Stella wins showdown on the mat with Lewandowski
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Sweet Home's Nic Stella and Lancaster's Mark Lewandowski have trained together in the summer but never met in a sanctioned wrestling match until last Wednesday at Sweet Home.

Stella, the reigning Section VI champion at 140 pounds, defeated Lewandowski, the section champ at 125 pounds, 4-2, at 145 pounds. Sweet Home lost the match overall, 55-6.

"It was the last match of the night," said Sweet Home coach Jeff Hess. "Despite what the scoreboard read, Lancaster was deflated."

Lewandowski, the Division I state runner-up at 125 last year, took a 1-0 lead after an escape in the second period. In the third period, Stella chose down and reversed Lewandowski to go ahead 2-1. Lewandowski later tied the score on an escape. Late in the third, Stella took Lewandowski down for another two points.

"It was a real strong showing for him," said Sweet Home coach Nic Stella. "It showed all of Nic's hard work in the offseason paying off. He was more aggressive and had better conditioning. When he wrestles an aggressive match like that, I don't think there's anyone in the state that can stop him."

Stella needed the win for confidence. He was coming off a 5-2 record and fourth place finish at the Sheetz Holiday Classic in Pennsylvania Dec. 14-15, a tournament he was seeded first in.

Stella is ranked second behind Fredonia's Kenny Betts at 145 in the latest Section VI rankings.

The only other Sweet Home wrestler to score points against Lancaster was sophomore Zach Fumerelle, who beat Justin Mitchell, 4-2, at 125 pounds. Similar to the Stella match, each wrestler got an escape and one wrestler, Fumerelle, got a reverse. Fumerelle, like Stella, took down his opponent in the third period to put the match away. Fumerelle is 6-2 for the season.

Sophomore Nico Fisher lost 12-5 to Adam Bertucci at 189 but scored a five-point move with 10 seconds to go in the match to put Bertucci on his back.

"Another 10 seconds on the clock and Nico would have pinned the kid," said Hess.

The Panthers closed out the week with a 51-16 loss last Friday at Clarence.

Stella (18-5, 145); Fumerelle (9-2, 125); sophomore Gage Bateman (pin in 1:10, 130); and senior Matt Danwin (9-4, 140) recorded wins.

Sweet Home wrestles in the Akron Tournament on Dec. 28.