Southwestern’s Carmine Calimeri puts Medina’s Dominick Callara in a headlock during Section VI Division II state qualifier at the Jamestown Community College Athletic Complex. Photos by Michelle Gilbert | Charming Artistry

A year ago, Southwestern had six wrestlers on its roster.

Now, the Trojans are taking four to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championships.

Carmine Calimeri, Tavio Hoose and Donate Hoose all won their weight classes while Kenji Walters battled back to take second place in his at the Section VI Division II state qualifier held Saturday at Jamestown Community College’s Physical Education Complex.

“For us to send four guys is really unbelievable,” Southwestern head coach John Vogan said. “It was a great tournament for our guys, an awesome tournament.”

Those four will join Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama’s Jordan Joslyn and Trent Burchanowski, Randolph’s Luke Pagett and Ryan Carpenter, and Maple Grove’s Luke Tomlinson at the state tournament Friday, Feb. 25 and Saturday, Feb. 26 at MVP Arena in Albany.

“I’ve seen some amazing athletes not make it,” Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama head coach Ken Rowe said. “To be taking one is awesome, much less two, so I’m happy. I’m thrilled.”

Calimeri, an eighth-grader, kicked off the championship round with a pin 4:20 into his 102-pound final against Medina’s Dominick Callara. Calimeri actually fell behind 6-2 after the first period and 8-6 after the second period before taking down Callara in the third period.

“Carmine is a pinner,” Vogan said. “Any point in time, any score, he can get six like that.”

Tomlinson, a senior, became the next local champion when he won the 145-pound crown 4-2 over Newfane’s Adam Huntington. Tomlinson earned an early takedown in the first period and then rode out the entire second period on top of Huntington.

“I feel confident on top. I feel like I can do what I need to do to stay in control,” Tomlinson said. “I don’t love being on top, but you have to do it.”

Tomlinson then earned a 2-point reversal about 25 seconds into the third period before Huntington earned a reversal with 40 seconds remaining.

“He pretty much controlled the match,” Maple Grove head coach Mark Hetrick said. “You can wrestle somebody 4-2 and dominate a match.”

Tavio Hoose, an eighth-grader, beat a familiar opponent in Pagett 7-2 for the 172-pound title. Hoose earned a 2-point takedown just before the end of the first period and led 2-1 after two periods before an escape and a pair of takedowns in the third period.

“He’s so tough on his feet and so tough defensively,” Vogan said. “He’s really started to figure out how to be aggressive and how to score in the last month. … Tavio’s been on fire, I just hope he keeps it up at states.”

Tavio’s older brother Dontae, a senior, became the fourth local champion when he beat Iroquois’ Trevor Barry 2-0 at 215 pounds. Hoose picked up a takedown 46 seconds into the first period and made it stand up as the winning points.

“My goal is to win a state title this year. I’ve had my eyes on it for the past two years ever since I went in 10th grade and placed sixth,” Dontae said. “I’m ready to put on a show at the state tournament.”

Burchanowski, a junior, advanced at 132 pounds after getting pinned by Newfane’s Aidan Gillings. Burchanowski tried to be aggressive early in the first period, but Gillings countered and took him to the mat just 1:02 into the bout.

“Gillings has made an absolute living of just funk and sticking people,” Rowe said. “It doesn’t surprise me that he catches them, but I know Trent has been in awesome position several times with him.”

The other four state qualifiers had a little extra work to do. The section decided to wrestle for a “true second place” to determine qualifiers, meaning if the loser of a championship match hadn’t wrestled the winner of a third-place match earlier in the tournament, they would wrestle to determine second place.

Joslyn, a sophomore, suffered his first loss of the season when he was defeated by Pioneer’s Daniel Kirsch — later named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler — 4-3 in the 118-pound final. Joslyn then battled back to beat Lewiston-Porter’s Caden Barrientos 6-1 in overtime.

“The Kirsch kid wrestled an absolutely outstanding match and did everything he needed to do,” Rowe said. “I still don’t think Jordan wrestled his best in that ‘true second’ match, but he did what he had to.”

Pagett, a senior, had to quickly gather himself after losing to Tavio Hoose. Against Fredonia/Silver Creek/Forestville/Brocton’s Dawson Russo in the second-place match, Pagett looked to have a comfortable 5-3 lead with timing running out, but Russo picked up a 2-point reversal with just two seconds remaining to force overtime. Pagett quickly found his form and picked up a 2-point takedown 29 seconds into the extra period for the victory.

“That’s definitely the most I’ve been tested throughout my wrestling career and honestly, probably football, too,” Pagett said. “It’s hard to take a loss like that in the finals and then go back and wrestle someone that’s been on a winning streak. We got the job done. It wasn’t too pretty, but we’re going to states.”

Carpenter, a junior, lost to Newfane’s Charles LaRose in the 285-pound final, but quickly took care of Lackawanna’s Abdulrhman Adoult Alla with a 35-second pin in their second-place bout.

“Ryan fed off Luke. Ryan kind of got into a groove wrestling back today,” Randolph head coach Todd Conley said. “They both refused to give up and fought back really hard. I’m super proud of their efforts.”

Place Winners

102: 1. Carmine Calimeri (So); 2. Dominick Callara (Me); 3. Brayden Neglia (N); 4. Jaron Barrientos (L-P); 5. Reece Senske (Me); 6. Jakob Lucinski (N)

110: 1. Bryce DellaPenta (E); 2. Kenji Walters (So); 3. Aaron Raczka (Ch); 4. Wyatt Opferbeck (P); 5. Karsen Lundgren (F/CV); 6. Victor Cusatis (W)

118: 1. Daniel Kirsch (P); 2. Jordan Joslyn (CL/W/P); 3. Caden Barrientos (L-P); 4. Nolan Skowronski (EA/H); 5. Caden Inkley (R); 6. Lucas Hoffman (Fr/SC/B/Fo)

126: 1. Johnny Vicario (E); 2. Gavin Ciarfella (Me); 3. Ayden Buttery (N); 4. Xander Kirsch (P); 5. Miguel Salas (N); 6. Blake Hageman (LS)

132: 1. Aidan Gillings (N); 2. Trent Burchanowski (CL/W/P); 3. Michael Schiffhauer (I); 4. Karsen DePasquale (F/CV); 5. Brady Wilkinson (I); 6. Jack Bourgeois (CL/W/P)

138: 1. Ryan Sweeney (I); 2. Shane Walczyk (E); 3. Amilcar Morales (A); 4. Carson Fairbank (CL/W/P); 5. Austin Chase (F/CV); 6. Martin Ohlsson (CL/W/P)

145: 1. Luke Tomlinson (MG); 2. Adam Huntington (N); 3. Ellwood Hafner (A); 4. Quinn Brown (R-H); 5. Ethan Pfeiffer (I); 6. Jacob Clark (F/CV)

152: 1. Dakota Mascho (Po); 2. Brady Heckathorn (Pi); 3. John Watson (CL/W/P); 4. Evan Leonard (Fra); 5. Alex Hafner (A); 6. Dalton Caldwell (F/CV)

160: 1. Nick Brown (Sp); 2. Donald Bennett (Pi); 3. Neves Hoose (So); 4. Jayden Malecki (CL/W/P); 5. George McNaughtan (Fr/SC/B/Fo); 6. Bryant Morrison (F/CV)

172: 1. Tavio Hoose (So); 2. Luke Pagett (R); 3. Dawson Russo (Fr/SC/B/Fo); 4. Ben Wortkoetter (W); 5. Kyle Keefe (F/CV); 6. Robert Rohde (Ma)

189: 1. Simon Lingle (N); 2. Zack Hill (R-H); 3. Ricky Hess (I); 4. Dayne Aina (A); 5. Matt Trim (MG); 6. Breckyn Schultz (W)

215: 1. Dontae Hoose (So); 2. Trevor Barry (I); 3. Xavior Fitzgibbon (W); 4. Ison Shirley (CL/W/P); 5. Hayden Emley (P); 6. Dan Moore (R-H)

285: 1. Charles LaRose (N); 2. Ryan Carpenter (R); 3. Abdulrhman Adoult Alla (L); 4. Gavin Segovia (CL/W/P); 5. David Stein (F/CV); 6. Hamza Merrick (W)