B-R grapplers denied chance for 5-peat, but crown 5 titlists at B2 Championships in Lyndonville; Wellsville, Fillmore/Keshequa also place with strong finishes in B3 Finals at C-G

CANISTEO/LYNDONVILLE — The hunt for some of wrestling’s finest glory had officially arrived, Saturday afternoon.

All three of Allegany County’s squads hopped on the bus to begin their quest towards Sectional eminence, with Wellsville and Fillmore/Keshequa making the trip across the way to Canisteo-Greenwood for the Class B2 Finals, while Bolivar-Richburg went north to Lyndonville for the Class B3 Finals.

Many matches would come and go across both venues all throughout the afternoon. In the end, many qualifiers for next weekend’s Super Sectional Tournament would arise, including five Bolivar-Richburg champions from within their third place, 172-point finish behind eventual champion Lyndonville (215 points) and South Seneca (180.5 points) in the B3 Championships.

All five wins came by two major decisions and three pin-fall triumphs, with Gary McDowell starting the day off with the team’s first at 110 pounds, taking complete advantage in his bout against Lyndonville’s Christian Garver to capture the 11-0 major decision win. A pair of matches later, Trey Buchholz then garnered some hardware of his own, defeating Red Jacket’s Hasen Weatherbee with a 9-0 major decision victory of his own at 126 pounds.

Bolivar-Richburg’s next champion would come until halfway through at the 160 pound weight class, from Tavyn MacDonell, as he hung tough up against local rival Kanye Cumberbatch of Alfred-Almond to deliver a pin-fall win at the 3:19 mark during the second period.

In the heavyweight division, Caden Allen and Trent Sibble both followed with Championship-clinching victories themselves, with Allen warding off a tough fight at 215 pounds from Warsaw’s Patrick Grover with a second period pin-fall at 3:05, while Sibble took care of business at 285 pounds with a pin-fall win over Sam Doolan of Lyndonville with just 17 seconds left in the opening period.

“They all wrestled tough, and they did exactly what we asked of them,” Wolverines coach Andrew Taylor said. “We wanted to grab some bonus points, but we didn’t have enough horsepower down the stretch to send us over the top. All the kids wrestled hard, and it was a strong showing. You can’t really ask for much more than that. To put five guys in the Finals and have five champions coming out of it, that’s a pretty big feat in itself.”

The Wolverines also grabbed three additional qualifiers for next week’s Super Sectional Tournament, with James Gleason (fifth place, 102 pounds), Teegan Sibble (third place, 118 pounds) and Zack Mitchell (fifth place, 172 pounds) all making the cut.

Down south at Canisteo-Greenwood, 11 more placers will join Bolivar-Richburg on that same trip to Brockport, eight of them from Wellsville in what was a dynamic showing of wrestling for the Lions across the entire day, as the team collected a Top 5 finish with a fifth place, 133.5 point conclusion to the day.

Wellsville came close to crowning three champions themselves, but Xander Outman, Shane Davidson and Gabe Black all settled on second place finishes in their respective weight classes, with Outman falling to Letchworth’s Chris Shearing at 160 pounds via pin-fall, Davidson to Byron-Bergen’s Malachi Smith in a narrow and hard-fought 3-1 decision at 189 pounds, and Black in a 6-2 decision defeat to the hands of LeRoy’s Tony Piazza at 215 pounds.

Other placements the Lions garnered were from Jayden Acker (third place, 110 pounds), David Clark (fourth place, 118 pounds), Jack Cicirello (fifth place, 132 pounds), Brayden Riley (fifth place, 138 pounds) and Matt Ritter (sixth place, 152 pounds).

“It was a good weekend, everyone fought hard and wrestled tough,” Lions coach Tyler Carman said. “Five freshman are going up to Brockport and we have some senior leadership joining them as well. I'm looking forward to yet another big weekend for our guys. We had three guys fight for Sectional titles against some of the best wrestlers out there. They may not have gotten their patch, but they fought hard and got a chance to go out and compete for more.”

Fillmore/Keshequa saw three of their grapplers all find the podium at the end of the day, with Graham Howe and his fifth place finish at 110 pounds leading the way. Alivia Cartwight (118 pounds) and Gage Hartman (189 pounds) both placed sixth.

“Graham, Liv and Gage were our leaders today. While all three fell in the Quarterfinals, they were able to battle back through the wrestle-backs to punch their tickets to Brockport next week,” said Fillmore/Keshequa coach Jarrett Vosburg. “While their path wasn’t the easiest, days like today are ones that mark growth in underclassmen careers. We hope to use next weekend’s State Qualifier as yet another learning experience in a season that has been all about growth and improvement.”

Next weekend, the State Qualifier will officially get underway with a chance to lock in a bid for the New York State Tournament on the line. The action will begin next Saturday, February 11 at SUNY Brockport.