Keith Lanfear Photo
Earn first conference title since 2015
JOHNSON CITY – For the first time since 2015, Norwich stands at the top of the Southern Tier Athletic Conference (STAC) Podium. Finishing with four individual champions and four others place, the Purple Tornado bought home the STAC tournament championship Friday night.
Normally two days of wrestling, the STAC championships were condensed down to five and half hours.
Three of Norwich’s championships earned the title, like expected, after gaining a No. 1 seed to start. Dante Geislinger (106 pounds), Mikey Squires (152) and Tyler Rice (285) all tore through their bracket to reach the finals.
In the quarter finals and semifinals, all three wrestlers – who are also three of Norwich’s squad from last season that placed in the New York State Championships – pinned their first opponents.
Rice picked up his second STAC title of his young career as the Tornado sophomore pinned Elmira’s Jeremiah Cheatham third period.
Rice had 2-0 lead entering the third, where he scored a reversal. Prior to securing the pin at 5:34, the Norwich 285 pounder scored a near fall count to extend his lead.
Both of his pinfall wins came in the first period of his earlier matches, Geislinger had plenty of energy going into his finals match against Zach Levey of Horseheads.
The Tornado junior led 6-2 when Levey scored a reversal to pull within two points. Quickly reversing back, Geislinger then ran with it on his way to the 14-4 major decision to earn his third STAC title.
Facing a teammate of Levey in the finals, Squires matched up against Jacob Scibek.
Late in the third period, Squires trailed 3-2 following the reversal scored by Scibek. Trying to answer with a reversal of his own, the Norwich junior came close but couldn’t complete the move.
However, right before the buzzer went off to signal the end of the match Scibek was called for stalling, which awarded Squires the point he needed to force extra time on the mat.
Scoring a takedown in the early minutes of the overtime session, Squires was able to capture the 152 pound STAC title after the 5-3 decision.
Starting off the tournament with the No. 3 seed in his 120 pound bracket, Norwich’s Nick Glanville avenged his second place finish from a season ago by winning the STAC championship this year.
Glanville pinned Ithaca’s Kaya Cruz half way through the first period of the quarterfinals. In his next two matches – including the finals bout – Glanville rolled to the championship with back-to-back tech falls.
Defeating Vestal’s Peter Sacco with a 19-3 final, Glanville moved into the finals against Binghamton’s Constantine Gehring.
Continuing his moments from the first two matches of his path to the finals, the Tornado senior dominated with a tech fall win that ended the match in the second period.
Reaching the championship bout in the 113 pound bracket was Norwich’s Andrew Brown.
The Purple Tornado sophomore needed just 50 seconds to take down Vestal’s Chris Tozer in his first bout of the tournament.
With an 8-0 major decision win over Horseheads Tommy Dale, Brown secured his spot in the finals match.
Facing Dante Rigal of the host Johnson City Wildcats, Brown fell behind 2-0 in the early minutes of the first.
The score of 2-0 held through the second period and into the third.
With short time left in the match, Rigal caught Brown in a cradle and had the Norwich 113 pounder pinned. However, the match was paused as a discussion about Rigal stalling calls. Once figured out, the two wresters went back on the mat.
RIgal rode of the few seconds remaining to earn the 2-0 win over Brown.
After winning his first match, the Tornado’s Mason Edwards fell to Rigal with a pin the first period of the semifinals bout.
Recovering quickly, Edwards defeated another opponent Brown faced off against. The Norwich youngster defeated Dale with a 8-0 major decision, claiming third place for his first appearance at the conference championship tournament.
Edwards’ young colleague Max Morris added a third place finish for the Purple Tornado.
Morris defeated Trevor Cortright of Chenango Valley in the second period after getting Cortright to his back and finishing him with the pinfall at 2:53.
In the semifinals, Morris faced familiar foe. Taking on 99 pounder Tyler Ferarra of Chenango Forks, Morris knew what he was in for. The two met earlier this season in the dual between the two teams. Ferarra pinned Morris just seven seconds into the third period.
Looking for revenge from the earlier season loss, Morris held Ferarra off from picking up his second pinball of the season. Ferarra did lead into the third period and held on for the 8-1 decision.
Bouncing back in the consolation finals, Morris defeated Matt Laubach – who is has also faced this season – with an 8-6 decision to claim a third place finish.
This tournament was also the first time in the field for Morris.
Norwich’s final wrestler to place was senior Angel Francis, snagging a third place finish for the tournament.
Francis defeated Connor Strauss of Union-Endicott in the quarterfinals. Seeing CV’s Nathan Aylward, Francis went down with a 10-3 decision, ending his chance at the 170 pound title.
Determined to leave with a medal finish, The Norwich senior at 170 pounds caught a first period move on Chenango Fork’s Jeremiah Allen to put him on his back. Francis finished Allen off with a 1:41 pin to stand on the podium.
Norwich earned a total of 186 points, 58 points ahead of runner-up Chenango Forks’ 128 – who earned the Section IV Division-I dual championship in a stunning upset early this week. Horseheads claimed third with a 125.5 points.
The Purple Tornado host Dryden in a non-league dual meet on January 30. Some wrestlers will take part in the Whitney Point Junior Varsity Tournament Monday.
