Sweet Home ties for fourth at dual tourney; Stella named most outstanding
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

In only its first outing of the season, the Sweet Home wrestling team has already matched its win total for dual matches.

The Panthers, who finished 2-7 last year, beat the Gow School, 49-24, and Lackawanna, 37-27, as part of the Tonawanda Duals Tournament held last Saturday at Tonawanda High School. They lost their other three duals at the tournament to Hamburg, 38-22; Cheektowaga, 50-17; and to Section V's Holley, 39-33.

Sweet Home finished tied for fourth with Tonawanda out of eight teams. The Panthers won their matches without a full lineup. They were missing 145-pound (Joe Hirtreiter) and 189-pound (forfeit) wrestlers.

"We could have easily been 3-2, but we didn't do well early," said Sweet Home coach Jeff Hess. "We probably would have won against Hamburg had we had our 145-pounder in the lineup and didn't forfeit at 189."

Nic Stella went 5-0 at 140 pounds (all pins) and was named the tournament's most outstanding wrestler. Stella pinned the Gow's Henry Henson and Lackawanna's Eric Jones in 15 and 21 seconds, respectively, Hamburg's Brett Phillips in 1:35, Holley's Josh Avila in 2:19 and Cheektowaga's Steve Kelly in 2:30.

"He looked better at this point than he did last year," said Sweet Home coach Jeff Hess. "The one difference about Nic this year is that he is holding down his opponents for pins. Last year, kids would roll through and he would get technical falls."

Other Sweet Home wrestlers who excelled were senior Matt Danwin and sophomores Alex Dennis and Gage Bateman.

Danwin went 5-0 at 135 pounds, including three pins. Bateman and Dennis were 4-1 at 130 and 152 pounds, respectively.

Dennis had four pins. His only loss came to Cheektowaga's Clay Reeb, 18-3. Hess said Reeb is expected to be ranked first at his weight class in Section VI.

Bateman's only defeat came to Cheektowaga's Jared Messina, a two-time section champion, 9-1. Bateman pinned two of his other opponents.

Sophomore Zach Fumerelle went 3-2 at 125, including a huge win over Cheektowaga's Keann Loman.

Cory Mitchum, another sophomore, pushed 20 pounds to wrestle at 171. He finished 2-3. Mitchum usually wrestles at 154. He won one match on JV last year.

The Panthers' lightweights, eighth-grader Michael White (96 pounds) and freshman Anthony Mineo (103 pounds), each went 3-2. Mineo had two pins.

Sophomore Daiquann Burney went 2-3 at 112 pounds.

Sophomore Nico Fisher won his first varsity match at 215 by pinfall.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com