Spartans rebound with good showing at ECICs
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

After not wrestling its best at their own tournament, Williamsville North responded with a good showing at last weekend's ECIC Championships at East Aurora High School.

The Spartans finished tied for 11th with Tonawanda with 89 points. They tied for eighth at the Williamsville North Invitational Tournament.

"It was nice to come back and wrestle nice at a bigger tournament," said North coach Brian Swatland. "Don't get me wrong. The North tournament is important but ECICs was a lot harder."

North had four wrestlers place in the top six. Its best finish came from PJ Abbarno, who took second at 160 pounds. Tommy Kellner and Matt Aloisio each took home third place at 140 and 171, respectively. Mike Herberger took sixth at 189.

Abbarno, seeded first, pinned Springville's Shawn Michalet in 43 seconds, blanked East Aurora's Clark Doll, 5-0, in the quarterfinals, dropped to fifth-seed Cheektowaga's Mike Kiripolsky, 4-1, in the semifinals, and lost 3-1 in overtime in the finals to Clarence's Chris Budzinski, seeded third.

Abbarno will see Budzinski on Friday in a North-Clarence dual match and at the Depew Wildcat Invitational on Saturday at Depew High School.

Kellner, seeded fourth, pinned Eden's Jon Flowers in 2:36 and beat Starpoint's Darren Whittall, 1-0 then lost 10-2 to eventual champion and top seed, Clint Schaefer of Lancaster, in the semifinals.

In wrestlebacks, Kellner beat Sweet Home's Matt Danwin, seeded third, 4-2, and beat Whittall again, 6-1, for third.

Aloisio, seeded third, pinned Orchard Park's Nick Pollinger in 42 seconds, defeated sixth seed Jake Winnie of Clarence, 7-4, but fell 9-6 to second seed Adam Piscitello of Cheektowaga, in the semifinals. In wrestlebacks, Aloisio defeated Lancaster's Adam Bertucci, 3-1, and pinned Winnie in 2:47 for third.

Herberger, seeded sixth, left ECICs with two black eyes and a scratched face after competing in a tough weight class. He beat Depew's Andrew Jaskowiak, 2-1, lost to Frontier's Shawn Alford, 3-2 and in wrestlebacks, defeated Zach Braunscheidel, 7-5 and Williamsville East's MP Joseph, 3-2, in three overtimes, then fell to Cheektowaga's Matt Weigand, 7-2. Herberger lost 5-2 to Clarence's Zach Ward to take sixth.

"Every match he had went the full length or overtime," said Swatland. "He was giving up about 20 pounds in each match and competed well."

North also got points from Austin Berube (3-2, 125); Mike Pitz (2-2, 103); Dave Marple (1-2, 112); Abbas Rizvi (1-2, 140); Matt Proven (1-2, 145); Zach Britton (1-2, 152); and Mohammad Abidi (1-2, 215).

North opened its week last Wednesday with a 46-18 home win over Sweet Home.

Spartans who earned victories were Mike Pitz (pinfall in 1:57, 103); Alex Booth (forfeit, 119), Berube (forfeit, 125); Rizvi (7-5, 145), Proven (pinfall, 152); Abbarno (forfeit, 160); Aloisio (pin in first period, 171); Herberger (9-1, 189) and Abidi (5-4, 215).