Wrestling
Stella records 150th win, sixth tournament victory
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Nic Stella is two tournaments away from advancing to his first New York State Championship.

The Sweet Home junior improved to 33-0 and fourth in the state at 140 pounds with a first place finish at the Salamanca Tournament on Saturday at Salamanca High School. It was Stella's sixth tournament victory of the season.

Stella, seeded No. 1, pinned Oswego Valley's Devin Crozier in 2:20, defeated Campbell-Savona's Josh Simons by technical fall, 19-4, in the second period, and Canisteo-Greenwood's Joe Rinaldi, 10-2, in the finals for his 150th career win.

The Sweet Home school record for most career wins is 187 set by Nic's older brother, Andrew, in 2005. Andrew is a redshirt freshman at the University at Buffalo.

"Nic's on a mission," said Sweet Home coach Chris Nadeau.

"The kid he beat in the finals was 28-4 and ranked in the top five in Section V."

Stella was not the only champion for the Panthers. Gage Bateman won his first tournament of his career, going 3-0 at 112 pounds. Bateman, seeded third, pinned Olean's Jeriel Pena in a minute in the first round, Bolivar Richburg's Tyler Newton in 1:58 in the semifinals, and Westfield's Steve Cochren, by technical fall, 15-0, in the second period, in the finals.

Ryan Murray, seeded third at 152, beat Salamanca's John Pierce by technical fall, 18-2, in the first round. He was ahead 6-2 after the first period over second seed Josh Becker of Salamanca but was counter-cradled and pinned in 3:50. In wrestlebacks, he beat Campbell Savona's Jason Hyer, 10-6, but had to injury default for fourth place.

Paul Fazekas, unseeded, went 3-1 at 171 with three pins but opened by getting pinned by Salamanca's Mitch Hoag in 5:02. Fazekas went on to pin Bradford's James Can in 4:08, Bolivar-Richburg's Jesse Smyers in 2:40 and No. 2 seed Willy Yaworsky of Salamanca in 2:20 for third.

Zach Fumerelle went 2-2 at 125 for fourth. Fumerelle drew Bradford's Jake McMurtrie in the first round and lost 5-0. In wrestlebacks, he beat Olean's Germaine Battle, 13-2, and Campbell Savona's Aaron Nichols, 5-2, but was pinned by Westfield's Chandler Pool for third.

As well as Sweet Home fared at Salamanca, they had problems in their last two regular season duals, losing to West Seneca West, 51-19, last Wednesday and 42-26 to Hamburg, last Friday.

Murray (160, pin in 3:11), Bateman (112, 11-3 over Nick Marrinelli), Stella (140, pinfall in 3:02 over Brian Dunbar) and Fumerelle (130, rode out Aaron Crowley in double overtime) won for the Panthers against West Seneca West, ranked seventh among Western New York large schools.

After trailing Alex Petrusek, 6-0 at 171, Dan Balsom tied it the match at 6-6 but was pinned at 4:19. At 189, Fazekas was tied with Vinny Graber 2-2 in the first period but was reversed and pinned. Daiquann Burney lost 5-3 at 103 to Kyle Colgrove.

Against Hamburg, Murray, Balsom and Stella won by pinfall. At 152, Murray pinned Trent Walden in 2:39. Balsom pinned Eric Miller at 160 in 4:19. Stella pinned Bob Walden in 2:15 at 140. Bateman beat Colin Wick, 8-0, at 112. Fazekas avenged a 6-2 loss at ECICs to Kevin Heelin with a 7-0 shutout.

Fumerelle fell 6-2 against Doug Happ at 125. Burney lost 8-1 to Luke Happ at 103.

Williamsville North

The Spartans concluded its best dual meet season since the 1999-2000 season with wins at Orchard Park, 40-24, last Wednesday and Williamsville South, 59-12, last Friday.

North finished 9-3.

Steven Liebler (112, pinfall), Ansar Khan (125, pinfall), Abbas Rizvi (130, decision in first period), Jake Caprow (135, first period pin), Nate Carbrey (140, 7-0), Matt Proven (145, pinfall), P.J. Abbarno (160, pinfall), and Phil Constantinou (171, decision) all picked up victories against Orchard Park.

Against South, Liebler (112, pinned Justin St. George), Booth (119, forfeit), Khan (125, pinned Nicholas Green in second period), Rizvi (130, pinned Emmanuel Lewis Jr.), Carbrey (135, pinfall), Caprow (140, pinfall), Proven (145, pinfall), Abbarno (160, beat Logan Struebing by major decision), Matt Aloisio (171, pinned John Walter) and Mohamad Abidi (189, pinfall) all earned Spartan wins.

North's Brad Adkins trailed Elliot Frank 3-1 going into the third period but escaped and took him down with 15 seconds remaining to win 4-3.

At 152, South's Bill Truesdell pinned Desmond Little by pinfall in the second period.

"The kids have worked hard to get ready for the season by wrestling in camps and tournaments," said North coach Brian Swatland. "It really showed and hopefully it continues."

North and Sweet Home are among the teams who will compete in the Class AAAA Tournament at Clarence High School this weekend. The top four wrestlers from each weight class advance to the Section VI State Qualifier at Fredonia State College on Feb. 17.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com