The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Canastota’s Simmons reaches state final
M-E’s Burke places 4th, Chittenango’s Fredericks 5th in NYSPHSAA Division II championships
ALBANY >> Wrestlers that were looking for a change in their footwear at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships on Friday had the chance to buy new shoes in a variety of styles and colors from vendors at the Times Union Center.
Morrisville-Eaton’s Beau Burke showed that a pair of old boots can still have a little magic left in them.
The junior, wearing assistant coach Dale Coon’s shoes from the 1980s, advanced to the state semifinals Friday alongwith Chittenango’s Connor Fredericks and Canastota’s Doug Simmons, with the Raiders’ junior moving on to Saturday night’s final.
“I thought they’d look nice and they look good with my singlet,” Burke said. “I guess they’re my good luck.”
Simmons, the No. 2 seed at 182, jumped out to a 5-0 first-period lead against Ben Cuppett of Section IX’s New Paltz, eventually taking a 9-0 lead before an injury to Cuppett ended the openinground match with 1:33 remaining in the third period. Simmons went on to post a 7-0 victory over Corey Keefe of Section VI’s Falconer to move on to the semifinals. He returned to the mat Saturday and defeated Will Thompson of Section V’s Byron-Bergen 4-3 to move on to the championship final.
Camden’s Riley Gerber nearly went the distance against Ian Houck of Section IX’s Rondout Valley, with the opening-round
match at 132 decided in an ultimate tie-breaker after each wrestler escaped once during regulation. Gerber was on top but advanced with seven seconds remaining whenHouck was charged with his third caution, giving the Blue Devils junior the deciding point.
Burke, meanwhi le, started and finished his opening-roundmatch while Gerber was still on the mat. The junior took Joe O’Brien of Section XI’s Mount Sinai down just 17 seconds into the first period. Burke added an escape in the second before tacking on four more points in the third for a 7-0 victory and a rematch with Gerber.
The two last met 13 days prior in the Section III Division II championship, a 3-1 decision in Burke’s favor. Burke got off to a strong start in the rematch with a first-period takedown and added an escape in the second to carry a 3-0 lead into the final two minutes. That proved to be enough for a 3-2 victory, earning a spot in the semifinals and some bragging rights around the house.
“I knew what I was going to do, what he was going to do actually, and I knew what I had to do. I had to score first which I did,” said Burke. “I just shot and came up with double underhooks and he tried throwing a headlock on me but it didn’t work and he just bailed, gave me the two.
“It feels really good actually. At least I get to place. Do something (my brother) Zach never did.”
The junior’s bid to reach the final came up short on Saturday. Facing the No. 1 seed, Dane Heberlein of Section V’s Alexander, Burke lost 11-3. He won to reach the consolation final where he fell to No. 2 seed Hunter Dusold from Section VIII’s Locust Valley to finish fourth.
Also advancing to Saturday’s semifinals was Chittenango’s Connor Fredericks at 170. Facing Serjey Thomas of the Public Schools Athletic League’s Eagle Academy, the Bears’ junior fell in a 2- 0 hole but earned a reversal before the end of the opening period to pull back even at 2-2. The two wrestlers traded escapes, Fredericks in the second and Thomas in the third, before the Chittenango wrestler earned a takedown with 1:15 remaining for the deciding points.
“I just knew I had to go out there and run my stuff,” said Fredericks. “If I ran it I had a good percentage of taking him down.
“It’s awesome. My confidence level is definitely boosted a little bit.”
He carried that confidence into his quarterfinal match against Austin Carr of Section IV’s Bainbridge-Guilford-Afton-Harpursville, taking a 3-2 decision to advance. Fredericks faced off against No. 1 seed Alexander’sMatthew Gaiser in Saturday’s semifinal and the Bears’ junior fell 10-0.
Fredericks fell in the consolation semifinals as well but won his next match to place fifth.
Antonio Cutrie’s bid to join his teammate Freder- icks in the semifinals fell short. The junior faced Tareq Ibrahim from Section VIII’s Clarke in the first round and fell behind 1-0 on an escape in the second. Cutrie followed with a takedown but found himself trailing again after a reversal. Cutrie stayed calm, escaping to tie and adding a takedown before the end of the second period en route to a 6-3 victory. He dropped an overtime affair with Hammond Raes of Section 5’s Midlakes in the quarterfinals by a 5-4 score but came back to pin Eldred/ Liberty/Sullivan West’s John Goodell in the first period to advance in the consolation bracket before losing his first match on Saturday.
Like Cutrie, Gerber also won with a takedown in his first match in the consolation bracket. The junior pinned Kaeden Peryea of Section VII’s Beakmantown in the first period to stay alive but fell in the next round.
Camden’sDaniel Alberico fell in his first-round match against Christian Tartaglia of Section VIII’s Cold Springs Harbor. Alberico scored first with an escape three seconds into the second period but Tartaglia escaped early in the third and added a takedownwith 1:04 remaining for the victory. He won his first match in the wrestlebacks 9- 4 over Zach Chartrand of Section IX’s Onteora but fell to Eagle Academy’s Daniel Bogie 3-2 in the following round, ending his tournament.
Canastota’s Ben Marshall dropped a first-round match as well at 160. He was tied with Nick Bushey at 3-3 after two periods but the junior from Section VII’s Peru took the lead with an escape five seconds into the final period and added a takedown with 0:31 remaining. Mar- shall escaped but couldn’t score, falling 6- 4.
The Raiders junior did keep his chances to place alive with a pair of victories in the consolation bracket. Marshall defeated Robbie Velichko of Section I’s Putnam Valley-Haldane 8-0 before a 3-2 ultimate tie-breaker victory over Sawyer Overhoff of Section VI’s Eden. His tournament ended Saturday with a loss in the consolation quarterfinals.