Chittenango wrestlers Connor Fredericks and Antonio Cutrie would both find themselves on the mats at Albany’s Times Union Center, taking part in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.
Fredericks, as the 171-pound Section III champion, entered the state meet with lots of confidence, saying he was aiming for the title, not just a podium finish. He would have to settle for the latter, but his fifth-place finish still capped a tremendous season.
Drawing the no. 5 seed, Fredericks met Serjey Thomas (Bronx Eagle Academy) in the first round. Against the Public School Athletic League champion, Fredericks twice led, by margins of 2-0 and 3-2, and twice got caught, but in the last minute of the third period Fredericks executed a two-point takedown and beat Thomas 5-3.
A few hours later, it was Fredericks against the no. 4 seed, Austin Carr (Bainbridge-Guilford-Afton-Harpursville). The Section IV champion took a 1-0 lead in the second period, but Fredericks tied it with a third-period escape and moments later, took the lead with a takedown. Though Carr escaped, Fredericks held on for a 3-2 decision.
Now Fredericks was two victories away from a state championship – but on Saturday morning his task got taller as, in the semifinals, he faced top seed Matthew Gaiser (Alexander), whose two wins in the tournament had come from first-period pins, one of them lasting just 18 seconds.
To his credit, Fredericks lasted all six minutes against Gaiser, but never got on the board, overwhelmed in a 10-0 defeat, but just by making the semifinals, Fredericks assured himself of a podium finish as Gaiser went on to pin Jason Hoffman (Hadley Luzerne/Lake George) for the state title later that night.
Following a 3-0 defeat to Pearl River’s Anthony Malfitano, Fredericks found himself in the fifth-place bout, and it was a rematch with Carr. This time, it wasn’t as close, Fredericks handling Carr 6-1 to complete his season on a winning note.
Cutrie had lost his 220-pound sectional final to General Brown’s Luke Rogers on Feb. 11, only to get pulled out of his class days later to find out that he had earned an at-large bid to the state tournament.
“I was just praying that I got the wild card,” said Cutrie. “I did not want to be watching from the stands.”
In the same half of the state bracket with Rogers, the no. 2 seed, Cutrie faced Tareq Ibrahim (Clarke) in the first round. They were tied, 3-3, when Cutrie took Ibrahim down just before the second period ended. Cutrie didn’t trail from there, adding a point on an escape and prevailing 6-3.
This set up a quarterfinal against Midlakes’ Hammon Raes, Cutrie raced to a 3-1 lead, got caught, and then went back in front 4-3 thanks to an escape in the second period.
Raes’ third-period escape tied it, 4-4, and the pair went to overtime. Here, Cutrie surrendered a point on a controversial call, and could not make it up, falling 5-4 and having to settle for a run through the consolation bracket.
Angry at the defeat, Cutrie took it out with a 37-second pin over Section XI champion John Goodell Friday night. Then, on Saturday, a win over George Williams (Waterloo) would guarantee a podium finish, but Williams pinned him in the second period. Top seed Tanner Zigarino (Mattituck) won the state title.
Both Cutrie and Fredericks were part of a Section III side that won the team portion of the state Division II meet with 275 points to Section V’s runner-up total of 220.5 points. Holland Patent’s Hunter Richard beat Phoenix’s Ross McFarland for a third state title as Central Valley Academy’s Tanner Cook (145 pounds), Hunter Shaut (140 pounds), plus South Jefferson-Sandy Creek’s Trey LaFlamme (113 pounds), took home state titles.
