South's Falzone loses in section finals

Nick Falzone was one win away from going to the New York State Championships.

The Williamsville South eighth-grader lost to Niagara-Wheatfield's Joey Malvestuto, 18-7, in the finals of the 103-pound weight class at the Division I Section VI New York State qualifier last Saturday at Kenmore West High School.

To advance to the finals, Falzone beat Olean's Zach Marra, 3-1, in triple overtime.

Scoreless after the first period, Falzone won the coin toss in the second period and deferred to Marra, who chose down. Marra escaped and went up 1-0 16 seconds in. Both wrestlers went back to their feet where neither one got a takedown for the rest of the period.

Falzone chose down in the third period in hopes of reversing and going up by one or at least getting the escape to tie up the match. After 45 seconds, Falzone finally saw an opportunity to stand up and get an escape and he did just that. For the remaining time in the third, each wrestler tried to take each other down, but neither wrestler would let that happen.

In overtime, wrestlers have one minute to get a takedown. The first takedown wins. If no one gets a takedown, it goes to two 30-second periods where each wrestler takes his turn of being on top and bottom.

Neither wrestler scored a takedown in the first overtime period. For the second overtime portion, Marra chose down. Stand up after switch after sit out, Falzone was able to ride Marra out for the entire duration.

In the third overtime, Falzone chose down. After a quick stand up on the whistle, Marra took him out of bounds but still remained in control. Falzone switched up his strategy and went to a sit out series he's been working on recently and it caught Marra off guard. With a short burst of energy, Falzone saw his opportunity to get a two-point reversal and took it with approximately 12 seconds remaining.

Falzone beat Luke Happ from Hamburg, 1-0, in the first round. The two split matches during the regular season. Falzone finished with 31 wins.

South's Elliot Frank went 0-2 at 215, losing to Drew Westcott from Hamburg and Josh Kraft of Niagara-Wheatfield.