Looking forward to 2007
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- December
- 31
  Let me first say that the first month of the wrestling season has been exciting with many dual matches coming down to the final bout. And of these, many were won by first-year varsity wrestlers – i.e. Doug Chiapperino of Carmel against New Rochelle and Steven Ramundo of Nanuet against Nyack.
  Some of the first-month highlights include Fox Lane’s dominance. The Foxes are undefeated, manhandling the opposition. Fox Lane has also won the Mamaroneck and O’Connell tournaments, as well as going 4-0 at the Wantagh (L.I.) dual-meet tournament.
  Many observers have noted that the 112-pound and 135-pound weight classes are wide open. Regarding the 112-pound class, Fox Lane’s Joey Grippi has pushed himself to the front, after beating East Ramapo’s Djimitry Georges, 6-2 in the O’Connell final.
  Carmel has carried over the momentum from an undefeated 2005-06 season into the current one. The Rams were 6-0 going into Christmas break. Carmel will face rival Mahopac on Tuesday, Jan. 8.
  Mark this down, the Section 1 Division I 125-pound final is all but set as Mahopac’s Dominick Oddo and North Rockland’s Marc Zurla will meet for a second consecutive year. Last year, Oddo held off a furious Zurla third-period charge to win the 112-pound title.
  On the Division II side, Pleasantville’s Michael Esteves has been next to untouchable and will continue to dominate. He is on schedule to win his third straight sectional title.
  Nanuet senior Rich Berkowitz is on the same path and will not be challenged in his quest for a fourth consecutive sectional title.
  And, before I forget, congratulations to Clarkstown North’s Nick Cifuni for becoming the school’s career victory leader and to Croton’s Steven Boulos for his 100th career win. His teammate, Frankie Tedesco, has 99 career wins and should join Boulos when Croton wrestles Haldane on Thursday, Jan. 4.
  These are just some quick thoughts about the first month. I have a feeling the season will continue to be interesting and exciting. I can’t wait.
  A Happy New Year to all the wrestlers, coaches, family and wrestling fans. And good luck when wrestling resumes Wednesday, Jan. 3.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, December 31st, 2006 at 1:20 pm by Tony Pinciaro. 
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LOOK OUT 2007 HAPPY NEW YEAR
can you please tell me what are the best wrestling websites that give you up to date wrestling matches for section 1.
Some random thoughts:
(1) Now that January is here, it will be interesting to see when or if many wrestlers start to drop down to compete at their post-season weight class. With the 50% rule in place this year (we had the 33% rule last season) today’s wrestlers can not wait until the last minute to drop down. 50% also means 1/2 of their actual weigh-ins, not half of the total matches wrestled so we should start to see some kids begin to make their move earlier rather than later.
(2) 125 seems to be the weight to go for the kid who wants to place but does not really have a shot to win the sections; the kids who have a real shot will move to 130 or drop to 119 due to Zurla and Oddo. And with the wild-card in place this year, they both may end up going to Albany anyway.
(3) I’m not sure how the section could actually implement a dual meet championship, but this season there are strong teams from Carmel, Fox Lane, and Arlington who will have to rely on a coaches’ poll to determine the “best” dual meet team. The sections will only determine the “best” tournament team, and that is where Mahopac will be a real threat due to the number of kids they have who will place high. Section IX does theirs too early in December to really determine anything (kids who are on football teams in the play-offs are not in top form when this is run). The advantage of running a section dual meet championship is that every team gets at least 2 more dual meets and they do not count against the 22 point schedule of points. The problem is finding an empty week when it could be run during the middle of the season which is quite difficult to do.
(4) I’d love to see the section/coaches start to schedule big dual meets on a Friday evening. Mahopac-Carmel on a Tuesday at 4:15?? That should be a prime time meet in the evening so that not only parents who work can be there, but other coaches and wrestlers could come to see it after their practices. There are plenty of other dual meets for both large and small schools that should be scheduled in the evening so there are big crowds and they become featured events. For years, I would have loved to see North Rockland-Suffern or Sleepy Hollow-Ossining, but who is going to cancel a practice to get there in the early afternoon in the middle of the week. When was the last time there was a big time basketball game scheduled in the middle of the week at 4:15? The answer is never and we should do our best to balance out the gym space between the two sports.
Great points Coach M.
1.The 50% thing will provide a new challenge to the season, I suspect a big move this week from many of the better wrestlers.
2.I do not follow the large schools enough to know about 119, 125 or 130. I know that the smalls will have many holes to fill from last years section 1 D-2 team.
3.A section 1 dual meet tourney would clear up the scene on who puts the best dual team on the mat. Honestly, the individual and team tournament titles at the end of the season is what we are working towards. Dual titles are nice, section titles are alot better!
4.Duals at night, great idea. Problem is that girls and boys hoops dominate the gym time for early to late evenings. Nanuet and Nyack dual the last night before the holiday break. We wrestle jv’s at 5:45pm and varsity at 7:00pm. It brings out the fans and the excitment, it is a good thing if you can get the gym time.
The true work for section 1 wrestling to improve has to happen in the spring and summer. I just returned from the Southern Scuffle hosted by UNC Greensboro. I was there to watch my nephew wrestle but I also followed some of NYS finest. Many of the former NY standouts did well, all of them were involved with the Empire State Games and USA wrestling. Their season did not end at the section 1 tournament or the NYS tourney, they changed into their freestyle/greco singlet and competed for summer titles. A website or dual torney will not make section 1 wrestling better, spring and summer wrestling will.
I agree about Mahopac being tough to beat in a big tourney such as the sectionals. Long Island allways does two top team lists, one for dual meets and one for tourneys, and for the most part have 2 different lists…
I would love to see the top teams in Sec 1 have a dual meet championship also
Also…
People are forgetting about two top teams this year, Somers and JJCR. Somers will do very well in any tourney because of
some very strong wrestlers while JJCR has a very good team from top to bottom and can give ANYONE in Sec 1 fits in a dual meet.
How can anyone pick a top ten list of teams ? They are so evenly matched teams this year, and that means a great sectional this year.
I’ll give it a try though heh
1. Fox Lane
2. Mahopac
3. Arlington
4. Carmel
5. Somers
6. JJCR
7. North Rockland
8. Suffern
9. New Rochelle
cya
In regards to Coach M’s statement to both Zurla or Oddo gaining a wild card entry.By my estimation Zurla has a much better chance than Oddo.Zurla has about 250 pts & Oddo has about 170 pts.
One other thought that could be interesting:
The new rule regarding two day tournament weigh-ins will make things a bit more interesting, too. New this season is the fact that for two day tournaments, there is NO weigh-out on Friday evening. All wrestlers still alive in the tournament will need to weigh-in the next morning with a one pound allowance. For wrestlers in the past who may have sucked out to make weight, had an “easy” early round match, then weighed out to come in the next day 10 pounds heavier, this new rule could really impact them, especially the light-weights. Now, the kid who is really pulling their weight will have to weigh-in Saturday morning, then turn around and have to wrestle within the hour. The kids that really maintain good weight control will benefit from this rule.
To RE: I haven’t done the math, but Zurla should have more points than Oddo based on past success in the post-season. But they will both have a good chance of moving on to the states IF they actually each make it to the section finals and go head-to-head. There are 4 wild cards per weight across the state and it’s hard to believe there will be others who will have higher scores.
What is the formula for determining points for potential wild card entries?
yea about that top ten list Phil, John Jay beat Somers in the finals of the North County News duals so it would only be fair to switch JJCR and Somers on your top 10
The points for the wild card are based on 3 criteria:
(1) difference between wins and losses for the current season
(2) Bouns points based on prior year sectional and state place finishes
(3) Power Points based on the past 6 year history of how many placewinners your section has had at the NYS tournament. The top 4 sections earn +10, the middle four earn +5, and the bottom 4 sections do not earn any points.
As of this season, a Section I wrestler will not earn any points from #3 in either Division One or Division Two.
In terms of Bouns Points, the points are as follows:
4th Section = 15
3rd Section = 20
2nd Section = 25
1st Section = 30
6th State = 35
5th State = 45
4th State = 55
3rd State = 65
2nd State = 75
1st State = 85
It is a complicated system and an improvement over what has been done in the past but not the solution. The real solution will be the bill currently in Albany for multiple entries based on number of schools participating in the section. Under that system, Section I would send their top 3 qualifiers. Just think how much more exciting the wrestle-backs will be for the kids who lose but still have a chance to move on. And the finals may see kids open up a bit more since they will be both going to the next level.
Greg, I put Somers over JJCR only for the sectionals. The reason I did this
was because I feel Somers will have more wrestlers in the semi’s than JJCR. I think both teams are exceptional.
So many of the big matchups this year have been so close. I can’t wait for Fox Lane vs JJCR !
cya
I would like to thank Tony, the Coaches and others for putting sensible information on this blog. Pursuant to Tony’s comment re Fox Lane. It was not reported in today’s paper, but FL defeated Nyack yesterday. Believe the score was 55-12. FL losses were at 171, 135, and 119.
Fox Lane Parent…
Since you are well informed with the FL team, could you tell me why we had 4 starters out for our last tourney, and also what is the status on the 125lb wrestler who won at Mamaroneck, but who hasn’t wrestled since ?
PS…I can’t wait for the next two big tourneys to see how we stack up with the big boys !
cya
Phil,
At Pearl River 125 was sick, 119 missed weight, and two others were away. It is 119 that has not wrestled recently.
Thanks FLP
cya