4 Locals Win Titles; Cornwall takes 2nd at 17-team Mid-Hudson

Section 9 was very well represented in what proved to be an extremely competitive and evenly matched Mid Hudson Tournament on Tuesday and Wednesday.  In the team race, Cornwall finished second to host Arlington.  Other Section 9 teams that finished in the top ten included NFA (5th), Valley Central (6th), and Rondout Valley (9th).  Kingston, Red Hook, Highland, and Pine Bush also had wrestlers compete in the tournament.  Four Section 9 wrestlers, two from Cornwall and two from Kingston, took home individual titles. 

Cornwall’s TJ Kreider capped off a dominating tournament by defeating NFA’s Sean Foshini for the crown at 113 pounds.  Kreider pinned Valley Central’s Hussain Hasan at the 5:50 mark in their semifinal  match-up.  Hasan defeated teammate Jimmy Clark, who only lost 8-6 OT to Foshini in the semis, to finish 3rd.  The Green Dragon’s other individual title came at 132 pounds where Luke Roth defeated Ketcham’s Mike Morabito via injury default.  Roth began Wednesday in impressive fashion by defeating Rondout Valley’s Colin Dimler by a 8-2 margin.  He then went on to beat Rob Rosenberg of Hewlett (Section 8, Long Island) by a score of 6 to 3.  Dimler wrestled back well to take 5th place. 

Kingston’s Deon Edmond navigated his way through an extremely tough 195 lb. weight class to take home first place honors.  After pinning Valley Central’s Krajl Haxhaj in the first round, Edmond defeated Arlington’s Matt Day 3-0 in the semis and Beacon’s Deondre Pierce 5-4 in the finals.  Seth Stauble gave Kingston their second individual title when he pinned Yorktown’s David Varian at the 4:56 mark of the 285 pound final.  Varian reached the final by squeaking out a victory over NFA’s Terrance Cheeks 2-1 in 2OT.  Stauble pinned his way through the bracket by also securing falls over Will Brammer of Red Hook and Vinny Guiel of West Springfield.  Cheeks finished 4th for the tournament.

All Top-4 Section 9 Placewinners including head-to-head S9 match notes:
  99 – Chris Cuccolo (Pine Bush, 2nd)  Andy Rivera (NFA, 4th)… Cuccolo beat Rivera 2-1 in semis
  106 – Austin Ingraham (Highland, 3rd)  Johnny Bastone (NFA, 4th)…Ingraham beat Bastone 3-2
  113 – TJ Kreider (Cornwall, 1st)  Sean Foshini (NFA, 2nd)  Hussain Hasan (VC, 3rd)  Jimmy Clark (VC, 4th)
  120 – John Hodes (Rondout Valley, 2nd)
  126 – John Derham (NFA, 3rd)
  132 – Luke Roth (Cornwall, 1st)
  138 – none
  145 – Ian Morse (Rondout Valley, 2nd) Ricky Treu (Red Hook, 3rd) Tyler Carlyon (NFA, 4th)
                    Morse mdec Treu 11-0….Treu dec Carlyon 8-2
  152 – Paul Sommer (Rondout Valley, 2nd)
  160 – Luke Zsido (Cornwall, 3rd)
  170 – Kyle McGuire (NFA, 2nd)  Ryan Gagnon (Cornwall, 4th)… McGuire dec Gagnon 6-1 in semis
  182 – Bilal Hasan (Valley Central, 2nd)
  195 – Deon Edmond (Kingston, 1st)  Andrew Giese (Cornwall, 4th)
  220 – Ben Zitz (Red Hook, 4th)
  285 – Seth Stauble (Kingston, 1st)  Terrance Cheeks (NFA, 4th)

Click below for all individual results

                                           Day 1 Pools                                        Day 2 Brackets
 

Washingtonville 2nd at Pearl River; Colin Casey Champ at 170!

Washingtonville finished second out of 14 teams at Wednesday’s Michael O’Connell Wrestling Tournament in Pearl River.  Section One’s Tappan Zee won the team title with 147 points to Washingtonville’s 112.5.  The Wizards placed eight wrestlers in the top four including the champion at 170, senior Colin Casey.  Also placing for Washingtonville were Bryan Mongiello (2nd @ 120), Luke Harrison (4th @ 132), Mark Milisci (3rd @ 138), Francesco Pichardo (4th @ 152), Andrew Bragado (4th @ 160), Sam Weinger (2nd @ 220), and Stephen Melgar (3rd @ 285). 

Ellenville and Tuxedo also competed in the tournament.  Tuxedo’s 106 pounder Dylan Lynn finished 2nd losing an OT decision in the finals.  Congratulations to all!

Raccioppi Champ, 5 Other Warriors Place at NJ Tourney!

Minisink Valley traveled into the wrestling rich state of New Jersey on Tuesday and placed 6th in the team race against some top-notch competition at the Cougar Classic held at Kittatinny High School.  The Warriors were led by freshman Michael Raccioppi who won the 106 pound weight class and remains undefeated on the season.  Also placing for the Warriors were Mason Rambrose (2nd @ 113), Devyn Fennell (4th @ 145), Anthony Sannella (3rd @ 182), Luke Durland (4th @ 195) and Shane Hanlon (3rd @ 220).

With six finalists, and no fewer that 10 place-winners, host Kittitinny ran away with the team title.  Although a relatively small tournament in terms of numbers (usually around 10 teams), the Cougar Classic has had its share of superstar individual performers.  Over the past several years, some of the champions of this tournament have included:
        *  Damion Hahn – 2X D1 NCAA Champ for University of Minnesota
        *  Matt Valenti – 2X D1 NCAA Champ for University of Pennsylvania
        *  Will Livingston – 2X D3 All American (Livingston pinned Jordan Burroughs in HS!)
        *  Derek Valenti – NCAA D1 All American at University of Virginia! 
 

Onteora Goes 4-0; Defends Title at Midnight Madness

Fresh off their debut as the 20th ranked D2 wrestling program in New York, Onteora headed upstate on Friday and successfully defended their title at Oneonta Midnight Madness Duals.  Christian Smith, Kyle Vanvalkenburg, Austin Weigel, and Dustin Mackenzie all went 4-0 for Onteora.  Congratulations to Lou Chartrand and the Onteora wrestling program!

Onteora 42 Oneonta 33                     Onteora 54 Cooperstown 28
Onteora 66 Mt. Markham 12            Onteora 42 Oxford Academy 30

NFA defeats Cornwall 40-27 in historic dual!

Don Blaine, Jeff Cuilty, and Wayne Carroll

For the past 23 years, head wrestling coaches Jeff Cuilty of NFA and Don Blaine of Cornwall have watched their respective teams go to battle dozens of times.  On Thursday, however, they faced each other for the first time as NYS Wrestling Hall of Fame members.  In fact, is was one of the few times ever that Hall of Fame coaches have squared off in a dual meet in New York State.  Coach Cuilty and Coach Blaine, along with long-time Section 9 referee Wayne Carroll, were inducted into the HOF during the NYS Championship Tournament held in Albany last February.

Thursday’s dual meet was won by NFA by a score of 40-27; NFA won 9 of the 15 bouts including two pins and two forfeits.  In a bout between ranked wrestlers at 126 pounds, NFA senior John Derham defeated Cornwall sophomore Brett Johnson by an 8-3 margin.  The anticipated showdown between Cornwall’s Sean Sweeney and NFA’s Johnny Bastone never happened as Sweeney did not dress for the dual meet.      NFA 40 Cornwall 27 

Warwick 54 PJ 25; Connolly beats Muller 2-0, Bedross edges Edwards 3-2

Although the outcome of the dual meet was never in question, there were a few marquee match-ups, as well as a great charity event, which made for an exciting evening of wrestling at Warwick on Thursday.  Proceeds from the dual went to “Pinning Down Cancer.”

On the strength of 4 pins and 4 forfeits, Warwick, the #3 ranked team in NYS, dominated Port Jervis 54-25.  The dual meet, however, did feature two marquee match-ups between ranked wrestlers; both matches lived up to their billing.  At 145 pounds, Warwick’s Shane Connolly defeated Port’s Dylan Muller by a score of 2-0.  Connolly, a 4X Section 9 champion, scored the only points of the match with a takedown at the end of the first period.  At 160 pounds, Warwick’s Ryan Bedross narrowly defeated Travis Edwards 3-2.  The other potential headline match could have taken place at 152 pounds where many in attendance anticipated a showdown between Warwick’s Kyle Weirzbicki and Port’s Bret Sauschuck.  Weirzbicki was injured, however, and did not dress for the dual.  Click below for complete boxscore.

Warwick 54 Port Jervis 25

Five Section 9 Teams Ranked in the Top 20 in New York State!!!!!

The New York State Sportswriter’s Association has released their initial team rankings for the 2011-2012 wrestling season.  It is with great pride that I report the release of these state rankings as there are three D1 Section 9 teams ranked in the top 11 and two D2 Section 9 teams ranked in the top 20!!!  Warwick Valley #3, Monroe Woodbury #8, and Minisink Valley #11 all cracked the large school rankings, while Red Hook #19 and Onteora #20 made the list for small schools.  Congratulations to all these programs…you are putting Section 9 back on the map!!!  Below is the complete list of both the D1 and D2 rankings as compiled by Glen Irving of the Sportswriter’s Association. 

   Large School – D1                                           Small School – D2
1.  Wantagh – 8 (tie)                                                  1.  Phoenix – 3
1.  Shenedehowa – 2  (tie)                                        2.  Fredonia – 6
3. Warwick9                                                        3.  Peru – 7
4.  Fox Lane – 1                                                          4.  Midlakes – 5
5.  Spencerport – 5                                                     5.  Warsaw – 5
6.  Fulton – 3                                                               6.  Greene – 4
7.  Sachem East – 11                                                   7.  Palmyra Macedon – 5
8.  Monroe Woodbury – 9                                   8.  Holland Patent – 3
9.  Longwood – 11                                                       9.  Royalton-Hartland – 6
10. Hauppague – 11                                                    10.  South Jefferson – 3 
11. Minisink Valley – 9                                          11.  Oyster Bay – 8
12. Queensbury – 2                                                     12. BGA – 4
13. St. Anthony’s – CHSAA                                       13.  Locust Valley – 8
14. Connetquot – 11                                                    14.  Hudson Falls – 2
15. Columbia – 2                                                         15.  Beekmantown – 7
16. MacArthur – 8                                                      16.  Holley – 5
17. Eastport-South Manor-11                                   17.  Bayport-Blue Point-11
18.   Brentwood-11                                                     18.  Windsor-4

19.   Indian River-3                                                    19.   Red Hook-9
20.   Penfield-5                                                           20.   Onteora-9
tie   Webster Schroeder-5                                         tie   Duanesburg-2
tie   Union-Endicott-4                                               tie   Corinth-2        

 

Wednesday’s Results

Results from Wednesday’s action as I get them…..

                         Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tuxedo 48 Millbrook 18     Highland 63 Tuxedo 18
Warwick 60 Kingston 12
NFA 51 Middletown 27
Washingtonville 52 Cornwall 26
Minisink Valley 62 Saugerties 15
Monticello 45 Goshen 36
Red Hook 66 Ellenville 10
Port Jervis 43 Wallkill 42
Monroe Woodbury 59 Valley Central 13

Section 9 Wrestling Talk Show, Updated Rankings; Tonight @ 7:00

Tune into kjbroadcasting.com tonight at 7:00 for another installment of The Section 9 Wrestling Talk Show.  Tonight’s guest are Port Jervis Coach Eric Hartmann as well as PJ wrestlers Bret Sauschuck and Travis Edwards.  Mike and Tim will review the week that was, preview the week that will be, and, of course,  release their new rankings!

Weekend Results Summary…More to Follow…

MV goes 4-0 to win Jim Wilson Duals! Finals:  Minisink 42 William Floyd 27
Minisink 58 Averill Park 18   Minisink 64 Nanuet 6  Minisink 50 Plainedge 24

Highland crowns 5 champions to wins Lourdes Tournament!
Austin Ingraham (113), Sal Mazella (145), Sam Cruz (152), AJ Buchanan (170), and Kevin Rivera (285) all took home titles as Highland edged host Lourdes 282 to 262 in the team race.

Sommer gets 100th win; Rondout goes 2-2 at Dragon Duals!
RV 46 Pearl River 35   RV 60 Tri Valley 16   Cornwall 49 RV 30   Horace Greeley 39 RV 26

Terrence Cheeks wins 285 title as NFA takes 2nd at Clarkstown North!  Click below for a summary of NFA’s performance.
NFA at Clarkstown North Tournament

Mahopac defeats Valley Central for 1st place at Tri-State Holiday Tournament!  Click below for a summary of the team results.  (Individual results will appear in the “Results” section, as well as on each team’s personal page, as they become available.)
Tri-State Holiday Tournament

Monroe Woodbury goes 4-0 at Montgomery County Duals.  Vinny Vespa and AJ Voelker go 4-0!