It may not have been the traditional Father’s Day with special breakfasts and backyard barbecues, but it was a great weekend nonetheless for several New York wrestling dads at the Ragin Raisins Duals in Erie, PA.
For the combined Superior Wrestling Academy/Finger Lakes Wrestling Club (FLWC) Red and Gold teams, it was an opportunity for over 20 families to camp out and enjoy swimming and other activities in the great outdoors.
And of course, there was the action on the mat as well.
G2 World Wrestling Academy co-owner Adam Burgos said the fathers on his squad were happy with the present they were given.
“We had a great weekend of wrestling and as an added bonus the fathers at G2 received a second place finish from our wrestlers and sons,” Burgos said.
G2 earned runner up status in the youth division after facing Georgia’s undefeated Team Minion, which featured state finalists at every weight, in the championship dual. The Rochester-area squad went 6-2 overall on the way to the finals, despite yielding seven forfeits in each meet.
“We got pins when we needed to get them,” Burgos said. “We were fortunate the kids came through the way they did. Everybody just battled and battled tough all weekend long.”
According to Burgos, Frankie Gissendanner and the Diakomihalis brothers, Yianni and Greg, all picked up seven wins for G2 while the Kropman trio – Parker, Cooper and Max – registered five victories apiece.
Like G2, another Empire State squad compiled a 6-2 mark on the weekend – Superior/FLWC Red.
“We saw some really tough competition, which is what we wanted,” said coach Gary Ferro. “Our only losses were to the first (Team Minion) and third (Ragin Raisins Green, PA) place teams and we beat the second place team (G2), which was a great win for us. I’m really proud of the kids – they worked really hard and when you add in the fun we had camping together as families, it was a great, great experience.”
While the coach emphasized that the squad competed well throughout the lineup, he mentioned standout performances from Theo Powers (six wins at 108 pounds), Kelan McKenna (undefeated) and Ethan Ferro (seven victories at 68).
“There’s so much I could say about Theo,” Ferro said. “He showed mental toughness and stepped up against some very good competition throughout the weekend. And I was very impressed with Kelan as usual. He brought it like he always does. Ethan had a big 10-5 win over a good kid from Journeymen who is a few years older than him. He really enjoyed that one.”
While G2, Superior/FLWC and Journeymen all enjoyed competition in the youth division, Cobra Wrestling Academy entered teams in both the youth and high school brackets, taking fourth and fifth overall, respectively.
“We were looking to get some quality matches in and we definitely accomplished that,” said Cobra Executive Director Keith Maute. “There was some great wrestling. We weren’t the only team missing guys, but we had to forfeit a lot of matches – 7 forfeits (in 20 weighs) on our youth team and five on the high school side. That didn’t help, but the kids we did have obviously wrestled really well to make up for it.”
Maute noted that three of his grapplers — Carson Alberti, Kellen Devlin and Dakota Gardner — went unbeaten on his younger squad, while Dylan Caruana and Nick Mitchell each lost a single bout in the high school division.
Also participating in the high school action were an additional trio of Empire State teams – Falconer, WRCL and Excelsior United.
“A few years ago, Cobra was the only New York team at this event,” Burgos said. “There were quite a few this year. It’s great to see that even in the summer New York is sending teams out to compete and improve. It was a phenomenal weekend.”
For dual-by-dual results, see below (NY teams in bold italics):
YOUTH DIVISION
ROUND 1
Superior/FLWC Red 60 – Mountain Grapplers 23
RRWC Green 57 – Journeymen 22
Team Minion 42 – AWC 37
G2 45 – RRWC TD 24
Cobra 61 – Superior/FLWC Gold 21
ROUND 2
Team Minion 63 – Superior/FLWC Red 22
AWC 62 – Mountain Grapplers 21
G2 36 – Cobra 24
Lancaster 46 – FLB 33
RRWC TD 58 – Superior/FLWC Gold 28
ROUND 3
RRWC Green 57 – Superior/FLWC Red 34
Lancaster 50 – Superior/FLWC Gold 31
Gladiator 50 – FLB 24
Journeymen 52 – Mountain Grapplers 22
Team Minion 51 – Cobra 16
ROUND 4
G2 37 – Lancaster 26
Journeymen 59 – Superior/FLWC Gold 21
Cobra 42 – FLB 21
RRWC TD 48 – Gladiator 42
RRWC Green 38 – AWC 34
ROUND 5
Cobra 41 – Lancaster 27
RRWC Green 52 – FLB 21
G2 38 – Gladiator 34
AWC 52 – Journeymen 31
Team Minion 81 – Mountain Grapplers 3
ROUND 6
Cobra 54 – RRWC TD 27
FLB 43 – Superior/FLWC Gold 26
Gladiator 46 – Lancaster 27
RRWC Green 63 – Mountain Grapplers 18
Superior/FLWC Red 42 – G2 22
ROUND 7
Gladiator 59 – Superior Gold/FLWC 18
G2 32 – FLB 12
Superior/FLWC Red 60 – Journeymen 16
AWC 44 – Lancaster 24
ROUND 8
G2 46 – Superior/ FLWC Gold 21
Lancaster 51 – RRWC TD 32
Gladiator 48 – Mountain Grapplers 38
Team Minion 54 – RRWC Green 36
ROUND 9
Team Minion 56 – J-Men 18
RRWC TD 48 – FLB 27
Superior/FLWC Red 40 – AWC 30
Cobra 42 – Gladiator 37
ROUND 10
Mountain Grapplers 45 –FLB 19
RRWC TD 39 – Journeymen 33
Superior/FLWC Red 48 – Lancaster 30
AWC 51 – Gladiator 28
ROUND 11
Team Minion 56 – G2 13
RRWC Green 51 – Cobra 26
HIGH SCHOOL
ROUND 1
AWC 63 – FLB 6
Lake Country 51 – RRWC Purple 15
Quest 43 – Cobra 12
ROUND 2
FLB 42 – Falconer 27
RRWC Purple 47 – WRCL 15
RRWC Pink 43 – House 15
ROUND 3
Alleghany Mountain 23 – House 22
Quest 46 – E United 9
Cobra 43 – WRCL 19
ROUND 4
Quest 33 – Lake Country 18
Alleghany Mountain 42 – Falconer 15
AWC 54 – House 6
ROUND 5
E United 38 – WRCL 19
RRWC Pink 52 – FLB 15
Cobra 40 – RRWC Purple 16
ROUND 6
Lake Country 49 – E United 3
RRWC Pink 54 – Falconer 9
AWC 50 – Alleghany Mountain 6
ROUND 7
Lake Country 49 – WRCL 6
RRWC Purple 42 – E United 16
AWC 83 – Falconer 3
Alleghany Mountain 30 – FLB 15
ROUND 8
Quest 52 – WRCL 9
AWC 34 – RRWC Pink 22
Lake Country 40 – Cobra 6
House 40 – Falconer 18
ROUND 9
Quest 45 – RRWC Purple 9
Cobra 28 – E United 12
House 30 – FLB 24
RRWC Pink 42 – Alleghany Mountain 12
ROUND 10
E United 24 – Falconer 24
Cobra 27 – House 18
WRCL 39 – FLB 21
Alleghany Mountain 35 – RRWC Purple 31
ROUND 11
E United 18 – FLB 6
Quest 42 – RRWC Pink 15
Falconer 36 – WRCL 24
AWC 31 – Lake Country 24
ROUND 12
Cobra 28 – Alleghany Mountain 19
RRWC Purple 43 – Lake Erie House 18
Quest 50 – AWC 12
RRWC Pink 30 – Lake Country 26