SOUTH DAYTON - Fredonia dominated the competition at the 17th Annual Pine Valley Wrestling Tournament Saturday, collecting 56 wins - 39 by pins and three by technical falls.
"We had a very dominant performance," Fredonia head coach Alex Conti said. "The team took first and we took seven first-place finishes, two seconds and a third."
Pat McCarthy (5-0, five pins) took first at 113-pounds while Dakota Gardner (126, 5-0, four pins), Tyler Cassidy (132, 5-0, four pins), Jude Gardner (5-0, four pins), Zach Buckley (170, 5-0, five pins), Nick Nocek (195, 5-0, three pins) and Chris Saden (220, 5-0, four pins) all took home tournament titles.
"Is it what I wanted to get out of the tournament?" Conti asked rhetorically. "I would have hoped there were some closer matches for the guys. I like the fact that they're out there taking care of business, but they need the grind of close matches so they can learn how to win those too. Hopefully it doesn't catch up to us down the road."
McCarthy (24-1) beat Franklinville's Devin Wesolek to earn his title, Dakota Gardner (25-0) beat Franklinville's Nicholas Winter to win at 126, Tyler Cassidy (23-3) beat Franklinville's Brandon Winter at 132, Jude Gardner (26-0) won over Nick Scheer of East Aurora at 145, Zach Buckley (23-0) pinned Fairview's Shawn Nerthling at 170, Nick Nocek beat Ripley-Chautauqua Lake-Westfield's Alex Swan at 195 and Saden won his title at 220 over Wilson's Brian Kerwin.
"I expect them to be stepping up and performing the way they're performing," Conti said of his seniors. "I hope it continues. They're working hard, but only time will tell how everything comes out. We're down to the last five weeks of the regular season, then we get into the Sectional run and hopefully our momentum carries us over."
Also for the Hillbillies, Julius Woma, after losing his first match, won his next four to take second to Franklinville's Pat Defoe at 138, finishing the tournament 4-1, with three pins. Sean Sluberski finished second as well, losing out to Cattaraugus-Little Valley-Pine Valley's Nick Sandy at 152. Sluberski (19-6) finished the round-robin tournament 3-1, losing in the finals, 1-0. Jovany Ruiz took third for the Hillbillies, wrestling at 106, losing out to Falconer's Jacob Peru and Dylan Ingrao, who finished first and second, respectively.
For Cattaraugus-Little Valley-Pine Valley, Alex Stalker and Chris Dolling finished third and fourth, respectively, at 170, Dylan Rhinehart was third at 138, Billy Fleming was third at 152, Logan Martin was third at 126 and Alex Kelly was second at 160.
Ripley-Chautauqua Lake-Westfield was led by the performances of Swan (195), and D.J. Hamrick, who took second at 285.
Fredonia won the tournament with 329 points and were followed by Falconer (193), Franklinville (163), Cattaraugus-Little Valley-Pine Valley 140.5, Fairview, Pa. 109.5, East Aurora 97, Ripley-Chautauqua Lake-Westfield 83, Wilson 76, Allegany-Limestone 73.5, Holland 60.5 and Springville (53.5).
