Stella, Carbrey win first ECIC wrestling titles
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Two wrestlers from the Town of Amherst were crowned ECIC champions last weekend.

Sweet Home's Nic Stella and Williamsville North's Nate Carbrey each won their first ECIC wrestling titles on Saturday. The two-day 27-team varsity tournament was held at East Aurora High School.

Stella and Carbrey went 5-0 at 140 and 135, respectively. Each were seeded first in their weight classes. In the finals, Stella beat Clarence's Matt Cowan, 9-4, but Sweet Home coach Chris Nadeau said it easily could have been 13-4. Meanwhile, Carbrey knocked off another Town of Amherst wrestler, Steve Devlin, by pinfall in 1:58. It was the third straight tournament that Devlin had made the finals.

Stella, ranked No. 1 in Section VI at 140, improved to 24-0. His other victories at the tournament came over Cheektowaga's Clay Reeb, 12-1, in the semifinals and Orchard Park's Andrew Hutchins, 18-1, by technical fall in the quarterfinals. In earlier rounds, he defeated Depew's Brad Barth, 16-7, and Lancaster's Derek Welch, 21-6.

Stella said by beating Reeb, he has pretty much defeated every Section VI wrestler in his weight class.

"Everything is going real good now," said Stella.

"I think he is taking it to another level," added Nadeau. "He wrestles year round against the top kids in the state and has beaten them. He's confident in what he can do and is not going to settle for anything less. When he's out there, he's all business. He's like a man possessed. No one in the section has come close to him."

Stella's ultimate goal is to advance to the New York State Championships for the first time in his career and win it.

Carbrey pinned two other opponents at ECICs. He opened with a pinfall in 1:06 over Frontier's Tony Pitt then pinned Williamsville South's Mike Lang in 15 seconds. In the quarterfinals, Carbrey beat Holland's Joe Evans, 13-0, and in the semifinals, knocked off fifth-seed Justin Moore of Tonawanda, 5-0.

The senior improved to 21-2 and is an Honorable Mention in Section VI. It was Carbrey's second straight tournament win. He won at the Williamsville North Tournament on Jan. 13.

Sweet Home

Unfortunately, Nic Stella was the only Panther to place at ECICs. Matt Danwin, Ryan Murray, and Gage Bateman were each one match from placing and finished 3-2.

Bateman, seeded sixth at 112, had a first round bye, defeated East Aurora's Tanner Kennedy, 10-0 and lost to Maryvale's Alex Bagne, 10-6. In wrestlebacks, he beat Depew's Devin Kramer, 6-3, and fell to Jamestown's Max Murray, 2-0.

Murray, seeded eighth at 152, pinned Eden's Sam Lewandowski in 4:57 and Holland's Nick Dichairo in 3:38. On Saturday, he was lost by technical fall, 16-1, to East Aurora's Nick Czatla, beat Lake Shore's Tim Meade, 3-1, and fell to Lancaster's Brian Hauser, 5-4.

Danwin, seeded tenth at 130, lost 11-4 to Eden's Eddie Sarcione, beat Clarence's Paul Legowski, 15-0, Lake Shore's Brett Colling, 4-0, and Cheektowaga's Russell Wojtusiak, 2-0, before falling to West Seneca West's Aaron Crowley, 2-0.

Williamsville North

Jake Caprow was North's only other wrestler to place in the top six. At 130, Caprow was pinned by Iroquois' Matt Mariacher in the first period. Caprow finished 3-2. He is 20-4 this season.

Ben DesSoye and Matt Aloisio each lost a round before placing. At 275, DesSoye lost to Jamestown's Anthony Nary, 7-1. DesSoye was 2-2. Aloisio, who finished 3-2, fell short at 171.

At 119, Tommy Keller lost to East Aurora's Kevin Ott in the quarterfinals and in wrestlebacks to Lancaster's Derek Welch. Kellner finished 2-2.

P.J. Abbarno, seeded third, battled the flu and finished 2-2 at 160.

Amherst Central

Steve Devlin pinned Pioneer's Ryan Johnson, Hamburg's Bret Phillips, defeated Lancaster's Billy Ellis, 5-1, in the quarterfinals and Maryvale's Nick Smith, 6-4, in the semifinals before facing North's Nate Carbrey.

Senior Andrew McCauley went 3-2 at 130 pounds. McCauley lost to East Aurora's Mike Weir in the consolation quarterfinals, just missing placing.

Earlier in the tournament, he defeated Frontier's Pete Lucido, 4-3, Orchard Park's Mike Hasson, 12-3, and Sarcione by medical default.

Williamsville East

Flames coach Henry Fumerelle continues to see his wrestling team develop as four of his nine grapplers placed at ECICs.

Freshman Ben Mikac was East's top finisher with a fourth at 96. In the semifinals, Mikac lost to eventual champion Kyle Mc- Gregor of Tonawanda, 8-6, in overtime.

Mikac went on to lose in four overtimes for fourth. He finished 3-2.

Jacob Beichner (119, 4-2), Max Cohen (125, 4-2) and Sean Trabert (135, 4-2) each took fifth.

Zach Horton went 2-2 at 103. Brandon Munoz and Ernest Jacobs each went 1-2 at 152 and 160, respectively.

"It was a grueling weekend but they did a great job," said Fumerelle. "That's our toughest tournament besides the Class tournament. I was very pleased and continue to see development. They're exceeding expectations. I'm proud of them."

Williamsville South

Michael Walter, Elliot Frank, and Billy Truesdell recorded wins at ECICs for the Billies.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com