SECTION 9 WRESTLING

Congratulations to Warwick (D1) and Red Hook (D2) for earning titles at last night’s Section 9 Duals held at Newburgh Free Academy.  Spectators were treated to an exciting evening of wrestling as both title matches were determined by the final bout.  Fans also witnessed an individual milestone victory an Pine Bush sophomore Johnny Stramiello recorded his 100th career victory.  Congratulations Johnny…great job!

Below is a match-by-match summary of all of last night’s action.  Click on the team score for box scores.

D1 Final:  Warwick 39 Monroe Woodbury 38
Shane Connolly’s first period pin over Monroe Woodbury’s Drake Barczak at 145 lbs.  lifted Warwick to their second consecutive Section 9 Duals title.  Connolly, a 4X Section 9 Champion, did exactly what what was needed to secure the team victory because Warwick was trailing by 5 points going into his match, the final bout of the evening!  Monroe Woodbury had taken the lead in the previous bout thanks to Tom Murphy’s technical fall victory over Tom Wightman  at the 5:02 mark.  Although Connolly’s pin secured Warwick’s victory, the most exciting and perhaps the most important bout of the finals occured at 160 pounds where Warwick’s Ryan Bedross defeated MW’s John Vandercliff by a 7-4 margin.  Trailing 4-2 with less than 15 seconds remaining, Bedross scored a take-down and 3 near-falls points using his signature spladle!  Warwick also received pins from Justin Corradino(126), Joe Ginley(132), Kyle Wierzbicki(152), Pavel Gorelov(220), and Chris Giordano(285).  The Crusaders received pins from Vinny Vespa(99), Anthony Milano(170), and Rob Kelly(195).

D2 Final:  Red Hook 38 Onteora 36

Red Hook wrestlers recorded 3 pins and a technical fall in their last four bouts to cap off an amazing comeback to win the Division 2 Section 9 Duals title.  Red Hook received pins from Declan Dwyer-McNulty(113), Aaron Barkstrom(126), Matt Rauch(132), Luis Garcia(138), Cameron Tondini(182), and a techical fall from Ricky Treu(145).  Onteora got pins from Avery Leighton(120) and Austin Mowery(170).

D1 Semifinal:  Warwick 60 Pine Bush 21

Although the final score of this semifinal was lopsided, this D1 semifinal was not without drama.  To begin with, Pine Bush sophomore and 2X defending Section 9 Champion Johnny Stramiello recorded his 100th career victory.  Stramiello’s milestone victory came via pin against Warwick’s Alex Bharath at the 1:19 mark in the 113 pound bout.  In the most anticipated bout of the match, Warwick’s Ryan Bedross defeated Pine Bush’s Chris Weston by a 2-1 margin at 160 pounds.  The match also featured three other bouts pitting ranked opponents against each other.  Pine Bush’s AJ North pinned Warwick’s Matt Greenlaw at the 1:04 mark at 106 lbs.  At 132 pounds Warwick’s Justin Corradino pinned Pine Bush’s Jordan Robles at 2:26, and at 170 pounds Pine Bush’e Patrick Sause earned a 7-3 decision over Warwick’s Andy Sliter.

D1 Semifinal:  Monroe Woodbury 33 Minisink 29

Arguably the most exciting dual of the evening was this semifinal between #2 seed Monroe and #3 seed Minisink.  The match featured major upsets, last-second / OT victories, as well as a few showdowns between ranked opponents.  The match only had 5 bouts determined by pin fall, the fewest of any dual of the night.  In the biggest upset of the S9 Duals, Minisink Valley’s Devyn Fennel defeated Monroe Woodbury’s Tom Murphy 9-4 at 145 lbs.  Murphy was a Section 9 finalist last year and his only previous loss this year was to a 2011 state finalist (Danny Ventura, Fox Lane).  Another major upset occurred at 160 pounds where unheralded Minisink Valley senior Jake Hoffman defeated 2X Section 9 place finisher AJ Voelker.  Fans were treated to back to back “barn-burners” at 113 and 120 pounds.  At 113, Monroe’s PJ Smoot scored a last-second take down to secure a 6-4 victory over Minisink’s Mason Rambrose.  It took 3 OT periods to determine a winner at the 120 pound showdown between MW junior Alex Baum and MV freshman Chris Truglio.  Baum scored a last second reversal in the 2nd ride-out period to earn a hard-fought 5-3 decision.  In other matchups between ranked wrestlers, Gerard Daly(MV) defeated Vinny Vespa(MW) 4-0 at 99, Frank Mayo(MV) beat John Vandercliff(MW) 3-2 at 170, and Anthony Sannella(MV) decisioned Rob Kelly(MW) at 195.