His senior season has been a mission to get back to that point and on Friday afternoon at the MVP Arena he earned his spot back in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association 110-pound Division 2 semifinals on Saturday morning.

“Adrian has wrestled great this year,” Southwestern head coach John Vogan stated. “We’ve taken him and all these guys to elite competition and we’ve wrestled the toughest schedule that we could find for everyone. They have gone to the Windsor Christmas Tournament, Eastern States, the Fred Bell Tournament all to get them ready for this tournament. We haven’t even had an individual champion this year because of the schedule that we wrestled. My expectation is for him to be there and wrestle well. He’s going to have a great opportunity to get back to the finals.”

After breezing to a victory in the prequarterfinals with a 19-5 major decision against Coda Clifford of Canton-X, it was not a breeze punching his ticket into the semifinals against 6-seed Thomas Matias of Shoreham Wading River-XI. After scoring a takedown and a near fall in the first period, Torres went up 7-0, but a late reversal could have easily turned into a pin and the clock ended the period before Matias could earn a near fall.

Torres stayed out of danger after the first period and earned his spot in the state semifinals with an 11-3 major decision. The semifinals will be a rematch of the Section VI championship against 2-seed Mason DellaPenta of Eden/North Collins who got the best of Torres two weeks ago with a 1-0 decision.

Southwestern’s Tavio Hoose eyes the scoreboard after another takedown against No. 13 Jackson Peet of Caledonia-Mumford-V in the 190-pound Division 2 prequarterfinals of the NYSPHSAA wrestling championships at MVP Arena in Albany on Friday. Hoose recorded a dominant 19-4 technical fall victory to reach the quarterfinals. P-J photo by Christian Storms

See ALBANY, Page B2

“Him and Mason have wrestled over 10 times in their high school career,” Vogan said. “Mason has gotten the best of him in a couple close matches. That sectional final match could have gone either way.

Anytime they wrestle it could go either way. It will be a great match tomorrow.”

Falconer/Cassadaga Valley junior Dylan Newman will also be in a rematch as he returns to the state semifinals for the second year in a row after holding off No. 14 Peter Filli of Ichabod Crane-II for a 7-3 decision at 126 pounds in Division 2.

“He’s just wrestling great right now,” Falconer/Cassadaga Valley head coach Drew Wilcox said about Newman. “Just being a returning state place-finisher, they’re never easy and it only gets hard from here.”

Falconer/Cassadaga Valley’s Dylan Newman earns a near fall against No. 14 Peter Filli of Ichabod Crane-II in the 126-pound Division 2 quarterfinals at MVP Arena in Albany on Friday. Newman held on for the 7-3 decision and earned a spot in today’s semifinals. P-J photo by Christian Storms

The 11-seeded Newman will be up against No. 2 Brock Frederick of South Jefferson-III, who upended him in the state semifinals last year at 124 pounds with a narrow 2-1 decision.

“He lost 2-1 to this kid last year in the semifinals,” Wilcox said about Saturday’s matchup. “It should be a good match. He wants to be higher on that podium and get into the state finals. He’s got a shot and I think we’ll get the best version of him tomorrow morning.”

If Newman’s performance on Friday is any indication of his current form, Frederick will be getting the very best from the Falconer/Cassadaga Valley junior.

“They have a criteria they seed with and they follow it,” Wilcox added. “He’s better than the 11-seed and he knows it. He proved it and we’ll see how high up on the podium he can get.”

Newman won his first-round match with a 26-second pin over No. 21 Karian Aspinall of Bronx Studio School and then pinned 6-seed Colin Logalbo of Little Falls-III in 1:18 before defeating Filli.

There was another rematch at 190 pounds between Section VI’s Tavio Hoose of Southwestern and Falconer/Cassadaga Valley’s Patrick Braley in the quarterfinals.

The senior Hoose qualified for yet another state semifinal, replicating his dominant 17-5 major decision in the sectional final with another 25-10 technical fall win over Braley in the 190-pound Division 2 quarterfinals.

“He has been a Fargo All-American,” Vogan said about Hoose’s talent. “He placed fourth at Powerade this year, which is one of the top tournaments in the country. He is going to wrestle at Lehigh University, which is a top-tier Division I school. He has just put in the work over the years to make himself that good. There are some other kids in this bracket that are also very good on another elite level, but to get in that conversation where you’re going to Division I in Pennsylvania which is the top state for wrestling. Lehigh is a great school. You have to have a little different wiring and be on a different level than some of these kids.”

The 4-seeded Hoose moves on to wrestle No. 2 Trent True of Holland Patent-III in the semifinals and is the only one in the way of him returning to state final for the first time since his sophomore season when he lost in the 189-pound final to Greyson Meak of Cold Spring Harbor-VIII.

“Won a state championship, made it to the state finals, got upset last year and didn’t get to compete here,” Vogan said about Hoose’s journey with Southwestern and St. Francis. “I think that has been the huge motivating factor for him. He did a lot of soul searching and sometimes home is the best place to be. We haven’t skipped a beat. He’s been great for us, he’s an awesome teammate and he is really wrestling well right now.”

Prior to defeating Braley, Hoose dispatched of No. 13 Jackson Peet of Caledonia-Mumford-V for a 19-4 technical fall in the prequarterfinals.

“He’s done all the things he needs to do to try and get back,” Vogan said. “I have just sensed from him that he is extremely grateful that he has this opportunity and is going to make the most of it.”

The 5-seeded Braley was still impressive on the day despite running into Hoose and heading into Saturday still has a shot to get back on the podium.

Braley secured a pin in the prequarterfinals against No. 21 Benjamin Rivera of Port Jervis-IX in 2:49 and in the consolation bracket he will face Carson Turner of Canisteo-Greenwood-V.

Salamanca sophomore Kasen Hardy was on the wrong side of a pin in his 285-pound quarterfinal against No. 12 Trey Parker of Susquehanna Valley-IV, falling in the third period of a previously tied 1-1 match at 4:26.

The 12-seeded Parker will take on No. 9 Jerod Olrich of Southern Hills-III, who knocked off the bracket’s top-seed Joe Biccum of South Jefferson-III.

Hardy still can make the podium on Saturday and will wrestle in the consolation bracket against Fredy Lemus of Island Trees-VIII.

Southwestern junior Miles Torres was also ousted in his quarterfinal matchup at 118 pounds after being pinned at 1:23 by 2-seed Mason Tanner of Jordan/Elbridge-III, who took third place last year at 108 pounds, defeating Torres then by 13-1 major decision.

“Those two wrestled at Eastern States and it was a 50/50 match,” Vogan said about Torres. “I think he just got caught. Mentally, he’s in a good place right now so I expect Miles to place tomorrow.”

Torres will try to get back to the strong form he showed in his prequarterfinal victory over No. 10 Jonah Stevens of Salem/Cambridge-II with an 8-4 decision. His path to the podium continues on Saturday against Jackson Labarge of North Adirondack-VII in the consolation bracket.

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Despite being eliminated prior to the quarterfinals, three area wrestlers managed to earn spots in the consolation bracket on Saturday.

Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama/Clymer’s Thandon Bensink took the long road to Saturday after dropping a 132-pound prequarterfinal matchup against No. 10 Jason Canedo of Deposit/Hancock-IV in a 9-2 decision.

The previously seventh-seeded Bensink responded with a 5-3 decision over Petrides’ Bradley Munoz. He then knocked off Connor Murphy of Seaford-VIII with a 16-0 technical fall and made a date on Saturday with Mason Butler of Camden-III in the consolation bracket.

Bensink’s teammate, Colton Hamilton, kept the battle going in his states debut and earned a spot in Saturday’s consolation bracket at 215 pounds.

Hamilton first pinned No. 18 Hudson Garbarino of Pawling-I in the third-period at 5:06 in the first round before being eliminated by 2-seed Gianni Velazquez of Geneva-V in a 20-6 major decision.

He responded with a quick pin in 49 seconds against Will Safraniek of the Dalton School-AIS in the consolation bracket and then reached Saturday after getting past Elijah Desir of Eagle Academy with an 8-0 win. The final two wins earned him a match against Mason Eckelman of Lowville-III in the consolation bracket on Saturday.

Randolph senior Kamren Anderson was the first to secure a spot on Saturday through wrestlebacks, getting to form that saw him win in the first-round at 103 pounds against No. 19 Alyn Capen of Peru-VII by a 15-0 technical fall.

His response to a loss at the hands of 3-seed Connor Duryea of Avon/Geneseo-V in 13-6 decision was great as he then grinded out an 8-5 sudden victory over Connor Sleeman of Gouverneur-X for a spot on Saturday. Anderson will return to wrestlebacks against Freddy Smith of Sherburne/Earlville-III in the consolation bracket.

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Southwestern senior Carmine Calimeri’s bid for five state placements came to an end in the wrestlebacks after being upset in the prequarterfinals at 138 pounds by losing a narrow 11-10 decision against No. 12 Jayden Acomb of Ravena/Coeymans/Selkirk-II.

The previously fifth-seeded Calimeri posted a consolation win over Benjamin Lawson of Jordan-Elbridge-III with a pin in 3:30, but he could not make it to Saturday for the first time in his varsity career as he was held off by a 10-9 decision against Garrett Mehlenbacher of Dansville/Wayland-Cohocton-V.

Jamestown junior Aaden Howard dropped both of his matches in his debut at states, falling in the first-round of the 132-pound Division 1 bracket by 11-1 major decision defeat at the hands of No. 12 Chase Allocca of Carmel-I. He was then bounced from the consolation bracket by Colin Matone of Minisink Valley-IX with a pin at 53 seconds.

Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama/Clymer’s Alex Bourgeois suffered the same fate in his states debut after being initially eliminated in the first-round of the 144-pound Division 2 bracket by No. 20 Steven McCann of East Rochester-V with a 10-6 decision. He was then eliminated from the tournament by an 8-2 decision from Sacha Macadam of the Collegiate School.

Gowanda/Pine Valley’s Nathan Warrior managed a first-round victory at 144 pounds, defeating No. 21 Diego Villacis of North Shore-VIII with a pin at 2:26.

That was followed by a prequarterfinal loss to 5-seed Cyler Baer of Gouverneur-X in an 18-3 technical fall and then was eliminated by a 1:43 pin from Teegan Smith of Saranac-VII.