Valley Central’s Luke Satriano highlighted a group of five area wrestlers competing at the NYSPHSAA championships at MVP Arena in Albany on Friday and Saturday, February 25 and 26.

Satriano, a freshman competing in the Division I, 102-pound weight class, took home fourth place of the twenty competitors in his bracket.
Satriano entered the state tournament with an undefeated record, 24-0, earning the number two seed.

After a first-round bye, the Viking pinned #18 Jason Euceda (Brentwood) three minutes and thirteen seconds into the match. He then defeated #7 Evin Gursoy (Midwood) in a 7-4 decision, advancing to the semifinal round.

“A lot of these guys I’ve grown up wrestling, going back and forth with and battling,” Satriano said on Friday, after earning his spot in the semifinals. “There’s also definitely a lot of guys who I don’t know and it’s my first season at the varsity level. I just kept pushing through and whoever I got is who I got.”

His next opponent would be the eventual Division I, 102-pound state champion, #3 Dunia Sibomana (Long Beach). Satriano dropped the semifinal match in a 9-3 decision.

In the wrestleback bracket, Satriano defeated Ralph Keeney (Ballston Spa) with a 9-4 decision, earning a chance at third place. He saw a familiar face in that final match as Evin Gursoy got the better of Satriano in a rematch of the quarterfinal round, winning in a 4-2 decision.

“It definitely leaves me with more energy to come back and hopefully win next year,” Satruano said on Saturday after the awards ceremony. “My goal was to win. I was planning on it. What happened, happened. I wrestled my heart out, I took fourth and I’m happy overall. Next year I’m going to come back even stronger.”

“I knew what I wanted to do and I knew the goals that I set for myself.

It was really just about continuing to strive to achieve them, keep pushing and work as hard as I can. I did doubles and weight training; everything that I could to prepare for this.”

He finished the season, his first on varsity, with a 28-2 record. The freshman will now turn his attention to lacrosse season.

Rounding out the group of three Vikings to compete at the state tournament were Sebastian Vidacovich (126) and Nick Weeden (110).
Vidacovich (26-8) won his first-round match against Luke Nieto (Plainedge) with an 8-6 decision. He lost in the second round, 7-2, against a tough opponent out of Burnt Hills, Liam Carlin.

Vidacovich won a wrestleback match to advance to the second day of the tournament on Saturday. There he was eliminated after a 6-4 decision against Cal Russe (Spencerport).

Weeden (25-4) won his first round match against Minisink’s #17 Wyatt Boice. He fell in the second round to top-seed Joseph Manfredi (New Hyde Park) and was eliminated in the wrestleback bracket.

Wallkill’s Rocco Futia (118) was the only Panther to make it to the state tournament. The junior was able to advance to the second day of the tournament after working his way through wrestleback matches.
Futia won his first-round match against #21 Dylan Furman (Chenango Forks), but fell in the second round to eventual third-place finisher, #5 Joseph Clem (Wantagh).

“He had to come up here and battle his way through,” said Wallkill coach Anthony Ng. “To make it to day two is a testament to him and his progression this season. He had to beat some good kids to make it to the second day. Coming up a little short stinks, but he’s a junior and he’ll be back next year and I expect he’ll be able to climb onto that podium.”

Furia pinned Ryan Massengale (Horsehead) in the wrestlebacks to advance to Saturday. There he was eliminated after dropping a 12-5 decision to #8 Raymond Adams (Merrick).

“The loss that I just took, it’s going to give me fire this offseason to come back even stronger next year,” Futia said after his match on Saturday, finishing the season 33-8. “It was really cool seeing everything on the big stage. I worked hard and it feels good to have achieved the goal of actually getting here. Obviously I didn’t win, but I still got here.”

“You have a guy like Rocco who’s a leader. Eight or nine of his teammates took the drive up to come watch him. Seeing him here, now they know that they can do it too,” Ng added. “That’s a cool feeling as a coach, knowing you have something special in the making and Rocco’s a big part of it.”

Braydon Pennell (189) represented Pine Bush at the tournament. After receiving a first-round bye, Pennell lost in the second-round to #6 John McGowan (Mamaroneck) in a 5-4 decision.

The Bushman won his first wrestleback match against #21 Benjamin Velazquez (MacArthur) in a 5-2 decision. He was eliminated by Connor McGannon (Lakeland-Panas) in a sudden victory, after one overtime. Pennell finished his season with a record of 21-6.