title at the following weight class with an 8-6 decision win over teammate Dan Empfield in the 195-pound final. It was the second time this season Scotland and Empfield have met in a tournament final.

Clarence senior Aiden Rabideau captured his fourth ECIC tournament title with a 6-1 finals decision over Hamburg’s young star Devin Collins in the 145-pound final. In doing so, Rabideau secured his 200th career victory joining only Nate Schwab (204 wins)  in the Red Devils program 200-wins club. A full tournament recap can be found here: https://wnyathletics.com/article/legends-cruise-to-ecic-team-title-clarences-rabideau-achieves-fourth-individual-title-200-wins

Saturday, January 18th

54th Annual Niagara-Orleans All-League Wrestling Championships @ Albion HS

Newfane Captures League Dual and Tournament Titles In Same Week, Crowns Seven N-O Tournament Champions

The Panthers cruised to the team title outscoring second place Albion by over one hundred points in the annual N-O league tournament. Newfane crowned seven champions out of the fifteen weight classes to win their second straight All-League title and eighth in the last ten years.

Winning titles for Newfane were Andy Lucinski (106), Adam Huntington (113), Josh Everett (132), Nik Voelker (138), Ryan Nugent (145), Simon Lingle (182), and Jaden Heers (285). Heers (36-2) was a 3-2 decision winner in the heavyweight championship match over season long rival Cody Wilson from Albion and now holds the advantage in their season head to head series, 2-1.

Albion crowned two champions in Amilicar Morales (126) and Bryce Kelly (220). Barker/Royalton-Hartland was third in the team standings led by 99-pound champion Gavin Ciarfella. Ciarfella was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler after a 13-11 finals overtime victory over Newfane’s Aidan Gillings. Ciarfella and Gillings will unquestionably be part of the Section VI Division II 99-pound sectional championship conversation in the coming weeks. Ciarfella improved to 27-3 this season and pulled even with Gillings at one head to head win apiece this season.

Medina was led by a trio of champions in Miles Hartway (152), Noah Skinner (160), and Riley Black (195). Akron was led by a pair of champions in Josh Cummings (120) and Ryan Yaeger (170).

Phoenix Mid-Winter Wrestling Classic @ Phoenix HS (III)

Canisius’s Joe Dixon Captures 170-Pound Phoenix Title

Crusaders junior Joe Dixon captured the Phoenix Classic title going 5-0 after having won an exciting bout the night before at St. Joe’s. In the round robin style preliminary bouts, Dixon pinned both of his first two opponents to earn one of the number one seeds for the next bracketed round. Dixon cruised past his next two opponents with a first period pin and a technical fall to set up a first place showdown with Cazenovia’s (III) Kevin Valentine. Dixon was a 6-0 decision winner over the Lakers senior to capture 1st place at 170-pounds, improving to 28-2 overall this season with twenty-three pins.