North gains respect at NCCC Tournament
Wrestling
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Sweet Home's Nic Stella tries to take down Roy-Hart's Jeff Brigham during a semifinal match at 140 pounds on Saturday at the 27th annual Niagara Frontier Wrestling Officials Tournament held at Niagara County Community College. Stella, ranked No. 1 in Section VI and fifth in the state at 140, defeated Roy-Hart's Jeff Brigham, 11-3, in a semifinal match. Stella lost to the No. 1 140-pound wrestler in New York State, LaSalle's Zach Clemente, 12-5, in the finals. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Williamsville North's wrestling team has been good for the last couple of years but a 12th place showing out of 39 schools at the 27th annual Niagara Frontier Wrestling Officials Tournament this past weekend made other schools take notice.

"I was proud of the way we wrestled," said North coach Brian Swatland. "We really opened some eyes. It was nice to hear from other coaches that you're doing a good job."

The highest North team finish at the tournament prior to this year was 16th in 2007.

North also crowned its first ever champion at NCCC, as senior PJ Abbarno went 4-0 to win at 160 pounds and improve his record on the season to 15-1.

Abbarno, seeded third, drew a first round bye then beat Lancaster's Keith Stoerr, 6-3, in the second round, St. Francis' Rich Rogers by pin in 2:43 in the quarterfinals, Penfield's Eric Horton by major decision, 11-2, in the semifinals, and Medina's Nick Joy, 5-4, in the finals.

Swatland said Abbarno almost got taken down at the end of the finals match but was saved by the buzzer, signaling the end of the match.

"PJ wrestled really well," said Swatland.

Abbarno bumped Joy out of second place in the latest Section VI rankings at 160.

Two other Spartans placed at NCCC. Junior Tommy Kellner went 5-2 and placed fifth at 130. Seventh-grader Travis Berube went 3-3 and took sixth at 96.

Kellner, seeded seventh, pinned Barker's Nick Luce in 3:39 and Niagara Falls' Joe DiFransceco in 3:45 before losing to Lancaster's Clint Schaefer by technical fall in the quarterfinals. In wrestlebacks, Kellner beat North Tonawanda's Derek Drass, 12-0, Starpoint's Darren Whital, 3-0, but was pinned by Medina's Sal Montesanti in 4:49 for third-fourth. Kellner pinned Travis Adams of Franklin, Pa. in 57 seconds. for fifth.

Kellner went into the tournament 12-0. He is 17-2.

Berube pinned Greece Athena's Nick Secimino in 4:31 then got pinned in the second round by another Schaefer, Clint's younger brother, Tim, in 5:04.

In wrestlebacks, Berube beat Eden's Tom Page, 7-6, and Kenmore West's Dylan Caruana, 7-5. He was pinned by Salamanca's Ben Haas in 1:48 for third-fourth and by Newark's Ian Ross in 3:44 for fifth-sixth.

Senior Matt Aloisio went 3-2 at 171. Aloisio was 11-1 heading into the tournament. Aloisio fell 6-0 to Josh Deeter of Franklin, Pa. in the first round, won his next three matches in wrestlebacks then lost to Lockport's Sean Reynolds, 9-4.

Sophomore Alex Booth went 2-2 at 119 as did Scott Herberger at 189.

Senior Abbas Rizvi (135), freshman Steven Liebler (140) and junior Matt Proven (145) each went 1-2.

North (9-3, 1-2) hosts Frontier at 6 p.m. on Friday and the Williamsville North Tournament starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday. North won the tournament last year.

Sweet Home

Nic Stella wants the best competition he can find and he got the best New York State had to offer at the NCCC Tournament.

Stella lost to the No. 1 140-pound wrestler in New York State, LaSalle's Zach Clemente, 12-5, in the 140-pound finals.

"He gave Nic a lot of respect. He didn't want to wrestle Nic on the mat," said Sweet Home coach Jeff Hess. "He would take Nic down early and let him up. He waited for Nic to step one way and as soon as he did, he was on him."

Stella, ranked No. 1 in Section VI and fifth in the state at 140, defeated Roy-Hart's Jeff Brigham, 11-3, in the semifinals. Brigham is ranked third in the section.

In the quarterfinals, Stella needed a takedown in the third period to edge Kenmore West's Nathan Skiba, 7-6.

In the opening rounds, Stella pinned St. Joe's Brian O'Connoll in 26 seconds and Warsaw's Calvin Cutcliffe by technical fall.

No other Sweet Home wrestler placed. Senior Matt Danwin went 3-2 at 135. Danwin lost to Lancaster's Mark Lewandowski, 9-1, and in wrestlebacks, was beaten 2-1 by Lyndonville's John Brabon.

Sophomore Zach Fumerelle lost 2-1 in wrestlebacks to Greece-Athena's Chad Stahl at 130. He finished 2-2.

"Zach is getting better every time he is on the mat," said Hess.

In their first varsity tournament, Vinnie Paterno went 2-2 at 285 and eighth-grader Mike White finished 3-2 at 96.

Sweet Home finished 26th out of 39 teams with a team score of 51.5.

Sweet Home wrestles Frontier at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. Stella will represent Section VI at the Eastern States Classic Jan. 11-12 at Sullivan County Community College, outside of Albany.