- danieladams02
- Feb 16, 2022
- 7 min read
This year we were in for a real treat when NYC, Long Island, and Buffalo joined together in competition for the Annual CHSAA State Championships. Each winner from every weight class will represent not only their school, but the entire section in Albany at the NYSPHSAA State Championships. In this article I will be recapping and reviewing the insane tournament that was this year’s CHSAA State Tournament.
The Return of the Clash of the Titans:
Starting off our list was the most anticipated matchup of the tournament. The match between Mike Adams and Shane Meenaghan was fireworks in last year’s CHSAA State Tournament when Shane walked out with a 5-4 victory. Both wrestlers were returning CHSAA State Champs in 2020 and were putting a back to back crown on the line. Following last year’s loss Adams stayed at 118lbs to challenge the wrestler who had beat him in last year’s finals in a Desanto-esque fashion. Adams hit a slick throw by in the opening seconds of the match to score the first takedown and erupting the crowd. This was followed up by a nice scramble that sent both wrestlers out of bounds. Adams kept the action going with a fireman's carry, dumping his opponent in front of him, collecting back points and setting his lead to 4-1. Meenaghan was able to collect a stall point late in the 3rd period to narrow the score to 4-2. Adams reclaimed his throne in dramatic fashion, Adams was also awarded the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Freshman Start off with a Bang:
We were treated to a very exciting opening bout in the finals between two freshmen, Jacob Kennedy and Niason DaCosta. The bout was very entertaining as two scrappy freshmen got after it in hopes of being freshman CHSAA State Champs. DaCosta got the match going with a takedown after rolling through Kennedy’s shot and finishing the period on top. Kennedy got points on the board with a nice reversal to tie the score 2-2 going into the 3rd and final period. Kennedy stayed tough on top and finished the period on top sending the match into overtime. Here is where the match got interesting. In overtime Kennedy and DaCosta had an amazing scramble which led to no score taking both wrestlers out of bounds. When the whistle blew on the reset, DaCosta fired off a beautiful low single but Kennedy managed to sit the corner and scoot through resting with a crotch lock. Kennedy then rolled DaCosta through, cartwheeling over his rolled opponent and scoring the takedown! There were fireworks every second of the way from whistle to whistle. Congratulations Jacob!
Degl Gets it Done:
Sean Degl was a man on a mission. After falling short last year at the 138lb final to Mike Sanfilippo, Degl made sure nothing was going to stop him this year from winning CHSAA State Gold. In the 145lb final Sean Degl faced Jake Podolsky and won in dominant fashion. He started the match off with a clean double leg to take Podolsky down in the opening seconds. Podolsky wasted no time getting an escape just a few seconds after. Podolsky fired off a high crotch and this resulted in a fun scramble when Degl caught Podolsky’s ankle when he tried to finish his attack. Degl then scored a reversal halfway through the second period. He then locked up a cradle in the final 10 seconds of the second period and got the fall just before the buzzer. Sean Degl is your 145lb CHSAA State Champion!
The 138lb War:
The 138lb final was an absolute war. The final featured two hammers in Eric Grant and Mick Brown. Grant scored an early takedown to start the match off with a 2-0 lead. Brown scored an escape late in the period to make it a one point match at a score of 2-1. In the second period Grant scored an escape increasing his lead to 3-1. Grant gave up a stall point in the 3rd when trying to bring Brown back down to the mat and sent both wrestlers out of bounds to reset in the middle. Brown scored an escape off of the reset to tie the match at 3-3. There were very close takedowns for both wrestlers but they both managed to defend successfully to prevent any further score and send the match into overtime. In the overtime period both wrestlers shot into each other but Brown had the better position in the exchange cutting straight into a double and dropping down into an outside trip to collect the takedown on the edge. Mick Brown is now a 2x CHSAA State Champion!
Watson Captures Gold:
The 152lb final was nothing short of exciting. The bout featured two hammers in Dom Seminera and Max Watson. Seminera fired a shot right off of the whistle which led to a minute long scramble with Seminera scoring the takedown on the edge. This was not the only scramble we got to witness in this bout as right as the whistle blew Watson hit a fast switch off the whistle, almost getting a reversal but Seminera managed to catch Watsons ankle and roll through and create a stalemate. Watson however immediately hit another switch off of the whistle and fixed his small mistake that caused the last scramble and no score, collecting 2 more points in a clean reversal. Watson keeps his foot on the gas firing off more sweep single attacks which was the huge difference in this matchup, collecting another takedown. This is where the match gets interesting. Seminera gets another escape and the match is now tied 5-5. Watson fires off another shot and looks like he was going to finish but Seminera scrambles into an advantageous position almost scoring a takedown to take the lead. This is where there was somecontroversy. There is now 12 seconds left in the match and Watson fires off a sweep single off the whistle, running the pipe and collecting both ankles with Seminera on his back and possibly giving up a takedown he tries locking around Watson and the period ends as the ref throws up 2 takedown. After consulting another referee it was declared that there was indeed a takedown and Watson was declared the winner of the bout. The St. Anthony’s corner disagreed with this call and tried to overturn the ruling stating that time had expired so therefore there was no takedown. There were now three referees consulting with each other, the nature of the call and one of the referees gathered both wrestlers to the center of the mat (because the match wasn’t technically officially over they still couldn’t leave the circle) which led spectators to believe that the call was being overturned. This resulted in a huge boo from the crowd as they thought the match was going to continue. But the third referee on the scene announced that the call stood correct and it was ruled a takedown. The crowd erupted in cheers and you can see the excitement from Watson as he had just knocked off the defending Catholic State Champion!
Friars Repeat:
Congratulations to St. Anthony’s for capturing the sectional team title back to back. Last year the Friars took back the team titles after dropping the Team Gold to Chaminade in 2020. The Friars captured Team Gold with 324.5 team points compared to runner up Kellenberg’s 242 team points. The Friars walked out with 5 champs this weekend, this was tied with the 3rd place team Iona Prep. The Friars captured individual Gold at 102, 138, 160, 172, and 215 respectively. The Friars had a total of 16 placers. 5 Gold, 2 Silver, 5 bronze, 3 fifth place finishes, and 1 sixth place finish. Congratulations St. Anthony’s on this amazing accomplishment!
Zimmerman, Brown, Theroux, Goldstein, Bardak, and Martin Retain:
Congratulations to these athletes as they successfully defended their CHSAA State Titles this past weekend. They add themselves to the elite of multi-time CHSAA State Champs. Zimmerman won both CHSAA State Titles with a techfall in the finals and won the Division 2 M.O.W Award. Brown captured his first title in dominant fashion, although he had a formidable challenger he kept his composure and walked out a 2x CHSAA State Champ in a highly contested bout. Theroux dominated in his run to 2x as he won via 15-8 decision over Trevor Sheehan of St. Mary’s. Goldstein captured Gold in a rematch of last year’s final against Jack Ligarzewski. Last year’s bout was won by Goldstein in 2:44 by fall but this year Ligarzewski almost pulled the upset, but Goldstein scored a reversal late in the 3rd to win 6-5 and go two for two. We had another finals rematch from last year between Bardak and Vandenberg. Last year Bardak beat Vandenberg who was the heavy favorite to win at 215 last year via 6-3 final score. This year the bout was a lot closer and hectic. Bardak ran away with a 6-5 decision to become your 2x CHSAA State Champ at 215lbs. The last bout of the night was a quick one when Capri Martin faced Dylan Page. The bout lasted a little over a minute where stuck Page by the edge of the mat where his team was sitting, cheering him on. After winning he celebrated with his team with a dance.
Conclusion:
This year’s tournament was a very exciting one. The finals matches fired on all cylinders and the 102lb final really set a good pace for the rest of the finals bouts. There were several rematches from last year’s tournaments and they delivered! There were plenty of emotional moments, filled with both victory and defeat. The CHSAA is sending a fire squad to compete at the NYSPHSAA State Championships on the 25th and 26th. I can see all wrestlers make the podium and even make the finals as well. It’s going to be an exciting weekend of competition and I can’t wait to see how the guys do.
Standout Matches:
Jacob Kennedy vs Niason DaCosta
Mike Adams vs Shane Meenaghan
Mick Brown vs Eric Grant
Max Watson vs Jake Podolsky
Andrew Bardak vs Braydon Vandenberg
Ryan Paladino vs Kosta Koufalis
Kevin McCarvill vs Brendan Martin
Finals Results:
102lbs: Jacob Kennedy (St Anthonys) over Niason DaCosta (Chaminade) (SV-1 4-2)
110lbs: Austin Zimmerman (SJCI) over William Casey (St John The Baptist) (TF 16-1)
118lbs: Mike Adams (Msgr. Farrell) over Shane Meenaghan (Chaminade) (Dec 4-2)
126lbs: Kevin McCarvill (Iona Prep) over Brendan Martin (Kellenberg) (Fall 5:20)
132lbs: Ryan Paladino (Kellenberg) over Kosta Koufalis (Iona Prep) (Dec 3-2)
138lbs: Mick Brown (St Anthonys) over Eric Grant (Iona Prep) (SV-1 5-3)
145lbs: Sean Degl (Iona Prep) over Jake Podolsky (St Anthonys) (Fall 3:57)
152lbs: Max Watson (Iona Prep) over Dominic Seminera (St Anthonys) (Dec 7-5)
160lbs: Frankie Theroux (St Anthonys) over Trevor Sheehan (St Marys) (Dec 15-8)
172lbs: Griffin Goldstein (St Anthonys) over Jack Ligarzewski (Kellenberg) (Dec 6-5)
189lbs: Claudio Pinto (Chaminade) over Sam Whistler (Canisius) (Dec 3-2)
215lbs: Andrew Bardak (St Anthonys) won by decision over Braydon Vandenberg (Canisius) (Dec 7-6)
285lbs: Capri Martin (Iona Prep) over Dylan Page (Kellenberg) (Fall 1:15)
Want to stay updated?:
Follow The RED And BLACK Wrestling on Instagram:
Follow The RED And BLACK Wrestling on TikTok:
Subscribe to The RED And BLACK Wrestling on YouTube:
Listen to The RED And BLACK Wrestling Podcast: