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Kristan wins Section VI Class B title, Fredonia finishes third as a team

Hillbillies impress on the mats

OBSERVER Photo by Aaron Lundmark Fredonia’s Giovani Russo (top) wrestles at the sectional championships in Cheektowaga. Russo advanced to the championship match on Saturday — as did five of his teammates — but ultimately fell in the final.

CHEEKTOWAGA — The Fredonia Hillbillies wrestling program has been having postseason success almost every year for the better part of the last few decades.

On Saturday at the Section VI Class B tournament at Cheektowaga High School, the Hillbillies continued their heralded success. Fredonia finished third as a team with 189 points, only behind Pioneer’s 211 points and Iroquois’ first-place finish of 224 points.

“I think these guys work really hard,” said Fredonia head coach Joe Santilli about Fredonia’s recent postseason success. “We care about these kids and they believe that we care about them. The kids from Silver Creek and Brocton fit in great. We’re a blended family and I love every minute of it.”

Ten Fredonia wrestlers will be moving on to next weekend’s state qualifier tournament at Lake Shore High School — Giovani Russo, Dalton Gardner, Jake Skinner, Jamison Horch, Cole Golembieski, Hunter Larson, Alex Christy, Brandon Wallace, Lucas Hoffman and Ceric Kristan.

“There’s always going to be ebbs and flows during the season,” said Santilli. “Sometimes it’s two steps forward and one step back — but you want to see growth. At a tournament like this, this is where you hope to see that growth come in to fruition, and I think you saw that today.”

OBSERVER Photo by Aaron Lundmark Fredonia’s Hunter Larson (top) wrestles during the Section VI Class B wrestling championships in Cheektowaga on Saturday.

Kristan (170, No. 1 seed), controlled his title match from start to finish, earning the 6-2 decision, winning the lone Section VI Class B title for Fredonia.

“I was real happy with Ceric (Kristan),” said Santilli. “He wrestled with position, he wrestled with purpose — I really love how he’s coming along. He looks like a guy on a mission right now. I’m happy for him.”

Even though only one Fredonia wrestler went home a winner, this tournament was never a one and done deal, as all wrestlers in the top five move on to next week’s tournament.

“This particular tournament is a position tournament — it gets you to move on to the next round,” said Santilli. “It’s not do or die once you get to the finals. Some of these guys they’re trying to see how their positions match up with other wrestlers.”

Russo (132, No. 1 seed) came out of the gates strong, winning his first two matches with ease setting himself up in the semifinals while Gardner (138, No. 2 seed) received a first round bye, then pinned his opening opponent to move into the semifinals as well.

Russo and Gardner didn’t stop there, either. They each won their semifinal matches to advance to the finals in which they both took care of business.

In the championship match at 132, Russo battled back to tie the match with a reversal in the second period, but Iroquois’ Jacob Vergien won the decision, 5-4. Gardner lost on a last second reversal to Tonawanda’s Zack Bradell, 7-4.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Gio (Russo) give up three back points in his life,” said Santilli. “I think (Jacob) Vergien was on top for a whole 14 seconds… it’s a different match otherwise.”

Up and down the weight classes, the Hillbillies continues to make their presence felt in the semifinals.

Golembieski (152, No. 3 seed) came up with a huge 9-7 decision over East Aurora’s No. 2 seed Braden Prusak in his semifinal match. After the match, Golembieski let out a big scream of emotion, signifying how big of a win it was for him.

“Last year at this tournament, I don’t think Cole (Golembieski) won a match,” added Santilli. “Then he comes in here today and takes second place. You can see the growth in these guys.”

Golembieski lost his title match to East Aurora’s Johnny Putney.

In the heavier weights, Christy (195, No. 2 seed) won two matches to get to the finals and Jake Skinner (220, No. 2 seed) took a bye and won his only match to advance to finals, giving the Hillbillies six total wrestlers in the finals. Christy lost his championship match — getting pinned — while Skinner also suffered the same fate.

With the state qualifying tournament next week taking the top five wrestlers from each Class, Fredonia had a couple other wrestlers have good days as well, with Hunter Larson (145, No. 3 seed) and Jamison Horch (220, No. 4 seed) grabbing third place finishes and Lucas Hoffman (106, No. 6 seed) holding on to a fifth place finish. Brandon Wallace (126, No. 3 seed) will also advance to next weekend after tying for fifth place.

Even though this was a great weekend for the Hillbillies, this is just the start of the postseason.

“Our guys that got beat, they got beat by some good wrestlers,” said Santilli. “Those were some of the top wrestlers in the state. It’s good for the sport and it’s good for Section VI.”

Next weekend’s state qualifier is win or go home — and they know that.

“Pressure situations sometimes get the best of you,” said Santilli about the close losses. “Overall we had a good tournament and we’ve seen a lot of growth from last season. Now we have to go get after it next week.”

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