N-W wrestling set for states

Despite cancellation, Falcons granted bid for NYS match

By David Yarger

Tribune Editor

With Mother Nature dumping a couple feet of snow and bitter temperatures on Western New York, the storm threw a wrench into the Niagara-Wheatfield Falcons wrestling season.

Weather canceled the Section VI Tournament on Saturday, taking a chance away from the Falcons to possibly compete in the state tournament coming this weekend.

The N-W wrestling Twitter account tweeted, as read, last Friday, “Unfortunately, the Sec 6 Dual tournament is canceled. Since we are not the #1 seed & the section did not hold a tournament, we cannot wild card.

“Unfortunate, as we were looking to wrestle top teams in the area & if we came out on top tomorrow, in the state!...

“This is quite unfortunate as our wrestlers will now miss out on at least 3, but a possible 5-7 great matches!

“Nothing we can do except move forward and get ready for the #RoadtoAlbany.”

Mother Nature couldn’t keep the Falcons away from states, though, as the team won an appeal to wrestle as an at-large entry in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Dual Meet Wrestling Championships.

As of Jan. 10, the Falcons were ranked the No. 1 team in Section VI (No. 15 in New York) according to the New York State Sportswriters Association. Despite the ranking, the team was not the No. 1 seeded group for the Section VI duals, which caused the appeal and later at-large entry.

According the team’s Twitter account, the Falcons are the No. 2 seed in Division 1 for the meet, which takes place Saturday at SRC Arena in Syracuse. A full schedule for Saturday’s event can be found at https://twitter.com/NW_Wrestling1/status/1087092893494509569.

Prior to states, the Falcons held their last Niagara Frontier League match versus Kenmore. The evening was also senior night, which honored Noah Bennett, Kendra Cheers, Jake DeWolf, Kevin Halford, Kyle Jungier, Sam Pietrzykowski, Josh Thibeault and Warren McDougald.