WRESTLING: NITTINGER WINS TITLE — NINE TEAMMATES REACH PODIUM; ATHENS PLACES THIRD AT SOUTHERN TIER MEMORIAL (24 PHOTOS) (2024-01-13)
By TIM BIRNEYValley Sports ReportELMIRA — Unbeaten Athens senior Josh Nittinger captured the 285-pound weight class with a dominating performance Saturday, and nine of his teammates reached the podium to help the Wildcats to a third-place finish Saturday at the Southern Tier Memorial here at the First Arena.
"Overall, a lot of the kids had some positives, I think that’s the biggest thing," said Athens coach Shawn Bradley. "They just have to learn from the negative, and keep getting better. I think everybody had a pretty good tournament."
Tioga won the team title with 260.5 points, while Chambersburg was second with 177.5 points,and Athens tallied 152.5 points. Bellefonte was fourth with 141.5 points, Horseheads was fifth with 125 pounds, and Waverly was 10th with 84.5 points.
Sophomore Cooper Robinson logged a fourth-place finish for Athens, while freshmen Lucas Persun and Brendan Cooke earned fifth-place finishes, and senior Mason Vanderpool, junior Caleb Nason, sophomore Sean Peters, and freshman Connor Davidson earned sixth-place medals.
Freshman Zaine Campbell placed seventh, and sophomore Karson Sipley reached the eighth-place step on the podium.
Sophomore Cayden Moss and senior Kaden Parrish each went 1-1 on the day and finished one win shy of the podium, while freshman Matthew Schneider (108 pounds), sophomore Connor Garrison (124), senior Josh Courtney (131), and junior Keegan Congdon (170) each lost their only bout of the day in the consolation bracket.
The Wildcats had a rough start to Day 2 at the Memorial, with Nittinger logging the only win of seven Wildcat wrestlers to reach the quarterfinals. They also had four grapplers lose their first match of the day in the consolation bracket.
"The quarterfinals were really rough," said Bradley. "We were in some matches, but … growing pains.
"You see teams like Tioga, that’s where we want to get to — that kind of level," noted Bradley. "We’re obviously not there yet. The kids need to keep working, scoring points, and stop sitting on their laurels.
"Our kids did wrestle tough, though We had a bunch of kids place, and had two kids place in one weight," added Bradley. "The kids that wrestled did well. I’m proud of them, we just have to keep building."
NIttinger, who registered a pair of first-period falls Friday, opened his day with a pin of Milton’s Nate Lopez in 2:00, then decked Waverly sophomore Troy Beeman in 44 seconds in the semifinals.
In the championship match, Nittinger thwarted the throws of top-seeded Qymani Viera-Powell en route to a 10-2 major decision. Viera-Powell reached the finals with four first-period falls.
"(Viera-Powell) is talented. I saw him pin everybody in the first period this weekend, and it’s been that way all season," said Bradley. "Josh had a very good weekend."
Bradley said Nittinger, who is now 17-0, still has some things to work on.
"The last few years, (Josh) has gotten into positions where it’s win or lose, and we’ve lost a bunch of them, just in positions, and we’ve ended up giving matches away," said Bradley.
"Unfortunately, (Josh) was in some of those positions in that match, but he won them.
"The biggest thing is staying out of those positions … (Josh) is a senior, he has to learn to stay out of those if he’s going to do what he can do this year," Bradley added. "Josh can do well if he continues to listen, work hard, and put together good matches."
At 145 pounds, Robinson dropped an 8-4 decision to top-seeded Tyler Roe of Tioga, but bounced back to win three in a row.
Robinson topped Lackawanna Trail’s Garrett Fowler, 10-4, in the "blood round," then edged Chambersburg’s Tyler Frye, 3-1.
In the consolation semifinals, Robinson forged an 11-3 major decision over North Penn-Liberty’s Riley Oakes to earn a rematch with Roe for third place. Roe again had the measure of Robinson, though, in a 3-1 decision.
At 124 pounds, Persun lost via an 18-3 technical fall to top-seed and reigning New York State champ Chase Nevills of Copenhagen in the quarterfinals.
Persun bounced back with a pin of Milton’s Canaan Robinson in 3:30 in the blood round, then topped Williamson’s Noah Robinson, 11-5.
In the consolation semifinals, Persun dropped a 15-6 decision to Bellefonte’s Cameron Garcia.
In the fifth-place match, Persun won an 8-5 decision over St. Anthony’s Justin Castillo.
"In our District football game, Lucas was a starting linebacker at 125 pounds — he’s a tough kid, but he’s been stuck behind other kids," said Bradley.
"New York’s weight classes are different, with Josh (Courtney) wrestling up in the same weight as Karson (Sipley), he was able to get in, and he made them pay," added Bradley. "He did an excellent job this weekend."
At 138 pounds, Cooke, who was 1-1 Friday, won his first three consolation bracket matches Saturday.
He opened with a 9-3 win over Attica-Batavia’s Luke Gutman, then forged an 11-2 major decision over Croning’s Matt Mahon in the blood round.
Cooke received a forfeit from Elmira’s Max Vollins, who knocked Cooke into wrestlebacks Friday, to advance to the consolation semifinals, where he dropped a 5-1 decision to Chambersburg’s Logan Mickey.
In the fifth-place match, Cooke edged his teammate Peters, 6-2.
Also at 138 pounds, Peters, who dropped a 3-2 decision to Mickey in the opening round Friday, won his first three wrestleback matches Saturday.
He opened with a pin of Tottenville’s Frank Ianni in 4:48, then blanked South Williamsport’s Jackson Bower in an 8-0 major decision in the blood round.
Peters then edged Vestal’s Donny Winslow, 6-4, before dropping a 6-0 decision to St. Anthony’s Jacob Kennedy in the consolation semifinals to fall into the fifth-place match.
At 116 pounds, Vanderpool, who lost to two-time New York State champ Darren Florance of BGAH Friday, won his first three wrestleback matches Saturday.
He opened with a pin of Bellefonte’s Noah Weaver in 52 seconds, then pinned Horseheads’ Joel Scibek in 2:18 in the blood round.
Vanderpool forged a 16-1 technical fall over Milton’s Tyler Stokes, then lost a hard-fought, 9-8, decision to Schuyler’s Lucas Hoffman in the consolation semifinals.
In the fifth-place match, Vanderpool dropped an 11-1 major decision to St. Anthony’s Brett Crawford.
At 215 pounds, Nason dropped an 8-4 decision — his first setback of the season — to Waverly freshman Matthias Welles in the quarterfinals.
Nason bounced back with a pin of Schuyler’s Dana Guild in 1:49 in the blood round, then pinned Williamson’s Benny Freeman in 2:15.
In the consolation semifinals, Nason lost via fall in 2:37 to U-E’s Jaylon Yearwood, then dropped an 8-1 decision to Scranton Prep’s Louis Paris in the fifth-place match.
At 152 pounds, Davidson dropped a 14-4 major decision to Horseheads’ Lucas Mosher in the quarterfinals.
Davidson bounced back in wrestlebacks with a 10-3 decision over Horseheads’ Jaxson Burchard in the blood round, and followed it up with a hard-fought, 10-8, sudden-victory decision over Bellefonte’s Jackson Long.
In the consolation semifinals, Davidson was pinned by Copenhagen’s Tavian Camper, who is ranked second in New York State, in 1:29. In the fifth-place match, Williamson standout Owen Cummings pinned Davidson in the first period.
At 116 pounds, Campbell dropped a 12-6 decision to Tioga’s Logan Bellis, who was a New York State runner-up last year, but bounced back with a 21-4 technical fall of Wyoming Area’s Shane Emsley in the blood round.
Campbell lost via fall in 2:23 to NP-Liberty standout Brayden Pequingot to fall into the seventh-place match, which Campbell won via fall over Milton’s Tyler Stokes in 1:33.
At 131 pounds, Sipley lost via fall in 3:22 to third-seeded Logan Willis of West Genesee in the quarterfinals, but bounced back with a 16-second fall of SVEC’s Caden Ruben in the blood round.
Sipley lost via fall in 2:30 to Horseheads’ Cody Dale to fall into the seventh-place match, which he lost 4-0 to Auburn’s Mike Boyhan.
At 160 pounds, Moss pinned Tottenville’s Elidon Ibroci in 2:01, but was eliminated in the blood round via a second-period fall at the hands of South Williamsport’s Sam Persun.
Parrish opened his day with a pin of Tioga freshman Max Stauder in 2:32, but lost in the blood round via second-period fall to South Williamsport’s Landyn Gephart.
Athens returns to action Tuesday when it hosts Canton.
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IN PHOTO 1: Athens senior Josh Nittinger. … PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY & NIKKI BIRNEY.
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