Matt had plenty of extra thoughts on the small-schools championships. This is what he had to say:
“Out of the 15 small-school champions, only three of them were non-No. 1 seeds. The two No. 2 seeds that won title were Ardsley’s Drew Longo in the 96 and Nanuet’s Greg Caneparo. Nanuet’s Stephen Ramundo was the only third seed to win.
96- The Longo upset of John Aslanian isn’t too surprising. Longo also broke
the school-record for wins as an eighth-grader with 29 now, a mark set of
Penn Gottfried’s 27. To be campared with his older brother is expected…but
to be aligned with Gottfried is even something else.
“I am trying to live up to my team, Penn and Danny (Manley), they were
really good when they were in eighth grade. Derrick (his brother) started
out with like nothing be and over these years he’s just gotten so better,
that’s what makes him great. I want to live up to Ardsley.”
103- Nanuet’s Anthony Calvano easily won his semifinal and got into a wild
shootout with Michael Kar of Pleasantville. Big day for Nanuet to have two
champions.
112- The lead to my story is Gottfried and his fourth Section 1 title. He is
in rarified air. What makes this so interesting is that he still hasn’t
broken through at states and that he is only a junior. There’s a funny quote
in my story about how he’s going to a Buffet to celebrate…because his
words, “We have a fat kid on our team, Chris Galleta at 285 and he always
goes. He says that he has to cut weight and we don’t. So I am going, we got
a week…”
I figured calling someone fat, albeit it in jest, shouldn’t be in the paper.
But that’s why you read the blogs..for good little nuggets like this.
Btw-I’ll take anyone on at the buffet line when their is seafood involved.
119- North Salem Ryan Osleeb’s aggressiveness paid off…a 16-4 dec over
John Morato in the final. Teddy Kyreakedes reportedly was cursing after his
consolation final loss, so Section 1 officals decided to not award him
fourth place…is was a bit awkward to see an open spot on the podium when
Olympic Gold Medalist, Henry Cejudo was passing out awards.
Cejudo was at the event to sell his T-shirts “The American Dream” which are kind of like a wrestlers version of an Ed Hardy designer shirt.
http://www.teamcejudo.com/shirts.html
125- Nanuet’s Greg Caneparo won a close 4-3 decision over Mark McCormick in
his final. Our friend Tony Pinciaro (a Nanuet resident) chimed in to tell me
this would be a good match. And as usual he was right. A real gritty,
defensive battle, where any small thing could have been the difference.
“It was a great match. Defensive wrestler vs. Defensive wrestler. We are
both really strong and it evened out.” he said.
130- Genta Murayama after his win, which gave him his third Section 1 title, he was more focused on moving onto states…
135- It was a banner day for Ardsley, including Danny Manley winning the 135…After Frank Oleszko needed a tight 4-3 decision to get past Huff, Manley was clearly primed for the win. Side note, I spoke to the Pleasantville coach, Kevin Bernaducci’s father. He was pleased that Kevin was able to bounce back from Huff upset in the Quarters and take third place…He was able to use that loss as motivation.
140- Peter Talesnik strolled through the bracket but his 4-2 win in the final over Dan O’Gorman was hard fought.
145- Gutsy effort by Longo here, I know he’s had his fair share of injuries but he’s been able to tough it out. Dominated Cisco Reyes.
152-With a little more time to think about it, Will Carter was a okay choice for MOW….Usually you look for pure dominance, but the quality of his win over Shaq Charles in the semi could have outweighted taking him to three periods.
160- Wang could have easily thrown his name in the MOW mix….quick to two pins in the Qtrs and semid and a decisive 10-2 win in the final.
171- You gotta feel for Kleckner Charles. He’s got a bad shoulder one that he originally injured in beginning of the season against Jarron Saunders. So Saunders knew this. He took advantage of it and powered on to an early lead. But Charles, yelling in pain, fought back, to down 8-7 in the mid second and had Saunders down for the gamewinning pin, but the refs felt it didn’t hold. Saunders got his reprieve and used the right shoulder against Charles. I just reallt would like to have seen them go at it without any prior injuries. That would have been interesting. Saunders is good, but until that match he wasn’t tested.
189- Many have counted him out. Most though he wouldn’t survive a bout with Jeff Miller, but he did. Stephen Ramundo might not go far at states with a shoulder ailing with three major problems, but he’ll enjoy the experience the most. It wasn’t the Flamio 4OT thriller, but Ramundo lasting until one OT and getting the jump Miller must have felt like it. Maybe it’s too easy to root someone like Ramundo…but then so what.
215- The Putnam Valley crowd was going crazy, counting down the final seconds of Kris Castro’s win in the final. That’s what the small-school tournament offers, a chance for a community like Putnam Valley or Pleasantville or Ardsley…to excel and get excited for their kids. He’s only a junior, lost a mess load of weight to get into the 215, so he deserves every bit of this.
285- There should be some prior notice given to the restaurant before Penn Gottfried and Chris Galletta arrive for a feast….Well deserved…Galletta had a clean run to the finals and asserted his dominace early in the final.
20 Comments
Jake has been good, but I can’t say the same for Matt in this entry. I’m not one to overly-criticize others’ writing, but if someone is writing for a newspaper he or she should probably have some basic grasp of English grammar.
when do we find out who gets the wild card spots….I would imagine that they would decide soon cuz states practices are this week.
Yea I feel for Kleckner Charles, kids got heart
To All our Pleasantvlle Boys,
Each and everyone of you boys did a amazing job making us the parents very proud. You are all winners to us and I am speaking for everyone of us who support all of you each season. Thanks for all the hard work and again for making us proud.
Love to all of you,
Mrs. D
I just want to say how appalled how only a hand full of people stood up to clap for Henry. He is an American hero and all you disrespectful lazy ass you should be ashamed of your selfs. This was first time in me 15 years in section one I was embraced to be apart of it.
One
JP come on give us a break ….Matt did a nice job … he is covering a sport that he usually does not do ….Damn stop hating….. These writers have a lot of stress going on at the Journal.. lets not add to it just enjoy the stories… the glass is half empty right>>>> .. Hay Matt & Jake terrific job on small & Big Schools.. And The food at Putnam Valley was the best… Latin food , Italian . 6ft hero . wings on and on Good job Put Valley Parents
Love the blog, but you misspelled Mark McCormack’s name. The name is spelled with an “a,” not with an “i.” Thanks
One thing that bothers me is the fact that no distinction is made between being a small school section champ and a large school champ. We need to recognize that one does not equal the other. I hate to see 3xers and 4xers in D2 being compared to D1. To put it in perspective, Penn lost to the 5th place finisher in large school at 112. To call him “rarified air” is a joke.
Joe somebody
Your comment can swing either way. There have been,and are,D2 champs,that if in D1 would have won. I think the comparison has to be individualized. Kyle Dake/Ian Paddock are extreme examples. Berkowitz from Nanuet may be a more recent section I example. Osleeb and perhaps Will Carter may be this years example of D2 that COULD have won either division. Dont let it “bother” you. At the end of the day its not that important. At the end of the day it all shakes out.
Joe Somebody
You forgot to mention the Penn Gottfried beat this years D1 112 runner up,Peter Grippi. Mr Grippi had eliminated Oliveto from suffern in the semis. Seems to me that Penn is at the very least in the mix. Small school guys can only get big school respect by beating them. Penn has done this. Nevertheless, the road to becoming a section I small school champ is most often easier. Becoming a small school state placer/winner is often just as difficult as DI.
I will agree that a state champ is a state champ no matter d1 or d2 but as tuff as osleeb is he not beating flameo
Joe somebody…. It’s High School sports ….not the pro’s … are you that worried about the recognition. I have been to tornaments and duels where small schools have won ….granted usually some of the bigger schools are better and they should be with more resources and bigger student body to choose from…but is is not always the case….So last i checked it is noted small and big schools results(just like the blogs here). I guess you want to jump around and put it out there how good little johnny is ..how much better go ahead enjoy. I always tell my kids , its not what your parents and relatives say … it’s what your competitors think and say about you and how you feel about yourself.
In the big picture there is no losers in this sport. Hey Joe let it go dude. Let the kids enjoy their years in High school.
Sports… on any given day you never know …this is what attracts so many of us to the games…
BOOCH
I believe Osleeb has beat him(?) I also saw the Rye match…he did beat him.Except for poor refing,Osleeb should have had backs. Furthermore,Im going to bet you would not have expected Stauber to be so close in the finals…he was. I think Osleeb beat Stauber convincingly at the Beacon(?).
Osleeb out wrestled him in the match imho….
cya
“imho”...???
The small school tourney was a joke when it started in 2004, and it’s more of a joke now. On top of everything else, it robs elite small school wrestlers of the glory they deserve and robs them of the ultimate goal (for all but the most elite wrestlers), to be a sectional champion. As good as they are, they’ll always be viewed with an asterisk, which isn’t right.
Berkowitz, Murray, Esteves, Logue, Martinez, Murayama, some of the Nanuet kids from a few years back, all have been robbed of the chance at glory they deserved by achieving their career highs while the entire section was watching the large school final on the other mat. If any good comes out of the spending cutbacks next year, it will be if we truly have a unified sectional tournament again (not to mention a state tourney; I’d love to have seen what Ian Paddock could do against the d1 guys, although I have a pretty good idea).
While this point of view is understandable,it also is myopic. Those D2 wrestlers who seek to prove their abilities in comparison to any others can easily do so. Their “chance at glory” comes throughout the year(or after season) when they can compete with their D1 counterparts. Furthermore the state tournament offers another oppurtunity. While no system is perfect,reducing the number of divisions is ultimately bad for this realitively abscure sport. Multiple divisions allow for increase participation. The result of which is a healthier fan base and future in college wrestling.
Not totally accurate do you be leave or do u know that osleeb has beat flamio. If you would like to argue referees calls. How about henry’s takedown and than justis’s reveal that was never rewarded at the end of the fri st period. We would not have to wonder about who would win if there was no d1 d2 non sents. Unify the section and top to go to states with 8 wild cards same amount of kids not what if.
One
no no no, wrestling is the one sport where divisions don’t need to play a role, except for one aspect, dual meets…..
have large school leagues, and small school leagues, let them have their own league champs for duals, maybe have some small school only tournaments so they can pick up some team titles, maybe give a team championship to highest placing small school at the old-school unified SECTION CHAMPIONSHIPS, maybe im just stubborn but i wont recognize the small school tournament as section championships, to me its just the Div II section 1 tournament, separate states is no different…..
i can get behind the wild card even though it came after my time, but if small schools were around in my day it might have helped, not sure where my nemesis would have feel his school is on the border
Before the split, the conference II and III tourneys effectively provided for separate tourneys. Speaking from te viewpoint of someone whose career spanned the split, I can say assuredly that at least for me, I felt robbed after it happened (and trust me when I say that I was someone who stood to benefit from it, as I wasn’t an elite wrestler). Upstate, they used to have class tourneys for divisionals; we could do the same here and make it proportional to the numbers of wrestlers (just an idea).
Take the 13 champs plus three wild cards; the state tournament should be for the most elite wrestlers.