Another month, another state title for Tioga High School.
The Tigers’ wrestlers followed in the footsteps of the football team with a triumphant performance in a state final Saturday night in Syracuse, continuing a dominant season with a 50-7 victory over Canisteo-Greenwood in the Division II championship round at the New York State Wrestling Dual Meet Championships.
Tioga, the state’s top-ranked small school, went 4-0 on the day, taking each meet in decisive fashion at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena.
“I think we did everything well,” Tioga’s Mason Welch said in an interview with the New York State Public High School Athletic Association. “We executed as a team, we worked together and we supported each other. It was awesome.”
During the pool round, Tioga was a 65-9 winner over Port Jervis and a 47-19 winner over Newfane, earning a spot in the semifinals.
Tioga rolled to a 59-12 victory over 2020 Division II state champion Falconer to advance to the final. Section 5 champ Canisteo-Greenwood was a 56-16 victor over Warrensburg-Bolton in the other semifinal.
The Tigers took 11 of the 13 matches against second-ranked Canisteo-Greenwood.
“Canisteo-Greenwood is a very good team and solid program. Did I think we would hang 50 on them? No, I didn’t,” Tioga coach Kris Harrington said. “But we got the matchups we wanted and some tight matches went our way and it just happened that way.”
In the spotlight match, Tioga’s Gianni Silvestri was an 8-3 winner over Xavier deJesus-Remchuk at 118 pounds. At the most recent individual state championships two years ago, Silvestri beat deJesus-Remchuk, 5-4, for the 99-pound title.
“Gianni dominated that match. Good all-around day for him,” Harrington said.
Tyler Roe set the tone in the championship round with his 9-5 victory over Lucas Mason at 138 pounds.
“He’s a 126-pounder, so he’s up two weight classes and he beats a solid kid there at 138,” Harrington said.
Harrington also praised Justin Hopkins, who lost to Braidon Woodward, 15-4, at 160.
“We had Justin Hopkins go out at 160 and wrestle Woodward, who ranks first in the state, and he held it just to a major decision,” Harrington said. “Justin’s been riddled with injuries this year and just got off the COVID list. For him to gut it out and get out there and wrestle the way he did, I think that stands out.”
Tioga wrestlers who won by pin or technical fall against Canisteo-Greenwood were Donavan Smith (145), Emmett Wood (172), Trent Browne (189), Tate McCauley (285), Jayden Duncanson (110) and Caden Bellis (132). Other decisions came from Ousmane Duncanson (152), Logan Bellis (102) and Welch (126).
Last week Tioga had seven individual champions in earning the team title at the Interscholastic Athletic Conference Championships at Waverly. The Tigers have won other tournaments by huge margins that included top large-school teams.
“We definitely thought we were going to come in and make it to the finals, but we weren’t sure how the finals were going to go,” Welch said. “Luckily we did dominate and it feels awesome.”
This was the fourth year the tournament was held. Last year’s event was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is our fourth time being at the state duals tournament,” Harrington said. “We’re on the bus right now. It’s a lot more fun to ride home as state champs than it is losing in the semifinals. I hope the kids enjoy this. It’s something they’ll never forget, but we’re back in the practice room Monday and reset our goals and refocus on what we need to get done.”
On Dec. 3, Tioga capped an unbeaten football season with a 27-0 win over Moriah in the Class D state final. Some members of the wrestling team, including New York’s Class D Player of the Year Wood, were part of Saturday’s title.
“It’s amazing. It just shows how good Tioga is at sports and how hard we work there,” Welch said.
More:Section 4 high school wrestling results: Daily scores, top performers
Horseheads loses twice in Division I
Section 4 Division I and Southern Tier Athletic Conference champion Horseheads lost both of its meets and did not advance to the semifinals.
The Blue Raiders opened their day with a 66-6 loss to Minisink Valley of Section 9. Gannon Johnston’s 33-second pin at 285 pounds provided the Blue Raiders’ only points.
Horseheads fell by a 54-21 score to Pittsford of Section 5. Johnston added a 41-second pin in that meet. Also for the Blue Raiders, Ryan Massengale won by technical fall, 19-3, at 118; Cody Dale won by pin in 1:43 at 126 and Joel Scibek was a 14-5 winner at 102.
Minisink Valley, the 2020 champ, went on to a 49-13 win over Wantagh in the championship round.
Division II results
Tioga 65, Port Jervis 9
110: Jayden Duncanson (T) pinned Trevor Tufano, 4:31; 118: Gianni Silvestri (T) pinned Alyssa Reed, 1:41; 126: Mason Welch (T) by forfeit; 132: Caden Bellis (T) pinned Nathan VanKleek, 1:18; 138: Tyler Roe (T) by forfeit; 145: Donavan Smith (T) tech. fall Ryan Ross, 15-0; 152: Ousmane Duncanson (T) pinned Owen Curreri, 2:50; 160: Emmett Wood (T) pinned Joey Ebbecke, 1:21; 172: Thomas Hurd (T) by forfeit; 189: Trent Browne (T) pinned Ivan Figueroa, 2:37; 215: Matthew Oosterom (PJ) by forfeit; 285: Tate McCauley (T) pinned Mark Idsall, 1:18; 102: Charlie Wylie (PJ) dec. Logan Bellis, 4-1.
Tioga 47, Newfane 16
126: Welch (T) dec. Ayden Buttery, 7-3; 132: Roe (T) dec. Miguel Salas, 14-8; 138: C. Bellis (T) dec. Aidan Gillings, 4-3; 145: Smith (T) major dec. Adam Huntington, 10-2; 152: O. Duncanson (T) pinned Camden Rowles, 1:34; 160: Wood (T) pinned Collin Doxey, 0:47; 172: Browne (T) major dec. Cade Miller, 11-0; 189: Simon Lingle (N) pinned Hurd, 3:53; 215: Josh Snell (T) pinned Christopher Kerr, 1:16; 285: Charles Larose (N) pinned McCauley, 0:52; 102: Brayden Kellison-Neglia (N) major dec. L. Bellis, 12-2; 110: J. Duncanson (T) pinned Jakob Lucinski, 1:05; 118: Silvestri (T) pinned Aden Harris, 1:34.
Semifinal: Tioga 59, Falconer 12
132: Roe (T) dec. Karsen DePasquale, 11-6; 138: C. Bellis (T) major dec. Austin Chase, 9-0; 145: Smith (T) pinned Jacob Clark, 3:12; 152: O. Duncanson (T) pinned Dalton Caldwell, 2:50; 160: Wood (T) pinned Bryant Morrison, 3:48; 172: Browne (T) pinned Brodie Little, 1:37; 189: Kyle Keefe (F) by forfeit; 215: Snell (T) pinned Devyn Morrison, 1:15; 285: David Stein (F) pinned McCauley, 1:52; 102: L. Bellis (T) pinned Evan Newman, 3:07; 110: J. Duncanson (T) pinned Karsen Lundgren, 0:33; 118: Silvestri (T) pinned Kailen Kinne, 1:04; 126: Welch (T) major dec. Vinnie Bloomberg, 14-0.
Final: Tioga 50, Canisteo-Greenwood 7
138: Roe (T) dec. Lucas Mason, 9-5; 145: Smith (T) tech. fall Luke Kilmer, 15-0; 152: O. Duncanson (T) dec. Beau Zeh, 7-0; 160: Braidon Woodward (C-G) major dec. Hopkins, 15-4; 172: Wood (T) pinned Keegin Christian, 1:17; 189: Browne (T) pinned Trevor Mochol, 1:03; 215: Jacob Evingham (C-G) dec. Snell, 5-1; 285: McCauley (T) pinned Loren Brown, 1:46; 102: L. Bellis (T) dec. Cael Stewart, 5-3; 110: J. Duncanson (T) pinned Austin Hall, 1:25; 118: Silvestri (T) dec. deJesus-Remchuk, 8-3; 126: Welch (T) dec. Gavin Bob, 6-3; 132: C. Bellis (T) pinned Colton Havens, 3:27.
Division I results
Minisink Valley 66, Horseheads 6
110: Wyatt Boice (MV) pinned Brian Park, 1:45; 118: Sofia Macaluso (MV) pinned Ryan Massengale, 1:19; 126: Anthony Tresch (MV) major dec. Cody Dale, 13-0; 132: Zackary McKernan (MV) dec. Cael Owen, 9-7; 138: PJ Duke (MV) pinned Zachary Evans, 0:52; 145: Luke Greiner (MV) tech. fall Will Lotocky, 16-1; 152: Eric Tigue (MV) pinned Liam Levantovich, 2:29; 160: Zackary Ryder (MV) pinned Luis Bohan, 0:26; 172: Michael Altomer (MV) pinned Ben Massengale, 0:31; 189: Andrew Filip (MV) pinned Hunter Lavigne, 1:54; 215: Ethan Gallo (MV) pinned Jacob Bennett, 0:36; 285: Gannon Johnston (H) pinned Aiden Gove, 0:33; 102: Joseph Uhrig (MV) pinned Joel Scibek, 0:52.
Pittsford 54, Horseheads 21
118: Ryan Massengale (H) tech. fall Jackson Ciocca, 19-3; 126: Cody Dale (H) pinned Thomas Gargan, 1:3; 132: Evan Smith (P) pinned Coleton Owen, 1:00; 138: Ignat Fomin (P) pinned Zachary Evans, 1:47; 145: Samuel Renica (P) pinned Will Lotocky, 4:59; 152: Ryan Sanko (P) pinned Liam Levantovich, 2:55; 160: Nick Sanko (P) pinned Reilly Kelly, 0:15; 172: James Cook (P) pinned Ben Massengale, 0:58; 189: Nicholas Smith (P) pinned Hunter Lavigne, 1:07; 215: John Santowski (P) pinned Jacob Bennett, 0:56; 285: Gannon Johnston (H) pinned Bobby Foltz, 0:41; 102: Joel Scibek (H) major dec. Mason Brown, 14-5; 110: Zach Gerby (P) pinned Adrian Bacon, 1:23.
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