Whether they were there for the first, second or third time, there was nothing quite like the pressure of wrestling for a state championship, as four local stars would discover last weekend.
At Albany’s Times Union Center, West Genesee’s all-time wins leader, Nate Wade, sought Division I (large school) honors at 132 pounds as Solvay’s Tyriq Block did the same at 182 pounds.
Meanwhile, in Division II, two wrestlers from the Marcellus program did the same, with sophomore Carl Santariello competing at 106 pounds and Dylan Price, an Onondaga High School wrester now affiliated with the Mustangs, was in his third state meet, seeking a place finish at 145 pounds.
Wade, who was a 99-pound wrestler when he went to the 2018 state meet, started in the opening round against Clarkstown South’s Jake Sullivan.
And it proved to be a wild bout, Wade going out in front 6-2 and, when Sullivan pulled within a point, 6-5, Wade answered with seven points in the final period to pull away and take it by a 13-7 margin.
But now Wade had to deal with undefeated top seed Zach Redding, from Eastport-South Manor, in the quarterfinals. Redding would prevail 13-5, sending Wade to the consolation bracket.
When Wade defeated Beckett Herman (Hendrick Hudson) 7-2 and Sean Garofal (Rockland) 12-5, he guaranteed a podium spot, but overtime defeats to Drew Wilham (Corning) and Jake Schneider (MacArthur) meant that Wade settled for sixth place, matching what WG’s Devin Earl did at 160 pounds in 2019.
Santariello, who had used hard off-season work and improvements in technique to go from good wrestler to sectional champion, had the no. 7 seed.
Facing Falconer’s Brayden Newman in the first round, Santariello earned five different takedowns in the first two periods, and though the gap closed to three points, Santariello’s late efforts produced a 14-8 victory.
Up against the no. 3 seed, Newfane’s Andy Lucinski, in the quarterfinals, Santariello’s state title bid ended with a 7-0 loss, but he rebounded by beating Ashton Seymour (Peru) and pinning Kieran Cullen (Greenville) to ensure a placement.
A close consolation-bracket semifinal had Santariello falling 5-1 to Hudson Falls’ Chris Petteys and, ultimately, he matched Wade’s sixth-place finish after a 7-5 loss to Shoreham-Wading River’s Craig Jablonski.
Block’s story was a special one, given that a broken shoulder and torn meniscus kept him off the mat during his junior season, but he returned as a senior, first helping Solvay’s football team win a Section III Class B title.
Then, returning to wrestling, Block went 33-4 this winter, defeating Rome Free Academy’s John Walston in the Feb. 15 sectional Division I final at SRC Arena to earn his trip to Albany.
The draw was not kind, though, putting Block against no. 3 seed Ryan Stencel (Lancaster) in the opening round.
Stencel would take quick control and ultimately pin Block in the waning seconds of the second period. Later that night, in a consolation bout, Block fell 10-7 to New Rochelle’s Nicholas Thomas.
Price had a no. 6 seed at 138, and took on a familiar opponent in the first round – General Brown’s David O’Neil, whom Price defeated in a technical fall in the sectional Division II semifinal.
The rematch was not that different, except that O’Neil avoided the technical fall by going all six minutes. Price got a 5-0 lead in the first 90 seconds and kept on expanding it until he shut out O’Neil 13-0.
And this led to a quarterfinal against the no. 3 seed, Gouverneur’s Carter Baer. Though Price kept the bout close, Baer prevailed 5-1, but Price was far from done.
Fulfilling his goal of reaching the awards podium, Price won three straight bouts in the consolation bracket, beating Brendon Ramsey (Chautauqua Lake) 10-3, Riley McHale (Lourdes) 8-0 and Zach Harrington (Sidney) 4-0, in that order.
Not until Saturday’s third-place bout did Price get stopped, but even that one was close as Mount Sinai’s Mike O’Brien prevailed 7-4, but Price still took fourth place honors and finished the season 42-10 overall.
