Month: January 2020

With the Section 9 Championships only 2 weeks away, many of the local teams are idle this weekend as coaches are trying to allow their wrestlers to rest their aching bodies! That said, the action that is taking place this weekend is going to be awesome!!!

NYSPHSAA Dual Meet Championships @ SRC Arena in Syracuse
D1 champs Minisink Valley and D2 champs Port Jervis try to become the first Section 9 champs to win the coveted dual meet championship tournament!

Full Tournament Coverage

Minisink Valley Pool Matches – Mat 1
9:00 – Minisink Valley 57 Commack 9
10:45 – bye
12:30 – Minisink Valley 64 Lancaster 11

Port Jervis Pool Matches – Mat 8
9:00 – bye
10:45 – Colbeskill-Richmond 42 Port Jervis 39
12:30 – Clarke 51 Port Jervis 27

Semifinals
D1 – Mat 2: Minisink Valley 47 Shenendehowa 27
D1 – Mat 4: Fulton 45 Fox Lane 33
D2 – Mat 5: Mt. Sinai 41 Cold Spring Harbor 22
D2 – Mat 7: Falconer 42 Clarke 30

Finals
D1 – Minisink Valley 42 Fulton 25
D2 – Falconer 40 Mt. Sinai 39

All Minisink Valley Results
All Port Jervis Results

Jeff Cuilty Newburgh Duals
Locals Middletown, Valley Central, Wallkill, Warwick and host NFA lock horns with John Glenn (S11), Shoreham Wading River (S11), North Rockland (S1), Beekmantown (S7), and Natick (MA).

NFA went 5-0 and won their pool at the 2020 Jeff Cuilty Newburgh Duals. Newburgh’s 106 pounder Jackson Merli picked up career win #100 on Saturday!

NFA 65 John Glenn 15 “B”
NFA 49 Natick, MA 25
NFA 61 North Rockland 21
NFA 41 John Glenn 36
NFA 39 Shoreham Wading River 36
Shoreham Wading River 51 Warwick 27
Shoreham Wading River 75 Wallkill 12
Middletown 39 Shoreham Wading River 38
John Glenn 43 Warwick 31
John Glenn 60 Wallkill 24

Middletown went 5-0. And won the Pool A Championship!

55-21 over Natick Mass (#19 in Mass)
39-38 over Shoreham Wading River (#3 D2)
57-21 over North Rockland
49-33 over John Glenn
74-12 over John Glenn ‘B’

Middies improve to 20-3 on the season!

Justin Morales passed Phillip Mansueto for the all-time wins record (146). He is now at 151 wins!!!
Joseph Velazquez passed 100 wins and is now at 104 wins!!!

Justin also took home the MOW award!

Justin Morales, Joe Velazquez, Pablo Garcia and Moises Diaz all went 5-0.
Jayden Norris and Stephan Monchery went 3-0!

Coach Ken Baker Classic
Red Hook and Onteora head up to the Capital Region to battle in the always competitive Coach Ken Baker Classic.

Bernie Miller
New Paltz 70 St. Joseph’s By The Sea 16
New Paltz 72 Sleepy Hollow 12
New Paltz 61 Port Chester 21
New Paltz 63 Lakeland Panas 15
Brewster 53 New Paltz 33

Locust Valley Invitational
Fallsburgh/Tri-Valley is making a trip to Nassau County to wrestle in the Locust Valley Invitational!

Tuesday 1/28
Warwick 46 Newburgh Free Academy 27
Middletown 69 Clarkstown South 18
Onteora 48 FDR-Hyde Park 18
Highland 33 Onteora 27

Wednesday 1/29
Port Jervis 84 Rondout Valley 3
Newburgh Free Academy 52 Pine Bush 32
Wallkill 87 Monticello 0
Minisink Valley 68 Washingtonville 13
Monroe Woodbury 73 Kingston 3
Highland 39 Red Hook 36
Middletown 58 Goshen 20
FDR-Hyde Park @ Valley Central
Onteora 60 Ellenville 18
New Paltz 48 Cornwall 28
Chester 72 Burke 6
Chester 48 Eldred/Liberty/Sullivan West 36
Eldred/Liberty/Sullivan West 48 Tri-Valley/Fallsburg 18

The field is set for this season’s dual meet championships which take place on Saturday, February 1, at the SRC Arena in Syracuse. Wrestling begins at 9:00 am! For those who cannot attend, the entire event will be streamed live on the NFHS Network plus round-by-round results will be posted here! Best of luck to all of the teams especially our local representatives – Division 1 champs Minisink Valley and Division 2 champs Port Jervis!

Advanced tickets can be purchased at GoFan.

The Field

Division 1 – Large Schools
Section 1: Fox Lane
Section 2: Shenendehowa
Section 3: Fulton
Section 4: Horseheads
Section 5: Spencerport
Section 6: Niagara Wheatfield
Section 8: MacArthur
Section 9: Minisink Valley
Section 11: Patchogue-Medford
Wildcard #1: Lancaster (Section 6)
Wildcard #2: Chenango Forks (Section 4)
Wildcard #3: Commack (Section 11)

Division 2 – Small Schools
Section 1: Nanuet
Section 2: Colbeskill Richmondville
Section 3: Central Valley Academy
Section 4: Tioga
Section 5: Palmyra Macedon
Section 6: Falconer
Section 8: Clarke
Section 9: Port Jervis
Section 10: Gouverneur
Section 11: Mt. Sinai
Wildcard #1: Cold Spring Harbor (Section 8)
Wildcard #2: Iroquois (Section 6)

Division 1 Pools (seeds in parenthesis)
Mat 1: Minisink (1), Lancaster (8), Commack (unseeded)
Mat 2: Shen (4), Spencerport (5), Chenango Forks (unseeded)
Mat 3: Horseheads (3), Fulton (6), Pat-Med (unseeded)
Mat 4: Fox Lane (2), N. Wheatfield (7), MacArthur (unseeded)

Division 2 Pools (seeds in parenthesis)
Mat 5: CS Harbor (1), Gouverneur (8), Iroquois (unseeded)
Mat 6: Mt. Sinai (4), Tioga (5), Nanuet (unseeded)
Mat 7: Central Valley (3), Falconer (6), Pal-Mac (unseeded)
Mat 8: Clarke (2), Port Jervis (7), Colbeskill-Richmond (unseeded)

Tournament Schedule

Mat 1 – Division 1
9:00 – Minisink Valley 57 Commack 9
10:30 – Commack 38 Lancaster 22
12:00 – Minisink 64 Lancaster 11

Mat 2 – Division 1
9:00 – Shenendehowa 52 Chenango Forks 20
10:30 – Spencerport 60 Chenango Forks 24
12:00 – Shenendehowa 35 Shenedehowa 30

Mat 3 – Division 1
9:00 – Horseheads 42 Pat-Med 34
10:30 – Fulton 55 Pat-Med 19
12:00 – Fulton 61 Horseheads 20

Mat 4 – Division 1
9:00 – Fox Lane 49 MacArthur 18
10:30 – MacArthur 43 Niagara Wheatfield 32
12:00 – Fox Lane 57 Niagara Wheatfield 12

Mat 5 – Division 2
9:00 – Cold Spring Harbor 47 Iroquois 21
10:30 – Iroquois 58 Gouverneur 24
12:00 – Cold Spring Harbor 56 Gouverneur 27

Mat 6 – Division 2
9:00 – Mt. Sinai 78 Nanuet 6
10:30 – Tioga 72 Nanuet 13
12:00 – Mt. Sinai 31 Tioga 29

Mat 7 – Division 2
9:00 – Central Valley Academy 44 Pal-Mac 42
10:30 – Falconer 51 Pal-Mac 31
12:00 – Falconer 45 Central Valley Academy 33

Mat 8 – Division 2
9:00 – Clarke 39 Colbeskill-Richmond 33
10:30 – Colbeskill-Richmond 42 Port Jervis 39
12:00 – Clarke 51 Port Jervis 27

2:30 – Semifinals
D1 – Mat 2: Minisink Valley 47 Shenendehowa 27
D1 – Mat 4: Fulton 45 Fox Lane 33
D2 – Mat 5: Mt. Sinai 41 Cold Spring Harbor 22
D2 – Mat 7: Falconer 42 Clarke 30

6:00 – Finals
Division 1 – Mat 2: Minisink Valley 42 Fulton 25
Division 2 – Mat 7: Falconer 40 Mt. Sinai 39

All Minisink Valley Results
All Port Jervis Results

Wizard Duals @ Washingtonville
Arlington 66 Saugerties 21
Petrides 57 Saugerties 27
Highland 52 Saugerties 36
Saugerties 60 Beacon-Haldane 24
Washingtonville 66 Saugerties 15
Washingtonville 76 Beacon 12
Washingtonville 68 Highland 17
Washingtonville 44 Petrides 39
Arlington 39 Washingtonville 39 – Arlington wins by criteria

Mahopac Wrestling Caruso Tournament
Middletown crowned 5 champions and scored 241.5 points to take home the team title at the Caruso Tournament. First place honors went to Justin Morales (106), Joe Velazquez (170), Brian Giacchi (195), Armel Duke (220), and Stephan Monchery (285). Jakoy Harvey (182) and Moises Diaz (126) both placed 3rd for the Middies. Pine Bush’s Tommy Askey continued his incredible year winning the 152 pound weight class with a pin and two technical falls. Askey was also selected as MOW for the tournament. It is his 3rd title at Mahopac and his 2nd time winning MOW. He remains undefeated for the season. Pine Bush finished 7th in the team race and had two other finalists is Rey Ortiz (99) and Gabe Galarza (138). Rondout Valley was also at the tournament and had one finalist in Lucas Ospina at 113.

Ridgefield Challenge @ Ridgefield, CT
Monroe Woodbury’s Jordan Brown defeated John Jay Cross River’s Luca Duva 12-3 in the finals and took home first place at 99 pounds at the Ridgefield Challenge.

Edgemont Tournament
New Paltz came in 3rd place in the team race and had 5 wrestlers finish in the top 3 including 145 pound champion Aiden Cuppett who notch 4 pins on his way to the title! Other top 3 place winners for New Paltz were Cole Cuppett (3rd @ 106), Levi Wyns (3rd @ 152), Logan Michael (2nd @ 182), and Evan Jansen (3rd @ 285). The Edgemont Tournament also has a Girl’s Division which included 36 wrestlers! FDR-Hyde Park’s Alexa Liguori came in 2nd place in her pool going 2-1 with two wins by pinfall!

Kingston 40 Red Hook 33

Congratulations to Minisink Valley head wrestling coach Kevin Gallagher for reaching a coaching milestone last night as he recorded his 500th career win in the Warriors 75-4 victory over Valley Central! Gallagher is now one of only five coaches in NYS history with 500 or more coaching victories. He joins retired Cornwall coach Don Blaine as the only coaches to notch #500 while coaching in Section 9. Blaine, who finished with 529 career victories, was in attendance for Gallagher’s milestone win. Legendary HOF coach Joe Bena began his coaching career at NFA however the vast majority of his 674 wins were at Section 2 programs Niskayuna and Duanesburg. Coach Gallagher reached this historic win only a few weeks after his long time assistant Scott Hendershot picked up career win #400.

Gallagher, a 1977 graduate of Minisink Valley, began his coaching career in Middletown in 1983 where he served as coach for 2 seasons. He left Middletown to coach Division 1 college at his Alma mater Wagner for six seasons where he coached three NCAA qualifiers including his brother Matt who is currently the head football coach at Section 4 power Maine Endwell. One of his other NCAA qualifiers, Joe Burke, went on to become a 3X All-American. Gallagher’s other NCAA qualifier was Rondout Valley graduate Dan Sanchez who was one match away from reaching the podium. Gallagher left Wagner in 1991 to return to teaching physical education and coaching at the prep school level. He took over as head coach at Section 4 Oxford Academy in 1992 and stayed there until taking the head coaching position at Minisink Valley in 2000. Let’s take a look at some of the incredible accomplishments of Coach Gallagher’s career!

• 2018 NYSPHSAA Wrestling Hall of Fame
• 2015 NYSPHSAA Coach of the Year
• 2015 NYSPHSAA Dual Meet Champions
• 2018 NYSPHSAA Dual Meet Finalists
• Ranked to 20 in NYS for 17 seasons
• 61 state tournament qualifiers
• 20 state place winners
• 3 state finalists
• 2 state champions (AJ Aeberli, MV & CJ Hansen, Oxford)
• 7 Section 9 Tournament titles
• 4 Section 9 Dual Meet titles
• 500 career wins….and not done yet!!!

Tuesday 1/21
Suffern 49 Warwick 26

Wednesday 1/22
New Paltz 43 Goshen 32

Thursday 1/23
Saugerties 45 Highland 33
Warwick 78 FDR 9

Friday 1/24
Minisink Valley 75 Valley Central 4
MV Coach Kevin Gallagher picks up career win #500!!!! Congratulations Coach Gallagher!!!
Middletown 48 Pine Bush 29
Port Jervis 49 Red Hook 24
NFA 45 Kingston 28
Monroe Woodbury 71 Washingtonville 9
Ellenville @ E/L/SW
Burke @ E/L/SW
Chester 78 Fallsburg/Tri-Valley 3
Monticello @ Cornwall
Wallkill 68 Rondout Valley 18

Friday 1/17 & Sat 1/18

Beacon Bulldog
Section 9 crowned 8 individual champions and had 3 teams finish in the top 5 at the 2020 Beacon Bulldog Tournament! Bringing home gold for Section 9 were Andrew Marchese (Washingtonville, 113), Jacob Chenier (Kingston, 120), John Antonelli (Marlboro, 126), Dylan Burgos (Pine Bush, 145), Nick Paterson (NFA, 170), Graeme Knisell (Saugerties, 182), Stephon Holmes (Kingston, 220), and Freddy Garcia (Washingtonville, 285). Washingtonville placed 2nd as a team in the 17 team field which was won by Ballston Spa. Kingston finished in 4th place and a partial NFA team finished 5th!

Saturday 1/18

Phoenix Mid-Winter Classic
Goshen took 4th place as a team and had seven wrestlers finish in the top 6 of their weight at the 12-team Phoenix Mid-Winter Classic. Placing for the Gladiators were:
John Lamberty 4th @ 113
Jackson Brady 3rd @ 120
Eli Weinstein 3rd @ 132
Henry Villodas 5th @ 138
Isaiah Price 5th @ 152
Elijah Price 4th @ 160
Dom Siracusa 5th @ 195.

Sunday 1/19

Gene Brigham Invitational @ Minisink Valley Middle School
Minisink Valley absolutely dominated the tournament crowning 10 champions and having 12 other wrestlers place in the top 4! The Warriors amassed 392 team points outdistancing 2nd place Huntington (146.5 points) and 3rd place Burnt Hills (130.5 points) by over 200 team points. Red Hook had two finalists and finished in 5th while Burke had one finalist and came in 6th in the team race. The champions for Minisink were Nick Picariello (120), Zack Ryder (126), Jordan Suarez (132), Sean Savacool (138), Jaccob Gonzalez (145), Jace Hirsch (152), Andrew Filip (160), Chris McLaughlin (170), Ethan Gallo (182), and Adam Fenner (285). Ryder defeated Red Hook’s Matt Morris 3-0 in the finals at 126 and was voted MOW of the tournament. MV 220 pounder JC Cabrera recorded 4 pins in 3:17 and won the aggregate pin award.

Wallkill Duals @ Wallkill High School
Warwick tops previously undefeated Port Jervis 42-41 and goes 4-0 taking home the first place at the Wallkill Duals!

Warwick 4-0
Port Jervis 3-1
Wallkill 2-2
Cornwall 1-3
Mamaroneck 0-4

Wallkill 55 Cornwall 22
Warwick 42 Port Jervis 41
Warwick 37 Wallkill 36
Port Jervis 50 Mamaroneck 31
Port Jervis 49 Wallkill 36
Cornwall 43 Mamaroneck 36
Port Jervis 63 Cornwall 18
Warwick 46 Mamaroneck 33
Wallkill 45 Mamaroneck 39
Warwick 48 Cornwall 33

Well we are now in the middle of January! The Eastern States Classic has come and gone and we are one month away from the Section 9 Championships. It’s safe to say that anyone who wanted to drop down a weight has done so already. Let’s take a look at the updated Section 9 Individual Rankings!

99 Pounds
1. Jordan Brown (Monroe Woodbury, 9th)
2. Alex Greco (Warwick, 9th)
3. Mason Ketcham (Washingtonville, 7th)
4. Anthony Tresch (Minisink Valley, 7th)
5. Trevor Tufano (Port Jervis, 10th)
As expected, Brown and Greco are both down at 99 now and take over the top 2 spots here. Both had nice runs at the ESC advancing to Day 2 and Brown placed 7th in a very tough bracket!. Ketcham has looked great this season and posted a 6-2 win over #4 Tresch from MV at the S9 Duals. Port’s Tufano has a few losses at 106 but dropped down the 99 for ESC and was one win away from stepping on the podium. This is going to be a great weight class to follow in the D1 Sections with wrestlers like Saenz from Middletown, Giumarra from Cornwall, Weeden from VC, and Futia from Wallkill adding considerable depth!

106 Pounds
1. Justin Morales (Middletown, 12th)
2. Jackson Merli (NFA, 10th)
3. Cole Cuppett (New Paltz, 9th)
4. Zackary McKernan (Minisink Valley, 9th)
5. Ryan Kirker (Red Hook, 9th)
Morales wrestled tough in a brutal weight at ESC but did not advance to Day 2. He is a 2X state qualifier and is undefeated in S9 so remains our clear #1 here. Merli also wrestled tough at ESC but had to injury default out during Day 1. Fortunately the injury was minor and Merli will be back in action soon. Cuppett has been under the radar but wins over kids like Ketcham and Futia have landed him at #3 here followed by MV’s McKernan who is very well battle tested and should be primed for a strong S9 tournament. Kirker from Red Hook is dangerous – he lost to McKernan but has a win over Deutsch from Mamaronack who just defeated Morales at ESC!

113 Pounds
1. Andrew Marchese (Washingtonville, 10th)
2. Jaden Hansen (NFA, 11th)
3. Nicolo Ricciuto (Valley Central, 11th)
4. Gabe Giumarra (Cornwall, 11th)
5. Ryan Ross (Port Jervis, 8th)
Marchese lost in the blood round at ESC to a wrestler from CT and his other loss was to some from Section 2…Stevo or something like that? No damage here, he’s still #1 at 113 in S9 followed by the ever improving Jaden Hansen who is sitting at #2. Ricciuto is tough, as is Giumarra who dropped a gritty 4-0 decision to Hansen at the S9 Duals. PJ 8th grader Ross makes the cut to 113 and will definitely be a contender for the D2 title in D2 but to do so he’ll need to beat Highland’s Peter Bender who earned a trip to Albany last year. Cornwall’s Tyler Reed pinned Bender at the Mid-Hudson and is definitely one to watch here at 113 as is Kenny Santiago from Middletown.

120 Pounds
1. Nick Picariello (Minisink Valley, 12th)
2. Jacob Chenier (Kingston, 12th)
3. Santos Ocasio (Monroe Woodbury, 12th)
4. Joey Curreri (Eldred, 11th)
5. Matt Davis (Wallkill, 11th)

Picariello makes the cut to 120 and has looked sharp at both The Clash and Eastern States making him our #1 at 120 followed by fellow state qualifier Chenier who sat out ESC. Ocasio took 3rd in the Kohl and is #3 followed by Curreri who is definitely one of the favorites to win the crown in D2. Wallkill’s Matt Davis had a great win over Crocco in a dual against New Paltz and he also picked up a win at ESC so he’s our new #5 but please don’t count out MV sophomore Sofia Macaluso who is having a great season and just won the 120 lb girls division at ESC. Grant Barczak from MW, Jayden Norris from Middletown and Erik Nilson from Warwick are all having solid seasons and should stay on our radar.

126 Pounds
1. Zack Ryder (Minisink Valley, 8th)
2. Matt Morris (Red Hook, 12th)
3. John Antonelli (Marlboro, 12th)
4. Drew Greco (Warwick, 11th)
5. Jacob Poppe (Washingtonville, 11th)
State finalist Ryder drops down to 126 and is our new #1 here. Ryder is having another incredible season and just finished 5th at the ESC which was absolutely loaded at this weight. Morris, Antonelli, and Greco hold steady at 2-4 but we have a new #5 in Jacob Poppe who is peaking at the right time. Poppe recently defeated Joe Ferro from Kingston who is definitely one to watch here as are Caleb Harrison from Port Jervis and Moises Diaz from Middletown.

132 Pounds
1. Jordan Suarez (Minisink Valley, 12th)
2. Josh Sam (Middletown, 12th)
3. Matt Romano (Valley Central, 12th)
4. Joey Amato (Port Jervis, 12th)
5. Eli Weinstein (Goshen, 12th)
The top four here all wrestled at the Eastern States and it made ranking them pretty simple. Suarez beat Sam 1-0, Sam Beat Romano 2-0, and Romano beat Amato 4-0. Weinstein is having a great year too making this a very solid weight especially in D1. PB freshman Brayden Pennell is coming on strong and definitely adds depth here as does VC’s Travis Phillips.

138 Pounds
1. Sean Savacool (Minisink Valley, 12th)
2. Eric Tigue (Port Jervis, 10th)
3. Gabe Galarza (Pine Bush, 12th)
4. Brian Lombardi (Minisink Valley, 11th)
5. Dan Downs (Monroe Woodbury, 11th)
This is an awesome weight and a difficult one to rank! Flip a coin basically between Savacool and Tigue but we’ll go with the MV senior as #1 for now. Galarza has a few great wins and is our #3 followed by Lombardi and Downs. Warwick’s Liam Eberlein, Kingston’s Christian Francisco-Agostin and Red Hook’s Alex Lopez are all having great years and will be in the medal hunt!

145 Pounds
1. Jaccob Gonzalez (Minisink Valley, 11th)
2. Ethan Palanca (New Paltz, 11th)
3. Aiden Cuppett (New Paltz, 12th)
4. Dylan Burgos (Pine Bush, 11th)
5. Isaiah Price (Goshen, 12th)
With teammate Savacool making the cut to 138, Minisink Valley’s Jaccob Gonzalez becomes our new #1 at 145. 2018 S9 D2 champ Palanca comes in at #2 and he’s followed by teammate Cuppett who is having a great year. Burgos is our #4 – he has wrestled very tough at 145 and will definitely contend here. Our new #5 is Goshen senior Isaiah Price who has recently notched a nice win over Kingston’s Gavin Richter who will also be a factor here. Red Hook’s Tyler Benincasa continues to have a great year and will definitely contend for the D2 title!

152 Pounds
1. Tommy Askey (Pine Bush, 12th)
2. Nick Ross (Onteora, 11th)
3. Jace Hirsch (Minisink Valley, 11th)
4. Chris Fini (Goshen 12th)
5. Andrew Filip (Minisink Valley, 9th)
Askey is undefeated and has not been taken down this season! He also just won the ESC – yeah he’s our #1 at 152. Nick Ross is as tough as nails and is going to contend for a D2 state title. Jace Hirsch dropped down to 152 for MV’s trip to The Clash and he’s our new #3 followed by Goshen’s Fini who is having a great year. MV freshman Filip looks good at 152 and stays at #5 but has guys like MW’s Mike Zrelack, New Paltz’s Levi Wynn, and Highland’s Logan Smith nipping at his heals!

160 Pounds
1. Joe McGinty (Monroe Woodbury, 12th)
2. Patrick Ross (Onteora, 11th)
3. Elijah Price (Goshen, 12th)
4. Elijah Timbrouck (Kingston, 11th)
5. Bryce Horner (Port Jervis, 12th)
McGinty looked great and placed 4th at the ESC. He has 4 losses this season but yet to lose to a D1 wrestler this year! Patrick Ross made it to the quarters and placed 6th at ESC. Ranking #’s 3, 4, and 5 was tough! Price beat Timbrouck … Timbrouck beat Horner…Horner beat Price. We went with the most recent win and gave #3 to Price. Aiden Maduro from Highland is having a great season but has been out since Mid-Hudson so he’s HM for now.

170 Pounds
1. Nate Ross (Onteora, 12th)
2. Joe Velazquez (Middletown, 12th)
3. Marcus Brown (Monroe Woodbury, 11th)
4. Alden Hathaway (Wallkill, 12th)
5. Chris McLaughlin (Minisink Valley, 12th)
Nate Ross had an impressive ESC. His only loss was a 3-0 decision to eventual champ Donahue from Sem but then needed to med fft out during Day 2. Velazquez also looked great at ESC and placed 6th in a tough weight! Brown stays at #3 but we flip Hathaway and McLaughlin at #4 and #5 as the Wallkill senior seems to be getting hot at the right time. There is a lot of depth here with wrestlers like Max Wernicki from Monroe Woodbury, Nate Patterson from NFA, Vincent Gennaro from Washingtonville, Meijas Tanner from Kingston, Max Winkler from Goshen, Brandan Douthit from Burke, and Henry Peters from E/L/SW.

182 Pounds
1. Ethan Gallo (Minisink Valley, 9th)
2. Jeremy Mazzella (Warwick, 12th)
3. Logan Michael (New Paltz, 12th)
4. Steve Felice (Monroe Woodbury, 12th)
5. Graeme Knisell (Saugerties, 12th)
MV freshman Gallo is having an outstanding season and just placed 8th at the ESC. One of his wins at ESC was a 5-1 decision over a very tough Mazella who is our #2 followed by NP senior Logan Michael at #3. Steve Felice dropped to 182 and is our new #4 followed by Knisell from Saugerties who will be strong contender for the S9 D2 title. Paravati from MW and Lyle from Wallkill are also worth keeping an eye on here as are Quick from Port Jervis and Banegas from NFA.

195 Pounds
1. Joe Russell (Newburgh Free Academy, 11th)
2. Scott Geysen (Minisink Valley, 11th)
3. Brian Giacchi (Middletown, 12th)
4. Carson Henry (Minisink Valley, 11th)
5. Connor Boyer (James I. O’Neil, 11th)
Russell is on fire and just placed 5th in a very tough weight at the Eastern States Classic. The NFA junior is no longer flying under the radar on the state level! We have some changes at 195 for slots 2-5. Geysen from MV pinned Giacchi from Middletown at S9 Duals but Giacchi then defeated Henry from MV in a tight 5-4 match one week later. Connor Boyer from James I. O’Neil has been wrestling very tough and he’s our new #5 here. Others to watch at 195 include Zavier Bennet from Kingston, Teddy Szymanski from Chester, Ben Swart from Highland and Dom Siracusa from Goshen.

220 Pounds
1. Maxx DeCapua (Newburgh Free Academy, 12th)
2. James Oosterom (Port Jervis, 12th)
3. JC Cabrera (Minisink Valley, 12th)
4. Armel Duke (Middletown, 12th)
5. Stephon Holmes (Kingston, 12th)
Big changes at 220 for this week’s rankings! DeCapua competed in the ESC and made it to the quarters but had to med fft out. He beat the kid who placed 4th so we’ll move him back to #1 and drop D2 state placer Oosterom to #2. MV spot starter JC Cabrera pulled off a huge upset and defeated previous #3 Armel Duke 12-7 in a dual meet so Cabrera is the new #3 followed by Duke. Kingston senior Holmes is our #5 here. A few others to watch here are Chester’s Dylan Bullock are Highland’s Jon Perez.

285 Pounds
1. Adam Fenner (Minisink Valley, 11th)
2. Stephan Monchery (Middletown, 8th)
3. Frankie Hernandez (Monroe Woodbury, 12th)
4. Bruce French (Middletown, 12th)
5. Logan Hickey (Warwick, 12th)
This is actually one of the easier weights to rank! Fenner is the clear #1 and just took 3rd at the ESC. He has defeated #2 Monchery – Monchery had beaten Hernandez…Hernandez topped French…French has a win over Hickey. Others to watch at heavyweight include Devin McGovern from Chester and Shamar Gittens from Highland.

Monday 1/13
Wallkill 48 Cornwall 25

Wednesday 1/15
Minisink Valley 61 Middletown 10
NFA 39 New Paltz 38
Washingtonville 56 Pine Bush 24
Port Jervis 69 Saugerties 18
Wallkill 51 Valley Central 27
Warwick 45 Kingston 39
Monroe Woodbury 71 Cornwall 12
Chester 45 Highland 34
Burke 48 Tri-Valley/Fallsburg 11
Red Hook 48 E/L/SW 36
Goshen 82 FDR – Hyde Park 0
Onteora 45 Rondout Valley 27

Thursday 1/16
Saugerties 54 Chester 36
Port Jervis 72 Eldred/Liberty/Sullivan West 18

Now that the 2020 Eastern States Classic is in the books, let’s take a look at some of the highlights from this year’s incredible tournament!

Tommy Askey Wins Title @ 152
Pine Bush senior Tommy Askey finished 4th in the state last year at the NYSPHSAA Championships in Albany. That’s a pretty impressive accomplishment for a kid who finished 2nd in the Section the year before as a sophomore. This year it appears as though Askey has taken it to the next level. He is undefeated on the season, he has yet to be taken down this year, and Askey just won the 152 pound title at the Eastern States Classic making himself one of the favorites to be on top of the podium in Albany this year! This is the second year in a row that a Section 9 has been crowned champion at the ESC – Cornwall’s Will Leonard won at 220 last year. Prior to that, Section 9 had a six year championship drought as Chris Cuccolo from Pine Bush was the last local to win when he took the title at 99 pounds back in 2013.

Redding Tops Ryan Jack @ 132
Eastport South Manor senior Zach Redding pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the tournament when he knocked off Ryan Jack by a score of 8-6 in the finals at 132. Jack, a NC State bound senior from Danbury, CT, is the #2 ranked 132 pound wrestler in the nation according to InterMat. Redding, who is heading to Iowa State in the Fall, was in control of the match from whistle to whistle. The Section 11 stud has finished 3rd, 1st, and 3rd in NYS the last three seasons and is looking forward to ending his high school career on the top step of the podium in Albany!

7th Grader PJ Duke Takes 99lb Title
PJ Duke’s magical varsity wrestling debut continues as the Carmel 7th grader dominated the field and won the first of what will likely be several ESC crowns. The only other 7th grader to win an ESC title was Beau Bartlett back in 2015 when he took the top step on the podium at 99 lbs. Bartlett, now in his senior season at Wyoming Seminary, was back in SUNY Sullivan this season and won his 4th ESC title, this time at 138 pounds.

ESC Girls Division Is A First
Girls wrestling is one of the fastest growing high school sports in the nation. State after state is sanctioning girls wrestling as a varsity sport and we hope that New York will follow suit in the very near future. There are several major tournaments in the off season that have a girls division including the Super 32 and the Journeymen Classic, however there have been no premier in-season high school tournaments with a girls division – until now. The 2020 Eastern States Classic had a girls only division which included 49 female wrestlers from 42 different schools. Congratulations to our champions Zoe Griffith (Gouverneur, 99), Caitlyn Walker (Wyoming Seminary, 106), Ally Fitzgerald (Lynbrook, 113), Sofia Macaluso (Minisink Valley, 120), Mia Macaluso (Minisink Valley, 126), Schyler Caringi (Coxsackie, 132), Damiana Racciatti (Liverpool, 152), Kai Poux (Brooklyn Tech, 170), and Joanna Jones (Wingate, 195).

Top Ranked Sem Dominated the Field
Wyoming Seminary is the #1 ranked high school wrestling team in the nation by every major wrestling media outlet – and at this weekend’s Eastern States Classic they showed why! Although they technically only came with a handful of starters but they won the tournament by an impressive 145 points over second place Shenendehowa. Capturing titles for Sem were Brandon Cannon (106), Nic Bouzakis (126), Beau Bartlett (138) , Lachlan McNeil (145), Andrew Donahue (170), and Kolby Franklin (220). Bouzakis was voted as Champion of Champions by the finalists. He pinned his first 4 opponents in the first period then majored a state medalist in the semis before teching another state medalist in the finals. Bouzakis’ father Troy is a 1990 graduate of Pine Bush where he graduated as a 3X NYS champion.

Weight Classes At A Glance
99 Champion – PJ Duke (Carmel, 7th)
Duke looked awesome and he looks like he might be the best 99 pound wrestler in NYS. I know it’s a little premature to start talking about him being the first ever 6X NY state champ but wow did he look great!

106 Champion – Brandon Cannon (Wyoming Seminary, 9th)
Cannon has now won the Beast of the East and the Eastern States Classic – not too shabby for Sem’s backup 106 pounder! Their starter at 106 is Danny Sheen. Andy Lucinski from Section 6 Newfane looked extremely impressive and might be the best 106 pounder in NYS D1 or D2!

113 Champion – Stevo Poulin (Shenedehowa, 11th)
In a rematch of last year’s 106 pound final, Poulin topped D2 state champ Geislinger by a 7-3 margin. Poulin looked awesome and showed why he’s been ranked in the top few at his weight for the past two seasons!

120 Champion – Jordan Titus (Center Moriches, 11th)
Another classic battle between two of the best wrestlers in NYS did battle as Titus defated rival Anthony Noto by a score of 9-4. MA hammer Hunter Adrian from Melrose made this weight exceptionally deep- he finished 3rd and knocked off three NYS place winners along the way!

126 Champion – Nic Bouzakis (Wyoming Seminary, 10th)
Bouzakis was on a different level than the rest of the field. He is the #1 ranked 126 pounder in the nation according to InterMat and he’s worth the price of admission. NYS had the next six place winners at 126 in Ivan Garcia (Port Chester), Anthony DiBartolo (Hauppauge), Rocco Camillaci (Hilton), Zack Ryder (Minisink Valley), Micah Roes (Lowville), and David Correa (Tottenville) finishing in places 2-7 respectively.

132 Champion – Zach Redding (Eastport South Manor, 12th)
Redding will definitely return to the national rankings after a very solid win over Ryan Jack from Danbury who is ranked as high as #2 in the nation by Intermat. One of the more anticipated matches in Albany could be a showdown between Redding and Section 5 Rush Henrietta stud Jayden Scott who placed 3rd and nearly knocked off Jack in the semis!

138 Champion – Beau Bartlett (Wyoming Seminary, 12th)
The Penn State bound Bartlett is now a 4X ESC champion. He is the top ranked 138 pounder in the nation by InterMat and he was awesome this weekend! His opponent in the finals was no slouch in NYS champ Ryan Burgos from Hilton who won a great semifinal match against last year’s ESC champ at 132 Justin McDougald from Niagara Wheatfield.

145 Champion – Lachlan McNeil (Wyoming Seminary, 12th)
McNeil won the Walsh Ironman and the Powerade and he’s the #1 145 pounder according to InterMat and FloWrestling! So he blew through this field, right….wrong! McNeil won a hard fought 5-4 decision against NYS finalist Willie McDougald from Section 6 Niagara Falls who is also ranked nationally at #18 by InterMat!

152 Champion – Tommy Askey (Pine Bush, 12th)
Askey is undefeated and has not been taken down this year. He was the top seed at this weight and he wrestled like a man on a mission! This is going to be a great weight to follow this February in Albany especially if defending state champ AJ Kovacs enters the fray here!

160 Champion – Jacob Null (Dolgeville, 11th)
Null is a great athlete! He defeated a very tough Brevin Cassella from Nashoba Regional, MA in the finals and topped Gavin Bell from Cold Spring Harbor in the semis in what could be a preview of the D2 state finals in NYS. Monroe Woodbury’s Joe McGinty was the highest finishing NYS D1 wrestler coming in 4th behind Bell.

170 Champion – Andrew Donahue (Wyoming Seminary, 10th)
Donahue was challenged by NYS D2 studs in the quarters and semis before teching Tyler Albis 15-0 in the finals. Donahue defeated Onteora’s Nate Ross 3-0 in the quarters and then topped Norwich’s Mikey Squires 6-3 in the semis. Donahue is only a sophomore!

182 Champion – Brock Delsignore (Shenendehowa, 11th)
The Section 2 hammer wrestled at 145 last year where he lost to Askey in the blood round in Albany. He is now a filled out 182 pounder and in going to be one of the favorites for a state title in February. Delsignore defeated fellow NYS D1 contender Ryan Stencel from Lancaster in the semis 10-3 before topping D2 stud and fellow Journeymen wrestler Ethan Cooper 3-1 in the finals.

195 Champion – Carson Licastri (Joel Barlow, CT, 12th)
Licastri was the #4 seed and knocked off the top seed Matt Kelly from Iona Prep in the semis 6-4 before majoring previously undefeated MA stud and #2 seed Darby McLaughlin 10-2 in the finals. Kelly was the top NYS finisher at #3 and followed by Nick Franco from Farmingdale and Joe Russell from NFA rounding out the top 5 in the weight.

220 Champion – Kolby Franklin (Wyoming Seminary, 10th)
That’s not a typo. The 220 pound ESC champion is only a sophomore. Franklin 2nd in PA last year before taking his talents to the national powerhouse prep school. He defeated Sebastian Garibaldi from White Plans by an 18-3 tech fall in the finals. McKee-Staten Island Tech’s Alex Semenenko was pinned in the opening round and then wrestled all the way back to 3rd place highlighted by a 1-0 decision in the medal match over the kid who pinned him in the opening round!

285 Champion – Sam Khodaparest (Massapequa, 12th)
Khodaparest recorded 3-2 wins over the #1 and #4 seeds in the quarters and semis – Myles Norris (Freeport) and Greg Harris (Springfield Central) respectively. He capped off his title run by beating Brentwood’s London Castillo 8-6 in the finals. Castillo defeated third seeded Adam Fenner from Minisink 7-6 in the semis. This will be a great weight to follow in Albany!