By JIM MACLEAN
Fox Lane somehow ended up as the No. 16-seed in the Section 1 Division 1 dual-meet championship tournament, and the Foxes were determined to prove that the seeds were wrong.
Two days later, and the Foxes are still standing, moving on to the semifinals of the tournament. Fox Lane went out on the first day of the tournament and knocked off Lakeland/Panas 51-22, to earn the chance to face off against top-seed and defending champion Yorktown. The Foxes pulled out a 37-32 win over the Huskers, and that set up a quarterfinal bout on the road at Arlington the next day, and the Foxes defeated the Admirals 40-32 to move on to the semifinals.
A big step for a 16th seed, but Fox Lane knows what it takes to win at this tournament. The Foxes have won their share of titles, including two years ago, and now they take aim at another possible title as one of four teams left.
“We’re not a 16th seed, we’ve had our moments in this tournament, but we didn’t talk about wins, we’re just doing our thing one day at a time trying to get better,” said Fox Lane coach Anthony Rodrigues. “It’s a team effort — with wrestling it’s not like Lebron James can score 50 points and take over, every match has its own entity and every point counts.”
At Yorktown on Monday, Fox Lane opened the tournament with the win over Lakeland/Panas, and then moved on to the second-round match against the host Huskers.
Brandon Lee got the Foxes off to a good start as he won his match by pin at 116 pounds, and Piero DiNicola came up with a quick pin at 131 pounds to make it 12-4. Fox Lane trailed 19-15, but the Foxes showed where the strength of the lineup lies with four-straight wins in the upper weight classes to build a 37-19 lead that the Huskers could not overcome despite winning the last two matches to make the final score 37-32.
Luke Ryan started the run for Fox Lane with a victory by tech fall at 170 pounds to give the Foxes a 20-19 lead. Barron Ransom followed with a win by pin at 190 pounds, and then Oscar O’Donnell-Powell won by pin at 215 pounds. Alex Berisha bumped up to 285 pounds and scored a 16-1 victory by tech fall to secure the win for the Foxes.
“We’re strong up top with Luke, Barron and Alex, and even having Oscar is huge for us, he would start on most of the other teams in the section,” explained Rodrigues. “The key tonight was having Brandon Lee, he couldn’t get back into the lineup until today. Piero DiNicola had two big wins and got the pin against Yorktown, that was huge and he’s wrestling well. We’re just starting to put it together and we’re working hard and doing the best we can.”
Fox Lane also trailed in the first round against Lakeland/Panas, down 22-15, before rolling to six-straight wins to close out the match with a 51-22 victory. Maynor Argueta and Marvin Alarcon both came up with pins, and then Chris Bloom, Ryan, Ransom, Berisha and Jack Morals reeled-off five-straight pins to lead the Foxes to the win.
That set the stage for the quarterfinal match at Arlington, and once again the Foxes came through when it counted to earn the win and move on to the semifinals.
Fox Lane was set to compete with the final four teams in the semifinals and finals on Thursday at Westlake High School. In the semifinals it will be Fox Lane against North Rockland, and John Jay against Briarcliff/Byram Hills/Westlake/Valhalla. The winners will then move right into the championship bout, while the two semifinal losers will meet on the other mat at Westlake.