East's wrestling success at North tourney continues
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville South's Nick Green applies a headlock on Lackawanna's Mohamed Abdulla during a 130-pound match at the Williamsville North Invitational Tournament. The Billies took 12th overall out of 14 teams. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Williamsville East's wrestling team continued its great year on the mat with a second place finish on Saturday at the seventh annual Williamsville North Invitational Tournament held at Williamsville North High School.

East posted a team score of 141. Eden was first with 177.5 points.

"It was our third tournament we were in this year," said Flames coach Henry Fumerelle. "We took first in the two other tournaments (Maple Grove, Akron). To get another team trophy is really exciting for us."

The Flames have excelled at the North tournament in recent years. East won it in 2004 and 2005, took third in 2006 and finished sixth last year.

"The kids get really geared up for the tournament," said Fumerelle. "A lot of people attend from all of the Williamsville schools."

Williamsville North freshman Austin Berube tries to roll over Pioneer's Alex Hestenly in a 125-pound match at the seventh annual Williamsville North Invitational Tournament held at Williamsville North High School. Berube finished 2-2 on the day. The Spartans were tied with Lackawanna for eighth in team points. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Fumerelle said the team goal was to win the tournament but a couple of unfortunate injuries to his wrestlers hurt its chances of winning overall. Junior Brandon Munoz went 2-2 at 140 but wrestled with an injured right shoulder. Senior Ryan Cravatta was slammed to the mat in his 119-pound second round match with Kenmore East's Jeremy Ruiz and did not return.

East posted three champions - seniors Max Cohen and Sean Trabert and junior Matt Calleri. Cohen beat Williamsville North's Tommy Kellner, 6-4, in the 130-pound finals. Kellner finished 2-1 on the day. Cohen and Kellner are honorable mentions at 130 in the latest Section VI rankings.

Trabert, an honorable mention in the section at 140, beat Lackawanna's Mahfoud Saleh, 8-1, at 145. Calleri downed Pioneer's Joe Urbino, 5-0, at 135.

Cohen and Calleri each went 3-0 at the tournament. Trabert went 4-0.

Sophomore Jacob Beichner lost 5-0 to Gowanda's Joe Stearns in the 125-pound finals. Beichner went 3-1 on the day.

At 152, senior Jayson Dieckman lost to Eden's Greg Gellerson, 8-7, in overtime in the semifinals. Fumerelle said Dieckman was seconds away from sending the match to a second overtime but time expired. Dieckman finished third overall. Gellerson ended up winning the tournament.

Sophomore Ben Mikac finished 2-2 for fourth in a competitive 112-pound weight class. Mikac lost to Pioneer's Justin Skretny, 4-3, in the third-fourth match. Fumerelle said Mikac took down Skretny as time expired.

Williamsville North junior Scott Herberger defeated East sophomore MP Joseph, 7-3, in the third-fourth match at 189. Joseph finished 2-2. Herberger went 3-1.

Sophomore Will Kelly went 2-2 at 171. Sophomores Steve Meyer and Ryan Tideswell each had a 1-2 record at 160 and 285, respectively.

Host team Williamsville North finished tied for eighth with Lackawanna with 83.5 points.

Senior PJ Abbarno was pinned in 5:09 by Gowanda's Dave Richter in the 160-pound finals. Abbarno finished 2-1 and is an honorable mention at 160 in the latest Section VI rankings.

Senior Matt Aloisio beat Lew-Port's Sean Roemer, 4-2, in overtime for third place at 171. Aloisio went 3-1.

Sophomore Alex Booth and freshman Austin Berube each went 2-2 at 119 and 125, respectively. Abbas Rizvi, Matt Proven and Zane Britton were each 1-2 at 135, 145, and 152, respectively. It was Britton's first time in the starting lineup.

Seventh-grader Travis Berube dislocated one of his elbows during wrestlebacks at 96 and did not continue. Berube was 1-1 before the injury. Freshman Steven Liebler, another starting wrestler, didn't compete.

"On top of that, we didn't wrestle well," said North coach Brian Swatland.

Williamsville South was 12th out of 14 teams with 28 team points. Eighth-grader Luke Falzone took fourth at 103. Senior Elliott Frank came in third at 215.

Falzone started out the tournament with a win against Dylan Elliot of Gowanda but fell to Russ Abram of Eden. South coach Sean Leaderstorf said the loss kept Falzone from facing first-seeded Luke Happ of Hamburg whom he is 1-1 against this year. Falzone is 16-7.

Leaderstof said Frank was seeded fifth in his weight bracket and took out the fourth seeded Alec Demske of Kenmore East then Mark Bouquin of Springville, who was seeded sixth.

Justin St. George one a few matches at 112.

"In what was considered the toughest weight class in the tournament, St. George took it to every guy he wrestled and really showed what he was made of by beating some tough opponents," said Leaderstorf.

Swatland thanked the parents for running the concession stand and the admission table and the North JV wrestles for helping out at the scoring tables.

The weight class sponsors were Bocces Pizza, Rizzo's Family Restaurant, Gliding Stars (formerly SABAH), Johnny C's New Yawk Deli, Johnny's Meats, SDI Sportswear, Amherst Police Club, Athlete's Foot, Tim Hortons, WNY Bass Masters and Elmo's Restaurant.

East and North each saw action on Friday. The Flames, 5-2 in dual meets, traveled to Section V's Holley where they fell 39-26. Meanwhile, the Spartans improved to 10-3 overall and 2-2 in ECIC Division I with a 43-23 victory over Frontier.

Mikac (112, 4-3); Cravatta (119, pin in first period); Cohen (130, pin in second period); Munoz (140, 6-0); and Trabert (145, 14-0) recorded wins against Holley, ranked 10th in New York State Division II.

Travis Berube (103, 16-0); Dave Marple (112, forfeit); Booth (119, pin in 3:04); Kellner (130, 16-1); Rizvi (135, 6-4); Proven (152, pin in 2:20); Abbarno (160, pin in 46 seconds); and Aloisio (171, pin in 2:46) recorded victories against the Bulldogs.

East and North return to action with dual meets on Wednesday before competing on Friday and Saturday at the ECIC Tournament at East Aurora High School.

East, ranked 10th among Western New York large schools, hosts Williamsville South as part of its inaugural homecoming alumni match.

A catered reception for all former East wrestling alumni will be held at 5 p.m. in the East wrestling room. The match against South will be held at 6 p.m. in the main gym. North hosts Sweet Home at 6 p.m.