Fox Lane crowns a pair of champions at Section 1 wrestling finals

By JIM MACLEAN

Fox Lane senior wrestler Alex Berisha has done it all on the mats in terms of Section 1 wrestling. He became a three-time Section 1 champion winning the 215-pound crown Feb. 12, at the Westchester County Center, but then he added a new award to his growing trophy case as he was selected Most Outstanding Wrestler in the heavyweights by the Section 1 coaches.

Berisha has bigger goals in mind as he prepares for the upcoming New York State championships, but he admits it was a nice surprise to win his first MOW award to cap off his final Section 1 championship tournament. He made it look easy as he pinned his first three opponents in 30 seconds or less to advance to the finals, where he scored a 9-2 victory over Michael Mauro of John Jay/East Fishkill for the crown. Now, he returns to the state tournament where he finished second last year.

“I never won this (MOW) and it feels great to be recognized like this, shows all the hard work I’ve put in paid off,” Berisha said of his MOW. “Every match, just take it one at a time and move on to the next one, just executing the way I know I should. I’m very excited to go back to Albany. This is what I’ve had my eyes on since freshman year, winning a state title. I’m really fired up after last year, I put in so much work, and now I’ve got to go up there and get it done.”

Berisha was not the only Fox Lane wrestler dominating on the mats at the Section 1 finals, and he will have company up in Albany at the state tournament as teammate Luke Ryan was crowned as a Section 1 champion.

Ryan dominated the 160-pound weight class to win his first Section 1 championship. Ryan pinned his first two opponents in the first period, and he then scored a 17-2 tech fall victory over Jojo Kern of John Jay in the semifinals to advance to the title bout.

In the finals, Ryan finished off Cornelius Luth of Rye with a pin at the 3:41 mark to claim the crown. Unlike Berisha as a returning champion, Ryan didn’t place and didn’t win a match at sectionals last year, and he missed a couple of weeks with an injury earlier in the season, but came on strong to rule his weight class.

“I was really energized going into that finals match, last year I went 0-2 at sectionals, so there was a lot of fire behind this,” explained Ryan. “I just came in thinking I was the best wrestler and if I wrestled my match it could go my way, just focus on one match at a time. I put in a lot of hard work off season, which gave me confidence to reach the next level.”

John Jay will have one wrestler headed to the state tournament as freshman David Corrales finished second in the 101-pound weight class. He pinned his first two opponents and then won by tech fall in the semifinals before falling in the title bout. Corrales then had to wrestle in a True-Second bout to earn a trip to the state tournament, and he made it look easy with a pin at 0:39 to punch his ticket to Albany.

“I didn’t think I’d be placing second at sectionals and going to Albany and I’m really proud and happy that I’m going,” admitted Corrales. “Before Christmas break, I was like 20-1 and that gave me a little confidence and I just kept going, trying to get a little better every day.”

Jojo Kern came close to joining him for a trip upstate as the John Jay senior battled back for a third-place finish at 160 pounds. Kern won his first two bouts to advance to the semifinals. After falling to Ryan, Kern bounced back to win two bouts by decision to finish third and earn a True-Second match for a chance to go to the state tournament, but he fell to Luth of Rye.

Ryker McCarthy also finished third for John Jay as the sophomore battled in the 285-pound weight class. McCarthy won two bouts by decision to advance to the semifinals where he suffered a 12-5 loss, but he bounced back to win two more matches to finish third.

Barron Ransom of Fox Lane finished fourth at 190 pounds as he won his first two matches by tech fall and pin before suffering a tough 8-7 loss in the semifinals.

Jake Llanos of John Jay earned a fourth-place finish at 170 pounds as he won his first bout before falling in the second round. Llanos bounced back to win three-straight bouts, including a 10-7 victory over the second-seed, but he suffered a tough 11-8 loss in overtime to finish fourth.

Fox Lane’s Piero DiNicola finished fifth at 124 pounds, and it took a pair of victories by decision over John Aniello of John Jay. DiNicola pulled out an 8-6 win over Aniello to advance to the semifinals, and the two met again in the bout for fifth-place with DiNicola scoring a 9-4 win for fifth as Aniello finished sixth.

It was an exciting tournament with highs and lows for both teams. North Rockland won the team title with a total of 111.5 points, but just 10 points separated the next seven teams in the standings. Yorktown was second with 96 points, Fox Lane was seventh with 89 points, and John Jay was eighth with 86 points.

“These kids put so much into this and it can be heartbreaking, this is one sport where it is personal out there, and they all wrestled hard,” Fox Lane coach Anthony Rodrigues said of his team. “The transformation that Luke made in the course of a year is incredible. His whole mindset changed. I’ve coached a lot of really good wrestlers and I’ve never had a kid make that big of a jump. Piero too, he was 2-13 last year and he won 38 matches. They all made jumps, Barron had a tough day today, but he came from nowhere and had a great year. Alex is just so dominant, he did what he had to do, he’s in a good place and we’re excited to see what he can do in Albany.”

John Jay coach Mark Swertfager also felt it was a good tournament for the Wolves in his first season as head coach.

“A good day, a good start to where we want our program to be,” said Swertfager. “David is coming up on 40 wins as a freshman, the future is bright for him. Jojo never backs down, just keeps going to the final whistle. Jake had a great year, beat a high seed that he had lost to twice already and he comes out and beats him. Ryker was a JV wrestler last year and he comes in and takes third in the section. A good tournament and a good year to build on.”

The New York state wrestling championship tournament will take place Friday, Feb. 28 and Saturday, March 1 at the MVP Arena in Albany.

Pictured from top to bottom, Alex Berisha scores a takedown on his way to the 215-pound Section 1 title. Fox Lane’s Barron Ransom pins an opponent. Luke Ryan of Fox Lane scores some back points on his way to 160-pound Section 1 title. Ryker McCarthy of John Jay hand fights in 285-pound semifinal bout. David Corrales of John Jay makes his move in 101-pound title bout.  Jim MacLean Photos