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