Week 7 Tournament Results Including Eastern States Classic Recap

Merli, Monchery Shine at Eastern States Classic

Our Two Champions!
Congratulations to NFA freshman Cooper Merli and Middletown junior Stephan Monchery who both won titles at this weekend’s Eastern States Classic. Merli won the title at 102 pounds and was awarded the Champion of Champions trophy as voted on by the other champions! Monchery capped of the finals by pinning his opponent, a 2022 state finalist, in the first period! Merli, who was the #2 at his weight, recorded a fall and a tech fall on Day 1 before returning Saturday morning and notching a 3-0 win in the quarters and a 9-3 win over 2022 state qualifier Cullen Edwards from Frontier in the semis. Merli then capped off his COC performance with a 5-1 decision over another returning state qualifier, Connor Sheridan from Hauppauge. Monchery’s path to the title at 285 was absolutely dominating! Also a #2 seed at his weight, Monchery received a first round bye then recorded a :41 pin in the R16 to advance to Saturday! In the quarters Monchery pinned Mohonasen’s Cameron Groncki in 3:57 and then notched a semifinal 5-0 win over Connecticut state placer Nuh Adjindoski from Danbury. This set up a much-anticipated finals match-up with returning state finalist Sebastian Regis from East Islip. After feeling each other out for the first :45 seconds, both Monchery and Regis decided to engage one another in upper body and it was Monchery who converted the throw and the pin at the 1:08 mark! Great job and congratulations to Cooper and Stephan!!!

Our Other Finalist from Section 9
Nationally ranked Minisink Valley had two finalists at this year’s Eastern States Classic – Andrew Filip and Ethan Gallo. Filip who placed 4th in NYS last year at 189, has dropped down to 172 this season and made it all the way to the ESC finals. He started the tournament of Friday with two pins, the second one coming over Cornwall’s Nick Cavallo in what could the Section 9 final at 172 next month. In the quarters Filip pinned Mid-Hudson champ Robby Cunningham from Miller Place in 4:58 before notching a 17-8 major decision over Nyack’s Sam Szerlip in the semis. In the finals, Filip locked horns with 2022 NYSPHSAA Division 2 third place finisher Braidon Woodward from Canisteo Greenwood. Filip gave it his all but it was Woodward who took the crown with a 9-1 major decision. At 215, Minisink Valley senior Ethan Gallo absolutely mowed down the competition on his way to the finals. He notched a :10 pin in the Rd 32 and a pin at 1:31 in the R16. In the quarters Gallo pinned NYS D1 state placer Darien Insogna from Ballston Spa and then stuck D2 state finalist Trent Sibble from Bolivar-Richburg in the semis! This set up a final’s showdown between the 2022 state champions from Division 1 and Division 2 – Ethan Gallo from Minisink Valley versus Sam Sorenson from Homer! After a scoreless opening period, Gallo scored a reversal in the second and after a Sorenson escape, it was a 2-1 lead for Sorenson to start the 3rd. A Sorenson escape tied the match, and his takedown and ride out with :45 seconds remaining proved to be the difference. Great match by both wrestlers and a great performance by Filip and Gallo! Minisink, without the services of state champions PJ Duke and Zack Ryder, finished 4th in the team race at this year’s ESC.

Our Other Section 9 Placewinners!
Section 9 had several other outstanding performances which led to a total of 11 place winners at this year’s ESC! At 102, Merli’s NFA teammate William Soto placed 4th and had some great wins including a 19-12 win over 2022 NY state tournament qualifier Vincent Graulau and a 7-0 win over Cullen Edwards from Frontier who was also a state qualifier. At 110, Valley Central sophomore Luke Satriano took home the bronze! Satriano lost in the quarters to VA state placer Evan Sanati from Brentsville but then marched back through the consies with wins over D1 NY state 5th Ralph Keeney from Ballston Spa and D2 NY state 3rd Chris Noto from Honeoye Falls-Lima. Satriano then exacted revenge over Sanati in the 3rd place match in a bout where Luke scored 5 points in the final 13 seconds of the 2nd overtime period to turn a 4-2 deficit into a 7-4 victory! At 118 pounds, Wallkill senior Rocco Futia has opened some eyes on the state level with his 5th place performance at this year’s ESC! Futia, a 2022 state qualifier, notched wins at this year’s Eastern States Classic over state qualifier Tomah Gummow from Indian River, state placer Liam English from Cobleskill, and state placer Tyler Whiteley from Burnt Hills! At 138, Monroe Woodbury senior Jordan Brown took home 3rd place honors! Brown, a 2X NYS place winner, had only one loss this weekend and it was a 3-0 loss in the semis to the eventual champion, Nick Lamorte from Rocky Point who placed 4th in NYS last year. Brown had a great tournament and notched wins over former NYS place winner and fellow S9 stud Alex Greco from Warwick as well as Renzo Montalvo from Amsterdam. At 160, Cornwall’s Tyler Reed put the rest of the state on notice with his 7th place showing. Reed lost a heart-breaking sudden victory match to the top seed Jack Forte in the quarters before wrestling back to 7th with a win over Rhode Island state placer Nick Baccala. At 189, Pine Bush senior Braydon Pennell had a great ESC and took home 4th place honors! Pennell’s only losses were to the eventual champion Elijah Diakomihalis from Hilton and eventual 3rd place finisher Kwasi Bonsu from Baldwin. In the consi semis, Pennell notched an impressive pin over 2022 D2 state finalist Ethan Randall from Central Valley Academy! At 285, Section 9 had a total of three place winners – the aforementioned champion Monchery from Middletown as well as Logan Ormond from New Paltz and Aiden DeEntremont from Goshen! Ormond placed 5th at this year’s ESC and notched a few nice victories along the way notably a 5-3 decision over Eagle Academy’s Christian Solano who was a D2 state place winner at last year’s NYSPHSAA tournament! DeEntremont lost in the Round of 16 on Friday but showed a lot of heart and marched all the way back to the medal stand and took 8th place! Congratulations to all of our 2023 Eastern States Classic place winners!

Section 9 Recap of a Very Exciting Girls Tournament!
In its 2nd year, the Girls Division of the Eastern States Classic did not disappoint! The tournament was very exciting and when all was said and done, 2 Section 9 girls were crowned Eastern States Classic champions! To nobody’s surprise, Port Jervis freshman Charlie Wylie was the champion at 100 pounds! Wylie was the S9 champ last year in the boys division and she dominated the competition on Saturday notching a :33 pin in the semis and a 1:29 pin over Aislin Kellner of Arlington in the finals! Our other local champion was Brooke Tarshis from Pine Bush! Tarshis recorded a 1:12 pin in the semis before notching a :58 win by fall over another Section 9 hammer, Alyssa Reed from Port Jervis! Great job Charlie and Alyssa! At 107, Section 9 had another finalist in Sara Pauls from Minisink Valley! Pauls was leading 6-4 in her finals match before losing by fall in the final second of the 2nd period. At 114, Section 9 had two wrestlers place in the top 4 in Savannah Tittelback from Saugerties and Kiera Filip from Minisink Valley! The 165 pound weight class also had 3 Section 9 girls make the podium! Monica Allen from Middletown made it all the way to the finals before losing to her opponent from Bronx High School of Science while Zoe Kip from Liberty placed 3rd and Stella Torres from Pine Bush placed 4th! Great job to all of the ladies who competed in this year’s Eastern States Classic! You are growing the sport of girls wrestling!!!

Kohl Tournament

Monroe Woodbury’s Elijiah Brown and NFA’s Joe Ponesse Win Titles at Kohl
Congratulations to Monroe Woodbury’s Elijiah Brown and NFA’s Joe Ponesse for winning titles at the Kohl Tournament on Saturday! Brown, only a 7th grader, took home the crown at 110 with via a 9-1 major decision in the finals over Robert Walker of Sayville. Ponesse, an NFA senior, earned his 172-pound title with a 6-5 decision in the finals over Zach Zboray from Huntington. Let’s take a look at all of the other place winners from Section 9.
102: Kelly Sullivan (MW) 2nd place
110: Jordan Busby (NFA) 6th place
132: Liam Hayes (MW) 2nd place
132: Noah Marte (MW) 6th place
138: Anastasios Tzezailidis (Warwick) 4th place
145: Mike Rosenblum (MW) 2nd place
145: Mike Accardo (Warwick) 3rd place
145: Marcus Charlot (MW) 5th place
152: Brandon Carcaterra (MW) 4th place
160: Aaron Bernard (MW) 2nd place
160: Ricky Guzman (Warwick) 3rd place
160: Jackson Frommeyer (Warwick) 6th place
172: Nick Hansen (MW) 6th place
189: Chris Leggett (NFA) 3rd place
189: Eryk Shammgod (MW) 4th place
215: Jake Rooney (Warwick) 6th place
285: Cam Dalton (MW) 4th place
285: Jose Hernandez Rosa (MW) 6th place

Scarsdale Tournament

Timm, Calloway, & Daniels Win Titles at Scarsdale Tournament
Congratulations to Beacon’s Brody Timm and Jayden Calloway, and to Red Hook’s Luke Daniels for taking home gold at the Scarsdale Tournament on Saturday! Timm pinned his way through the 160-pound bracket to win his title while teammate Calloway notched two pins and two decisions to take home top honors at 215. Top seeded Daniels won the crown at 285 with four wins via pinfall! Congratulations to Red Hook for taking 2nd place in the team race! Other Section 9 placer at the Scarsdale Tournament were:
118: Ewen Celestine (RH) 2nd place
126: Rian Kirker (RH) 2nd place
132: Shane Cranna (RH) 5th place
138: Demetrius Massey (RH) 2nd place
138: Jude Betancourt (Beacon) 4th place
145: Jonathan Melitski (RH) 4th place
152: Christian Totman (RH) 4th place
160: Frankie Shaw (Burke) 4th place
189: Alex Khahil (Beacon) 2nd place
189: Cole Nelson (RH) 3rd place
285: Mark Paschal (RH) 3rd place

Highland Round Robin

Congratulations to Washingtonville for taking 1st place at the Highland Round Robin! Arlington took 2nd place, Bethlehem finished 3rd, and Highland finished 4th in the team race!

Highland Top-4 Placewinners:
102: Lorenzo Caserto – 1st place
118: Bradley Gatto – 2nd place
118: Trevor Coates – 4th place
145: Quinn Jones – 2nd place
152: Daniel Holifield – 4th place
189: Logan Allsion – 4th place