The LoHud Wrestling Blog

UPDATE 8:34: One of the blog readers pointed out that Fox Lane had two state finalists last year, which I skipped over when talking about Ardsley. I fixed the mistake below. Thanks to reader “Spoof” for the correction.

UPDATE 8:04: So that’s it for the LoHud at this state tournament. We had two champs, Gottfried and Lenzi. We had two runners up, four third-placers, and 10 other placers. All in all not a bad showing. Much better than the bad old days of the 90s.

I’m signing off now but I’ll still be around writing my story. If anything noteworthy happens I’ll post it. If not, hope you all enjoyed the updates if you’re on the computer at home. Pick up The Journal News tomorrow to read my story on the finals.

UPDATE 7:57: Lenzi gets hugs from Realbuto, Rodrigues, and John Degl in the front row. Nice to see that support.

UPDATE 7:54: A Lenzi reversal with nine seconds left. It’s the only points and Lenzi is the 135-pound state champ. It’s his second title.

UPDATE 7:52 Lenzi clings to one leg for dear life as the period runs out. Still scoreless.

UPDATE 7:50: No score through one period. Ruggirello wins the coin flip and chooses bottom.

UPDATE 7:45: I’m back, and just in time to watch Lenzi warm up.

UPDATE 7:25: I’m going to go interview a couple of guys. I’ll be back in a bit with Lenzi updates.

UPDATE 7:23: There’s a delay while they hand out medals for the lightweights.

You really have to feel for Flamio. I know a lot of kids would kill for three state final appearances. But it’s got to be painful to get to the brink three times and never taste ultimate glory.

UPDATE 7:19: Flamio gives himself a chance with a takedown with 19 seconds to go but can’t put Arajua to his back. Time runs out and Arajua wins 7-5. Poor Flamio is now a three-time bridesmaid in the state championship.

UPDATE 7:18: One minute left and it’s still 7-3.

UPDATE 7:17: An escape in the second and beginning of the third make it 7-3 Arajua.

UPDATE 7:15: Flamio escapes then dekes Arajua into a takedown to make it 4-3. He is then called for a clasp to make it 5-3.

UPDATE 7:13: Two back points and it’s 4-0 Arajua after one. Flamio starts bottom in the second.

UPDATE 7:12: First takedown goes to Arajua. He has a disquietingly calm look about him. Disquieting if you’re Flamio that is.

UPDATE 7:09: A takedown with seven seconds left! Gottfried goes up 2-1. He peeks at the clock and hangs on. He is the 119-pound sectional champion for Division II. Section 1’s first champion.

Flamio is up now.

UPDATE 7:08: Twenty eight seconds left. Coach Craig Zern is shockingly quiet considering the moment.

UPDATE 7:07: No dice. Down 1-0. Now he needs that takedown.

UPDATE 7:06: No score after two. Now Gottfried has to keep Crisafulli down like Crisafulli did to him.

UPDATE 7:03: Oooo, Gottfried was a hair away from escaping but hadn’t quite gotten his second leg out before he turned to jump on Crisafulli. Crisafulli took the opportunity to knock him back and regain full control.

UPDATE 7:01: No action in the first. Gottfried chooses bottom to start the second.

UPDATE 6:59: Here we go. Let’s see if Gottfried can add a state title to his five sectional ones.

UPDATE 6:57: McNeil finishes it off 11-2.

The DII 112 final has a few more seconds left. After that it’s Gottfried-Crisafulli.

UPDATE 6:54: Realbuto was right about the 112 final. McNeil, who’s as close to a cement block as you can get at 112 pounds, is beating Rasheed 8-1.

UPDATE 6:30: Two more back points by Rifanburg, a reversal by Longo, a reversal by Rifanburg, and another reversal by Longo add up to the first finals result and the first finals loss, 10-6. It must be tough waiting all that time after your semifinal this morning—eight hours—coming out for the ceremony with the low lights and the music and all the drama, only to go down in the first finals match.

Next up is Gottfried at 119.

UPDATE 6:28: Rough period. Rifanburg picks up five near fall points to go ahead 6-2.

UPDATE 6:24: First points to Longo. So far he’s prevented two narrow takedowns by sticking his arm out and stopping Rifanburg from getting around his back. On the first of those Rifanburg let down his guard and Longo scooted around for two. He leads 2-1 after one period.

UPDATE 6:20: The National Guard unfurled a giant flag, a kid sang the National Anthem, and the National Guard folded the flag back up again.

Time to wrestle. Let’s rock!

UPDATE 6:13: Is it just me or is “The Final Countdown” an awesome song?

UPDATE 6:03: Just did a little research and discovered that Ardsley is the first Section 1 Division II team with two state finalists ever.

UPDATE 5:58: People are giving speeches. There is no way this thing is getting off the ground before 6:30.

Anyway, I wanted to point out that Flamio and Arujau met in the finals before. In 2008 they squared off in the 112 state championship, where Arujau won 8-2. Let’s hope Flamio has made up those six points.

UPDATE 5:44: Team standings including everything but the finals. Point total is followed by section.

Section 11 has locked up its 8th Division I team title in 12 years. Section 5 is gunning for its 4th Division II team title in a row.

Division I
246.0 11
188.0 8
128.5 6
127.5 5
121.0 1
111.5 C
110.5 2
108.0 9
87.5 4
72.0 3
21.0 P
6.0 10

Division II
264.5 5
247.0 4
219.0 3
154.0 6
131.5 2
106.5 1
68.5 7
67.0 10
25.0 11
16.0 8
11.0 9
7.5 P

UPDATE 5:40: Talked to Brian Realbuto during the break. Among the things we talked about was the 112 DI final. He predicted that Nigel McNeil, who knocked him down to third place, will stomp all over Malik Rasheed. For reference, McNeil beat Rasheed 9-3 in the Section 11 final.

UPDATE 5:35: OK, we’re back. The stands are filling up again and it’s about 10 minutes until the Parade of Champions.

The LoHud has four wrestlers in the finals. You figure with four chances we’ll get at least one champion, right?

The four pairings are as follows:

Division I
125 – No. 2 Justis Flamio vs No. 1 Nick Arujau (Section 8)
135 – No. 1 Andrew Lenzi vs No. 2 Cody Ruggirello (Section 9)

Division II
96 – No. 8 Drew Longo vs No. 3 Tristan Rifanburg (Section 4)
119 – No. 2 Penn Gottfried vs No. 1 Kyle Crisafulli (Section 3)

As you can see it’s all 1s and 2s except for 96 pounds in DI. Tough sledding for some of the locals.

Rifanburg is a seventh-grader.

Lenzi beat Ruggirello 6-5 in the finals of Eastern States.

UPDATE 3:19: There are a couple matches left and then security is chucking everybody out of the arena. The cleaning crew is going to sweep everything and rearrange the media table on the floor. Fans have to pay to get back in. Lucky I have a press pass. Still, they’re making reporters leave. This blog will be out of commission until about 5:30-6 when the Parade of Champions commences. Then I’ll kick it back up again with updates on the championship matches.

UPDATE 3:18: Gecaj wins 2-1 and takes 5th place.

UPDATE 3:15: Folks, I screwed up. I mistakenly wrote that Gecaj won his consolation semifinal 2-1. He actually lost 2-1. He is wrestling the 5/6 match now. Sorry if I got John Jay hopes up. When you’re watching and typing at the same time….yada yada. Sorry for the error.

UPDATE 3:12: Wang scores a takedown quickly to win 3-1. He gets third place. Much better than last year when he didn’t win a match at states.

Castro is down 5-0.

Gecaj leads 1-0 in the second.

UPDATE 3:11: A third overtime match for Wang. The score is 1-1.

Castro is in the second round of his 5/6 without a score.

UPDATE 3:08: The third period is beginning and Wang is down 1-0.

UPDATE 3:04: Tompkins falls 9-4 and places fourth.

Wang is in the second period against Zach Zupan with no score.

UPDATE 3:00: Genovesi goes out on a good note and wins 6-2 to finish 5th.

Tompkins is getting beat 9-3 with 0:49 to go.

UPDATE 2:57: Genovesi is up 6-2 now in the third.

Tompkins trails 7-1.

UPDATE 2:53: Tompkins trails 4-1 at the end of his 3/4 match.

Genovesi is up 2-0 through one period of his 5/6 match at 160.

UPDATE 2:49: Osleeb matched his finish from last year, BTW.

UPDATE 2:46: Osleeb is a 4-1 winner and gets 5th.

Stauber drops a 5-3 decision and gets 6th.

UPDATE: S-Rod grabs another bronze for Section 1 with an 8-3 win.

Stauber trails 2-1 after two periods.

No one has scored yet in Osleeb’s match.

UPDATE 2:40: Third place for Watterson, who wins 13-6.

S-Rod up 8-3 in the last minute.

Osleeb scoreless midway through his 5/6 match in DII.

UPDATE 2:37: S-Rod leads Ryan Gerondel 5-1 in the second.

Watterson up 13-6 late.

UPDATE 2:34: Realbuto is victorious 3-1 and places third. Not what he wanted coming into the day considering his championship last year but a great finish for anyone else.

Watterson looks to follow him in a minute. He’s up 11-5 with 1:40 to go.

UPDATE 2:32: Blood time early in the third at 112. Realbuto just got a takedown and leads 3-1.

Watterson is beating Section 8’s Luke Alber 11-3 and not even three minutes are gone.

UPDATE 2:27: Kramer loses 6-0 and takes 4th.

Realbuto is up 1-0 in the second.

Watterson just started.

UPDATE 2:26: Kyreakedes loses 4-3 and takes 6th.

Aslanian wins 9-7 and takes 5th.

Parise beats Caputo 7-1, verifying his sectional final win, and takes fifth. Caputo is 6th.

UPDATE 2:24: Six Section 1 guys are wrestling right now.

UPDATE 2:20: Parise and Caputo are scoreless in their 5/6 match, a rematch of the sectional final.

Kyreakedes is tied 2-2 in the third period of his 5/6 match.

Aslanian is down 4-0 in his 5/6 match.

Kramer is down 3-0 in his 3/4 match.

UPDATE 2:19: Gecaj wins 2-1.

Here is the complete chart of what everybody is wrestling for in their last match.

Division I
96 – Parise 5/6; Caputo 5/6
103 – Kramer 3/4
112 – Realbuto 3/4
119 – Watterson 3/4
125 – Flamio 1/2; Rodrigues 3/4
130 – Stauber 5/6
135 – Lenzi 1/2
145 – Tomkins 3/4
160 – Genovesi 5/6
285 – Gecaj 3/4

Division 2
96 – Longo 1/2; Aslanian 5/6
103 – Kyreakedes 5/6
119 – Gottfried 1/2
125 – Osleeb 5/6
160 – Wang 3/4
215 – Castro 5/6

UPDATE 2:18: Penalty point against Gecaj. It’s now 2-1 with 30 seconds left.

UPDATE 2:15: Gecaj ahead 2-0 to start the third. He’s on bottom.

The old blog post was taking too long to save so I think creating this one might help. Use this from here on out.