After two years of waiting, the top wrestling teams in Western New York will finally have a chance to compete for a spot in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championships alongside individual grapplers after the Section VI Dual Team Championships are held starting at 10 a.m. this Saturday at Lancaster Field House.

After the change was announced in 2016, 2018 will mark the first year that New York holds a state dual meet championship — which will be held on Jan. 27 at Syracuse’s SRC Arena — that allows team competition in the style of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

In seasons past, wrestling programs have been forced to abandon their team competitions when it comes to the postseason as do teams in golf and tennis, but now dual competition is on the menu all the way to a state title.

Both the winners of the Division I and II Section VI duals will make the trip to Syracuse.

“I’m excited about it,” Randolph coach Todd Conley said. “It’s another opportunity for your wrestlers and your team to represent our school. It gives us a chance to wrestle some additional matches on the season here before year’s end and qualifying tournaments.”

The Cardinals are currently the No. 8 ranked team in Division II and face a difficult draw against undefeated No. 1 Olean, while Falconer/Cassadaga Valley has a No. 4 seed and will look to advance past No. 5 Newfane.

“We found out two years ago that this was happening, and my initial thought was that it was time and that this was something that New York wrestling had needed for a while,” Falconer/Cassadaga Valley coach Drew Wilcox said. “I think it’s easier to motivate (now), you always have a large portion of your lineup that doesn’t have a shot to make it to the state level individually, so now those kids have something to shoot for on a team level.”

New York state’s decision to add team championship meets was by no means made lightly, as the additional duals put an increased strain on grapplers and coaches alike during a hectic part of an already busy season.

Workload aside, the addition does bring an added element of excitement to a wrestling community that has seen participation numbers fall back in recent years.

“I’m enjoying it because I have a mix (of kids) and its interesting to see the reactions that you get,” Conley said. “The seniors who have been wrestling for a while, they are excited to have the opportunity to do this as seniors and say they participated in this. There are seventh- and eighth-graders that I brought onto the team and they are wide-eyed and kind of in awe of the fact that they are going to be able to participate in this.”

With the new postseason looming, both the Cardinals and Golden Cougars will look to stay focused on their respective tasks at hand today as Randolph looks to maintain a foothold at the top of the rankings in CCAA Division II action with a league match against Franklinville, while Falconer/Cassadaga Valley looks to remain undefeated in Division I at home against Chautauqua Lake.

“It’s going to have a huge impact on our divisional title. They have lost one league match, we haven’t lost any,” Conley said of his match. “Keeping the kids mentally focused, it was exciting to tell them that we had been selected in this tournament, but at the same time this match and our divisional expectations are on the line (Wednesday) and that comes first.”

Following Olean as the No. 2 seed is Pioneer while Iroquois is No. 3. Akron/Alden is No. 6 and Albion is No. 7.

“We start with Newfane, they are a tough team,” Wilcox said. “So it’s a tough draw first thing in the morning, but hopefully our guys will be ready for it. If we win that one, we would take on the winner of Olean and Randolph.”

While Falconer/Cassadaga Valley will be looking to avenge last year’s narrow 33-32 tiebreaker loss to Pioneer, the Cardinals will aim to wrestle as hard as possible and enjoy the new experience.

“I’ve always told my wrestlers to do your best and put forth the best effort you can and let the chips fall where they may, we don’t ever want to leave a contest and say that we could have done better,” Conley said. “We are the underdog and we know that, Olean is 18-0, we’ve wrestled them once and they beat us but we are up for the challenge.”