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RED And BLACK Spotlight: Ryan Siller


Ryan Siller wrestled for Monsignor Farrell at the 160lb weight class and won the CHSAA State Championships at his respective weight. Let's take a look at his run in the CHSAA State Championships and Ryan's Senior Campaign.

Starting off Ryan had an incredible run in the NYC Mayor's Cup Tournament. Ryan was a returning finalist from the year before having close quarters and semifinal matches which literally came down to the closing seconds of the match. In the finals Siller had lost to Brooklyn Tech's Jack Reusing. Fast Forward a year later and Siller get's his chance at revenge with a fall over St. Joseph's By The Sea's James Murphy in the opening round. Siller's dominance didn't end as he won his quarterfinals with a 10-0 major decision win over RKA's Carlos Guzman and an 8-5 decision over Dmitri Gamkiliedze in the semifinals punching his ticket to the finals and a shot at revenge. The bout was close with a tied 2-2 score heading into the 3rd period. With his opponent up by 1 with an escape Siller was able to capitalize off a scrambling position to lock in a cradle. It looked like Reusing was going to put Siller to his own back but Siller managed to roll through and collect back points putting him up 7-3. Siller manages to close out the match with a 7-4 score.

Siller was the #1 Seed at his weight heading into the CHSAA State Tournament. After a bye in the first round Siller's opening bout came in the quarterfinals against St. Anthony's Timothy Longo where Siller won via 10-0 major decision. In the semifinals won by pin in 3:07 against Holy Trinity's Kenneth Kroez punching his ticket to the finals. In the finals Siller wrestled a familiar opponent in St. Joe's Collegiate's Ben Parish. Both wrestlers met in the CHSAA Dual Tournament a few weeks prior to CHSAA State Tournament where Siller won via pin in 5:54. This bout however was closer in score. A couple of seconds into the match Siller secured a takedown off a snap and spin behind. With Parish scoring a reversal halfway through the second period. After a stalemate call they reset in the middle and Siller scores a reversal of his own to end the period on top. Siller started the third and final period on bottom where he manages to not get turned for the final two minutes of the match. Siller wins by a 4-2 decision. Siller went on to compete in the New York State Tournament where he went on finish 8th in the state at 160lbs. Siller now attends the Division 1 University of Iowa.

Link to Siller's Mayor's Cup Finals:


Link to Siller's CHSAA State Finals:


Want to see the interview? Click on this link to see Siller talk about the impact of his coach Ray Brinzer and how he was the talk of Iowa Wrestling Room:



 
 
 

TEAM RANKINGS:

  1. Chaminade

  2. Kellenberg

  3. St. Anthony's

  4. Monsignor Farrell

  5. Iona Prep

  6. St. Joe's Collegiate

  7. St. John's the Baptist

  8. Xavier

  9. Canisius

  10. Holy Trinity

Chaminade takes the top spot in our rankings. The Mineola team won the CHSAA Team title with a total of 259.5 points beating runner up Kellenberg with 233.5 points. The third place team St. Anthony's lost their Team Title Win streak after narrowly closing out against Chaminade in recent years. But Chaminade came to claim what they desired these last couple of years walking away with the team title. They were lead by Michael Sanfilippo and Rocco Demartino. Both of which were returning finalists. Starting with Sanfilippo he came out on top beating Matt Ash of St. Mary's. Sanfilippo appeared in the finals twice before, in 2018 and 2019. Both opponents he had lost to (Terry Adams and James Ryan both from Monsignor Farrell) went on to win New York State Titles 2 weeks later. But Sanfilippo made them earn every point as he always refused to give up. Demartino was a returning finalist from last year. After losing in the finals the previous year Rocco made all of the right corrections to ensure he walked out with the Catholic State Title beating Zach Ash of St. Mary's. Both Sanfilippo and Demartino are seniors and have proven they are the guys to beat at their respective weights and they show no signs of slowing down their momentum looking to repeat as champs. Shane Meenaghan is another one to look out for. Meenaghan was a Catholic State Champ from last year winning it as a freshman. The future looks bright for this wrestler and we can certainly see him help bring home a team title as well as some more individual titles.

Never count out Monsignor Farrell as they have a group of returning Catholic State placers and New York State Placer Mike Adams. Adams like mentioned before was a New York State placer last year (5th) but he also managed to place at the Prestigious Eastern States Classic. Adams' only losses of the season heading into the tournament was from Eastern States. Adams showed his dominance this year by winning all of matches at the CHSAA State tournament by pin in the first period. Farrell has some firepower coming into the next couple of seasons with Dominick Garcia as a heavy favorite for 182lbs and a couple of other wrestlers who surprised competition at the Catholic State Tournament like freshman Max Boroweic, Farrell can be in top contention of Team Titles. They have a couple of other rising wrestlers like Michael Caserta at 106lbs, Ty Andresen at 170lbs and even Mike Mulkerrins at 220lbs. Mulkerrins who spent most of the season at 195lbs, was bumped up to 220lbs at the Catholic State Dual Tournament and started pinning some ranked guys, which led to his decision to stay at 220lbs. With guys like this Farrell is one team that's hard to count out of a Sectional Title picture.

However, we can't overlook St. Anthony's. St. Anthony's has a group of guys that can help send them back into the team title picture. Leading this group is Mick Brown at 113lbs. Brown was a 2x CHSAA State runner up. Both years he appeared in the finals he put on good matches never being counted out of the match. Both of his opponents he had lost to in the finals went on to place in the state 2 weeks later, which only shows the caliber of wrestling Brown can compete with, even being ranked in the state after his win over state ranked Robbie Horan of Iona Prep. More guys to look out for are the Napadano brothers. Nicholas at 99lbs and Ryan at 106lbs showed they can be considered in the individual title picture. Nicholas avenged a loss against Luke Ventresca in the semis of the Catholic State tournament. Ryan although he had lost to Shane Meenaghan in the semifinals of the Catholic State tournament had actually beaten Meenaghan a few weeks prior at their League tournament. We can see Ryan avenge his loss to Meenaghan if they are at the same weight again, and if they are you can expect to see another great match between the two.

Kellenberg shocked a lot of people when they walked away as CHSAA State Dual Champs. Their victory over Farrell sealed the deal for first place at the very last bout. Kellenberg has a young team and a lot of placers from the Catholic State Tournament and even had a champ and New York State Medalist in James Watterson. Kellenberg is looking to go back to back in CHSAA Dual Titles and if the team competed the same way they did this year we can see a repeat happen. With 113lb 3rd place finisher Anthony Ladeviao as well as 4th at 106lb John Reynolds and 4th at 120lb Ryan Paladino. Kellenberg can challenge the other teams mentioned above and can come out on top like they did at the CHSAA State Dual Tournament. With a group of medalists returning we can see some interesting matchups throughout the duals and even the Catholic State tournament and we can maybe even see Kellenberg topple the returning Sectional Team Champs.


 
 
 

RED AND BLACK SPOTLIGHT: MATT KELLY


Matt Kelly wrestled for Iona Prep in the 2019 and 2020 Season. Kelly was apart of arguably one of the biggest 1-2 Punch Duos alongside teammate AJ Kovacs. Matt Kelly was a force to be reckoned with on the mat in the state in his last 2 seasons placing 3rd at the prestigious Eastern States Classic in both the 2019 and 2020 season. Although in 2019 Kelly placed 3rd at the NYS Tournament he made all of the right adjustments to ensure he'd reach the top of the podium in 2020. His road to gold was nothing short of dominant.

In the CHSAA State Tournament Kelly had pinned his way up until his finals match. These pinfall victories include wins over Scott Ziomek of St. Mary's (Round 1), Michael Corwin of Chaminade (Quarterfinals), Louis Moore of Chaminade (Semifinals), and lastly a 17-1 technical fall victory over Brayden Vandenberg of Canisus. The total time he spent on the mat that weekend was 6 minutes and 5 seconds recording falls within 30 seconds (or under) in his first 2 bouts.

Kelly went on to compete in Times Union Center in Albany, New York. He was seeded at the #1 spot on the top of his bracket. His opening round bout saw him against Section 4's Isaiah Colon of Elmira. Kelly defeated his opponent via technical fall 16-0. In his Quarterfinal bout Kelly wrestled against Section 2's Michael Atomer of Columbia. Kelly defeated his opponent 7-0 to make it to the semifinals. Not looking to repeat the same results as the previous year, Kelly looked really sharp in his wrestling when he competed against PSAL's Anthony Cascen of Harry S. Truman. This saw the classic CHSAA vs PSAL bout on one of the grandest stages in New York Wrestling competition. Kelly bested his opponent via a 15-0 technical fall to punch his ticket to the New York State Finals. Kelly saw himself up against a familiar opponent in Section 8's Nicholas Franco of Farmingdale who Kelly had wrestled in his Quarterfinal bout at the Eastern States Classic. But Kelly went on to prove he was king at 195lbs when he defeated Franco via 11-0 major decision.

Matt Kelly now attends Binghamton University and competes at the Division 1 level. He is undecided in his major but whatever Matt chooses we know he will succeed.

Click on this link to watch the full interview with Matt Kelly!!!

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