For the first time, Chittenango High School is the proud home of a state wrestling champion.
Bears senior Connor Fredericks reached that pinnacle Saturday night at Albany’s Times Union Center, taking the 182-pound Division II title in the New York State Public High School Athletic Assocation tournament.
Seven previous times, Chittenango wresters had reached the state meet. None had finished better than third place, which Rusty Dean accomplished in 1993 and Wes Blanding matched in 2011.
So when Fredericks defeated Norwich’s Brennan Slater in the semifinal round, he guaranteed the Bears’ best-ever finish in a state meet, but one more victory would get him to the top of the podium.
The final Saturday night pitted Fredericks against Ausable Valley’s Chance Lapier, and the key moment came in the opening minute, when Fredericks engineered a takedown to give himself a 2-0 lead.
Lapier earned a point for an escape, but with the lead going to the second period Fredericks, from the down position, made his own escape, restoring his earlier margin.
Up 3-1 going to the third period, Fredericks allowed Lapier to escape again for a single point. For the last 90 seconds, Fredericks deftly avoided Lapier’s lunges and, by a 3-2 margin, completed a 37-2 season and earned that state championship.
Fredericks entered the state meet as the no. 3 seed, looking to improve upon his fifth-place finish in the state meet at 170 pounds in 2017.
The approach, said Fredericks before the tournament, was to wrestle “smart and tough”, and not be in a defensive mode.
Fredericks took on Mount Sinai’s Mike Sabella in the first round last Friday afternoon, and almost got eliminated from title contention early.
It proved a close, tense battle, with Fredericks and Sabella each held to single-point escapes in the six minutes of regulation before a takedown in overtime allowed Fredericks to prevail 3-1.
A few hours later, it was on to the quarterfinals, where Fredericks faced Olean’s Patrick Walsh. The first period decided matters as Fredericks registered a takedown and near-fall to build a 5-0 advantage. Though Walsh recovered, Fredericks still rolled to a 6-1 decision.
Now, on Saturday morning, Fredericks met Slater, the no. 2 seed. Slater had a 45-4 record and had only given up one point in his first two decisions.
Even after getting saddled with a penalty point, Fredericks worked his way to the lead, eventually going up 6-2 through two periods. The third period proved active, but though Slater earned some points, Fredericks matched them on his way to an 11-6 victory.
Eight hours later, Fredericks was a state champion, one of six that Section III produced at the Division II level. Central Valley Academy’s Marek Bush (113 pounds), Copenhagen’s Dempsey Carroll (152 pounds), Phoenix’s Ross McFarland (170 pounds), Canastota’s Doug Simmons (195 pounds) and South Jefferson-Sandy Creek’s Joe Benedict (220 pounds) also went to the top.
