Highland wins wrestling opener

By Susanna Granieri
Posted 12/4/19

The Highland High School varsity wrestling team opened up their season on Nov. 26 with a home dual-meet against the Fallsburg Comets and the Ellenville Blue Devils.

Fallsburg and Ellenville began …

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Highland wins wrestling opener

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The Highland High School varsity wrestling team opened up their season on Nov. 26 with a home dual-meet against the Fallsburg Comets and the Ellenville Blue Devils.

Fallsburg and Ellenville began the meet against each other, with Ellenville taking the win 54-9. Fallsburg, however, had to forfeit five matches as they did not have a wrestler in those specific weight classes. At six points a piece, 30 of Ellenville’s 54 points came from Fallsburg’s lack of weight class diversity.

The competition began in the 160 weight class, where the Comets’ Luke Oefelein and Blue Devil Nate Towne went head-to-head. After three periods of competition, the pair went into overtime in two 30-second periods, but the match wasn’t over until Towne gave Oefelein a point with an illegal clasp during the sixth period. Oefelein went on to win the match in the ultimate tiebreaker seventh period, 5-4. The score now stood at 30-3.

Ellenville responded with a 23-second first period pin from Edwin Price in the 170 class and again with a 45-second second period pin from Jeremiah Irwin during the 182 match. Fallsburg then forfeited the 195 class, giving Ellenville six more points. In 220, the Blue Devils’ Evan Hamilton earned a 41-second pin.

Fallsburg got their only pin in the 285 weight class when Allie Wienen pinned William Freer 57 seconds into the second period, giving Fallsburg six more points. This was the final match of the first half of the meet, and Fallsburg fell to Ellenville 54-9.

Next up were the Highland Huskies against the Blue Devils. Pete Bender is returning for the Huskies in the 113 weight class after qualifying for states during the 2018-19 season. In addition to Bender, the Huskies have seven returning section finalists from last year.

“[There isn’t a difference between JV and varsity because] we kind of run the whole team together,” said Head Coach John McFarland. “We carry anywhere from 24 to 30 kids and we don’t do tryouts or anything like that. Some bigger schools do, but for small schools, those are good numbers.”

The meet began at the 106 weight class as 99 had no contest, and Ellenville forfeited both 113 and 120, giving the Huskies a 12-0 lead. John Vett defeated Justin Coniker with a third period 15-second pin in the 106 match. Chris Gatto (126), Shawn Keeffe (132) and Ayden Bahr (145) all tallied pins for the Huskies. Gatto earned his pin against Christian Dissessa in the first period only 39 seconds in. Keeffe followed with a first period pin 21 seconds against Joe Cortez, then Bahr with a 34 second pin defeating Jakob Millman. The Huskies had to forfeit the 138 match to the Blue Devils, putting them on the scoreboard, but Highland led 36-6.

Logan Zehr defeated Ellenville’s Noah Ghisolfi 3-0 in the 152 match, earning three more points for the Huskies. Logan Smith fought through his first period against Nate Towne and took control in the second period with a 55-second pin for the 160 match. Adian Maduro defeated Edwin Price in the 170 class as well with a 49-second pin. The Huskies were now reigning over Ellenville 51-6.

Ellenville took the 182 match win as Highland had to forfeit, making the score 51-12. Danny Odell-Fratz took control of the 195 match with a 28-second pin over Mike Doria. Ben Swart followed in 195 with a 45-second pin and Shamar Gittens finished with a 36-second pin in 285. The Huskies gave the Blue Devils six more points by forfeiting the 220 match.

The Huskies won 68-12 with a total of nine pins in only 10 matches. Usually in Section 9, Highland, Port Jervis and Red Hook are the top three teams, but with Saugerties becoming a small school, they could all be a part of the top four.

“I think we’re going to be a very good tournament team, we are very young in the lineup for some spots, but our young guys came up really big tonight,” McFarland said. “I never really do MVPs or anything else like that because some night, some kid that comes out of nowhere could be the kid for the match. Like our 99-pounder John Vett. He came out of nowhere and got his first varsity win tonight [in 106]. He’s a ninth grader and got thrown in the lineup tonight, did a great job and got everybody going.”

The Huskies are back at home on Dec. 12 and 13 for a home tournament hosting Fallsburg, Rondout Valley, Marlboro and one more team that is yet to be determined.