Section 1 coach Bill Swertfager was hoping for 10-12 wild cards between the two classes. Turns out he got more than he hoped for.
Section 1 will send 13 extra kids to the state tournament. Included in the group are two third-place finishers—Jimmy Duckham and Tony Ferranti.
Pleasantville, which won the Division II team championship but had no sectional champions, gets two representatives. John Jay added to its section-leading total with a fifth wrestler in Tim Gecaj. North Rockland and Nanuet added a fourth.
The notable exclusion was Mark Swertfager. Many expected him to get in as a wild card but he was only named an alternate.
DI
96 – Matt Caputo, North Rock
103 – Asher Kramer, Suffern (pictured)
103 – Jimmy Duckham, Arlington
112 – Nick Oliveto, Suffern
125 – Justis Flamio, Mahopac
145 – Dan Graff , Arlington
285 – Tim Gecaj, JJCR
Alternates: Mark Swertfager (JJCR) and DJ Lupo (RCK)
DII
96 – Drew Longo, Ardsley
112 – Mike Karr, Pleasantville
119 – John Morato, Nanuet
130 – Mark McCormick, Edgemont
130 – Tony Ferranti, Westlake
160 – Peter Telesnick, Pleasantville
Alternate: David Occhipinti, Croton-Harmon
14 Comments
Tough one to swallow for Mark. This makes the circumstances surrounding his controversial final match that much more painful.
Same for jor rodrigues from pc. He should be able to wrestle next week
Mark lost his match, time to move forward.
How is Joe doing?
Too bad for Mark. The worst part of Mark not getting a wildcard is: All the JJCR fans will start whining and complaining and BOO WHOOING all over again.
Once again the JJCR fan base proves to be the worst around.
Terrible conduct at Sectionals, especially by the “adults”.
No wonder they all love Degl so much.
if i hear one boo directed toward joe slane at the state tournament from any section 1 fans, i’ll knock each and everyone of them out
Section 1 always comes together at states to support each other. it is a nice thing to watch. once everyone is out there and kids/parents/etc realize we are all on 1 team, everyone comes together, sits together, and cheers each other on.
One of the best scenes I’ve seen from a Sec 1 crowd was when Joe Grippi won his semi final match against Ruggs at states last year in the final seconds. The whole section of fans went wild with people dancing in the isles lol.
I wish someone had the video of that match.
cya
Last year was such a great experience because we all wore our section baby blue with pride rather than slinking along, afraid to hear the giggles from others because we had been so down for many years. I don’t care what “team” a kid is from – we are a “section” now and we need to cheer each of our compeititors on. Section I just made it into the middle group for bonus points which helps our wild cards but we are in the bottom of this pack and can just as easily fall back; the better we continue to do, the better our chances for future picks so we need to get behind everyone and make it feel as if our kids have the crowd behind them.
I’ve always been impressed with the group of fans Section XI brings to the states each year. Everywhere you look, you see navy blue. The separation of schools has been left behind and now they are like one big army. I’m hoping with our recent success, we will see more baby blue and everyone can start to walk with their heads held high because although we still have a ways to go, we are on the right track to the top. Forget what school a kid is from and cheer on Section I.
phil, the video of grippi rugerllo is on flowrestling.com only problem is, that you have to click on the video for casey lanave and jamie franco semi finals. the rugirello grippi match is in the background but you can see the gator roll, coach rugirello in a state of shock, and sec 1 fans going absolutely crazy
HEY NOW YOU TELLA UM!!!
Once everyone stops complaining about the refs, the bad calls, who should or should not have made it and each other’s boys….. bring on the “comradery’ everyone states this is the “BEST” part of this sport??? GO SECTION ONE bust um up at states!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Old skool, I’ve watched that piece of the match at least 25 times lol. I wish there was the full match somewhere !@
Hopefully there will be plenty to cheer about for sec 1 this year !
cya
haha phil, coach amuso got at least 5 feet on his vertical jump in the video. i gave wrong video its lanave vs arujua on flo wrestling 1:10 mark is where he hits the roll an awsome 20 sec scene!
The guy doing the Irish Jig in the isle is priceless lol.
On a more somber note, I think Joey must have been drained emotionally went he went out for the finals. I know he faced a very hot wrestler, but I think everyone had already given him the championship
Hopefully Coach can get his first individual state champ this year or next
cya
haha your gay phil