Lake Shore keeps title
Lake Shore wrestling coach Bill Sills made a strategic lineup move Saturday and it helped the Eagles retain the Section VI Class A title Saturday at Niagara County Community College.Sills bumped defending 126-pound champion Freddy Eckles up to 132 pounds and turned to Antonio Perna as the Eagles’ entrant at 126.
Eckles, a sophomore, scored a 6-4 decision over Anthony Cooper of Williamsville South but the way Perna came through was a key to the Eagles title.
Perna upset No. 1 seed Pat Welling of Iroquois, 2-1, in a tense final match. Perna had triumphed 10-1 over Justin LaMonto of Williamsville South and won on a fall over Dylan Vernen of Iroquois. That earned the unsung junior Most Outstanding Wrestler honors for the meet.
Favored Luke Catalano added another first for Lake Shore at 285 pounds. The Eagles also had a pair of runner-up finishes and claimed two thirds in wrestlebacks to edge Iroquois, 233-222.
Lions win Class AA
In the Class AA sectionals at Lockport, the host school took the title with 239 points.Anthony Orefice earned his 200th career win for Lockport at 126 pounds, one of five weight class titles won by Lions. One key to the championship was a 2-0 decision in the 99-pound final by Lockport’s Mitchell Seaver over Dylan Arena of Clarence. Seaver was named Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Kellen Devlin of Amherst won the 126-pound class and was named Most Outstanding Wrestler in the Class B meet at Cheektowaga. Devlin, the No. 1 seed, scored a technical fall over Russell Gattuso of Alden, in 3:41. Ryan Kromer (152) and Andrew Shomers (145) were individual winners for team champion Lew-Port.
Falconer wrestlers won five individual titles and the Falcons took the Class C title at Eden, winning by an 82.5-point margin over runner-up Newfane.
The combined team of Westfield/Ripley/Chautququa Lake and Panama won the Class D tournament at Portville. The winners got first places from Nick Hudson (126), Mark Ecklund (132) and Kale Gilbert at (138). The winners had 238.50 points with its depth a telling factor. WRCL had four thirds, three fourths and a pair of sixth-place finishes. That was enough to outdistance second play Gowanda and third-place Maple Grove which actually had more first-place finishes (4) and the same number of runner-up finishes (3) as the winning team.
Canisius edges Erie foe
Fresh off its win over Bishop Kearney of Rochester, Canisius turned back another outsider Saturday, edging Cathedral Prep of Erie, 56-54. Josh Huffman had 18 points while Stafford Trueheart and Howard Washington each scored 12 points for Canisius.Iroquois (8-3) edged Hamburg, 46-44, to strengthen its hold on first place in ECIC II basketball. Phil Bowen led the Chiefs with 22 points, 12 coming in the final quarter. Zach Emer had 10 points and 14 rebounds for the winners.