By MAGGIE FITZER OBSERVER Sports Writer

WESTFIELD - Portville tallied 186 team· points to come away with the team title at the Section VI Class A wrestling tournament held in the Westfield High School Gym. The top area school was Sil­ver Creek, which finished third with 131 1/2 points, behind two Division 1 schools. Franklinville placed second.

Gene O'Connor decisioned Akron's Rich Files at 112 pounds for the Black Knights' lone first­place finish. Files began strong as O'Connor struggled back and outscored Files 3-0 in the final two periods.

I I

'Fred Hallett placed second at heavyweieht. Hallett's nemesis, Chris Gray of Frewsburg, pinned Hallett in three minutes and forty­eight seconds for the first pin of the champio11ships. Hallett and Gray struggled through the second period. Hallett put Gray on his knees and held on as Gray attempted to stand with Hallett on his back. Gray gained a two-point advantage before pinning Hallett. Both will advance to the state qual­ifier at the University of Buffalo next weekend.

I . fr m silver Creek

Also advanCing 0 h (98) scott R n Kavanaug ' .

are 9 (119) and Carlos AlClvar Mannmg , (155).

1 d with our perfor-

"I was p ease K . , Silver Creek coach. evm

mance, . d "All season we Davenport sal ~d we stressed the stressed team a

You've really got a u•~··~··''" Brad Rowe to apply pressure to Portville's John Debarbieri during finals of

bout in the Section VI, Class A Wrestling Tournament in Westfield Saturday. -----------· Ryan Bentley, ranked eighth in (119), J.J. Gillian (lOS), Brad Smith

the state at his weight, battled (145) and Matt Pagano (155) move Chad Caros of Franklinvllle, the ahead for Westfield. Clutter ded-. number two wrestler in the state at sioned Pine Vailey's Bryan Smith,· 126. Bentley took his match into 5-3, at 138 for first place. Ben Ferry overtime as he scored one point (Wilson) decisioned Matt Pagano with five seconds left in regulation. at 155. Pagano placed second. Caros scored two points 25 sec- "As a team I expected to finish in onds into the overtime period for the top five or six,, Westfield the decision. coach Rich Marotto said. "We fin­

individual here and we finished third behind two Division 1 teams."

Ripley will be sending four wrestlers to the qualifier. Brad Rowe (119) and Greg Bentley (132) won their bouts to advance. Aaron Rowe (91) and Ryan Bentley (126) lost their championship matches, but will still advance.

Ripley finished fourth overall ished one point out of fifth place. with 130 points.

Alex Clutter (138), Alan Pagano See

Overall I be more u1t:a:>t:u

with how the kids did." Smith finished second behind

Clutter. Dennis Stein placed fourth

for the Panthers at 132 while Rob

Green placed third at 177.

Tim Davis placed fourth for Cas­

sadaga Valley at 167 pounds.

Westfield finished sixth as a

team with 122 points as Pine Val­

ey placed 12th with 59 1/2 points

and Cassadaga Valley earned 42

points for 13th place. Brad Verboskey (Maple Grove)

made the quickest pin in the

championship matches as he

downed Randolph's Ben Cuckler in

the unlimited match-up.

The wrestling coaches at the

tournament voted Mike Butler of

Akron the Most Outstanding

Wrestler of the tournament. Butler

won the 98-pound ~out.

ill

1-Portville 186; 166 1 /2;

3-Silver Creek 131 1/2; 4-Ripley 130; 5-

Maple Grove 123; 6-Westfield 122; 7 •

Frewsburg 1 04 1 /2; 8-Akron 93; 9-Sala­

manca 88; 10-Wilson 83; 11-Panama 78;

12-Pine Valley 59 1/2; 13-Cassadaga Val­

ley 42; 14-Randolph 39; 15-Holland 24. Individual places

91-Vic Arena (Sal), Aaron Rowe (Rip),

Pat Dove (Frw), David Lowe (Frk), Ryan

Marvin (SC), Elijah Eddy (Pan); 98-Mike

Butler (Ak), Matt Warters (Port), Ron

Kavanaugh (SC); Seth Lind (MG), Ed Pal­

de (Pan), Chris Reese (Wfd); 1 05-joe

Sweet (Frk), Kevin Ellis (Wils), j.J. Gillian

(Wfd), Travis Kirsh (Hoi), Johsn Miller

(CV), Todd Weaver (MG); 112-Gene

O'Connor (SC), Rich Files (Ak), Matt

O'Connor (Wils), Bill Crool<s (Frk), Brian

Olson (Wfd), Bill Stefan (Port); 119-Brad

Rowe (Rip), john DeBarbieri (Port), Scott

Manning (SC), Alan Pagano (Wfd), . Ed

Dallas (Pan), Biff Weigle (Frk); 126-Chad

Caros (Frk), Ryan Bentley (Rip), Bill Prince

(Frw}, jeremy Hollabaugh (Pan), jason

ill

I I

Hoffmier (Port), Bob Mills (Rand); 132-

Greg Bentley (Rip), Walt Stanton (Frw),

joe DeBat~eri (Port), Chad Birch (Pan),

Dennis Ste1n--{P.'ll), john Vogan (MG)i

138-Aiex Clutter (Wfd), Bryan Smith

(PV), Loren Gray (Frk), AI Weitzel (Sal),

Dan Wilson (MG), jim Neal (Rand); 145-

Rod Kelly (Frk), Brian Keefer (fy!G), Matt

Dove (Frw), Brad Smith (Wfd), Chuck

Baum (Rip), Trevor Swanson (Pan); 155-

Ben Ferry (Wils), Matt Pagano (Wfd), jim

Giboo (Frk), Carlos Alcivar (SC), Bryan

Yates (Port), jack Vail (Sal); 167-Brad

Early (Sal), jess Caya (Port), Eric Kraft

(MG), Tim Davis (CV), Phil DePasquale

(SC), Gilbert Henry (Rip); 177-Adam Bab­

cock (Port), Bill Roberto (Ak), Rob Green

(PV), jason Caros (Frk), Byron Bauer

(Pan), Justin Ramsdell (SC); 215-Chris

Gray (Frw), Fred Hallett (SC), Bryan Scan­

lon (Port), Lucas Schrock (Ak), Steve

Duncan (Rip), Jim Caldwell (MG); UNL­

Brad Verbosky (MG), Ben Cuckler (Rand),

jqsh Bova (Port), jeff Durham (Wils),

Todd Fryberger (SC). ..

''l'.d lik,e to take four kids to states,''

. · · · - . Carletoi1 sa1d .. !1 '.I;m not· goii)g>tq, ~(:)lee four,

By MATTHEW WAKEFIELD But 25 seconds mto the extra penod,butlthinklhaveashci'tif(.rtak:e'three.'' '

. W,ESTFIELD - The _Port~ille Pa~the~·s Caros rec.~rd~d a ta~edown to defeat Bentley Coach DeBarbieri;tirL'the 6th.er hand;

dtdn. t have many champH"!ns m Saturday s for,~he thud. ttme thts ,seasot:J.. . isli 't sure what to expect from hts young

Sectwn 6 Class A Wrestlmg Tournament, . E~ery time Ryan s g~ttm.g a httle cl~ser. te;am in the playoffs. , ,

but they didn't need them. , . Thts ttme he pushed hu~ t.nto ov~rtune .. · · ... ' 'l hope they dq goqa,.,btlt th~fre

. The .Panthers wrestled th~tr way to the ~opefully they 11 meet a gam m th~ ,fm~ls ,up young, •, he said. ''What's .niqe ~b .. o .l,lt 1.t ts ~

. tttle wtth only one champwn - Adam. m Buffalo a week froJ_TI today, Rtpley have evetybody back but one ktd; wost of

Ba?,cock,at 177. . coach John Carleton said. "The only guy them for two years.:' _ .• . . . i) • , •

You ve got to have a lot of kids place, · ... . . . ·Silver Creek hatLone champwn - Gene

'and I did,'' said Portville coach Mike who could have beaten Ryan Bentley tomght ·O'Connor at 112. The Black Knights' Fred

DeBarbieri, whose team had the tournament was Chad Caros." . . . · Hallett had' a' chaQoce for a champwnship tl,P

.clinched before the finals started. "The kids Franklinville's other champiOns we·r.e Joe 2_\ after one 'per~o.d bu.t.:Fr. ··.e· ... w. s.l5"ug's .... Chr.ls

wrestled good today. They all wrestled in Sweet a~ 105 and Rod Kell~y at 145., both Gra came back .to 'pin lJ.im· iii 3:4~. Gray

wrestle backs and that's what won it.'' . : repeat wmners from last ~ear ~ to.urna~e~t. aveXged a loss to Hallett ·¢arlie,r thts ~eek

· The top four finishers in the tournament ·· B.abcock recorded hts wm tt_l thnllmg and now has won two of three meetmgs

at each weight class will advance to next fashwn. Th~ sophomore fell behm? 8-2 to against the Silver Creek ace.

weekend's Section 6 tournament at the Akl'on's Phll.Rob.erto before stormm.g back Brad Verbosky finished the tour~ament

University at Buffalo's Alumni Arena. fo_r seven pomts 111 the last two penods to with a pin at 250 over Randolph s Ben

,, . Franklinville, which had three champions, wm 9-8.. . . . . Cuckler in 29 seconds.

¥jinished second to Portville's 186 points Portville's other top ftmshers we!e J~ss 1

See PORTVILLE on Page B-3

[with a total of 166 Yz. Silver Creek was Caya, who was second ~o Sal~m.anca s Brad

with, 131 Y2, followed by Ripley at ! E~rley ~t 167; John.De~arbten, second to

Grove at 123, Westfield at 122 Ripley s Brad Rowe at, 11 ~; and Ma,tt

u,.,,.,,,,h,..·n at 104 y2 • Watters, second to Akron s Mtke Butler at,

to their lone champion, the 98. . . . . ';

Panthers three second-place finishers ~~tler, who downed Wart~rs With, a 6~~

and three thitds. dects~on, was named the tournament s p~l::

· Franklinville got one of its chm1)pions in standi?g.westler.. . . . . · ... · ..•.... · '

perhaps the tournament's top nl:atch. At 126, Pot.t~Il~~ al.~o had thad places fto~n ~oe

the Panthers' Chad Caros the state's sec- DeBarbteu, ~nan Scanlon, and Josh BoVf:~:.

. . d . 1 ·d· w. 1. · , Along With BentleY s. second-place,

ond-~anke Wiest er accor mg to vvtest mg R' ley got championshipsrrom Brad Rowe

R~vre~v of Western N_ew Y01:k, took on df9) and Greg BentleyO}g) alld a second

Rtpley ~ Ry~n Bent~ey, Ian ked. eighth. . . from Aat'ort Rowe (98) to sertd. four to next

~fter falhng behmd 4-2 early 111 the thud week's sectional playoffs. . ..

penod after a takedown, Bentley came back · · ·

with an escape with 30 seconds remaining

and was awarded a penalty point with five

seconds left when Caros stalled, tying the

match at 4.