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Here's the last updates from states. Anything else (pics, etc.) I will put up later. 112 - John Diekel fought hard but was beaten by teach fall (16-1) by Nick Tighe. John finishes in sixth place at his first state championships. 125 - Curt Thompson was only able to score an escape in the third period, with Ryan Osleeb scoring and escape, takedown and penalty point to score a 4-1 victory. Thompson finishes sixth in his third and final championship appearance as a Railroader. 160 - Travis Beayon Was down after one period, but scored a flurry of points to take a 8-2 lead into the third quarter and score a 9-4 win to finish in fifth place in his final match as a Railroader. 171 - Zach Diekel pinned Brandon Mills at the 2:58 mark to finish in fifth place.
Here's the results of the semifinals in the consolation bracket: 112 - John Diekel got a very poor call against him in the first period, and Tom Page took advantage in scoring a 5-0 win against John in the semis. Page scored all of his points in the third period, while John could have had just as many in the first if it was not for a quick-fire stalemate call by the official. Things are going real fast, so I really don't know who is going to face John in the sixth place match. 125 - Curt Thompson could have had a takedown right before the end of the first period, but was unable to finish it. Patrick Hogan then scored four points in the second period and got one more in the third as he defeated Curt 5-2. Curt will next wrestle for fifth place. 160 - It came down to a first period fall, unfortunately. Travis Beayon was taken down by Ray Wang in the first period and no more points were scored in the 2-0 defeat. Travis will now wrestle for fifth place. 171 - Zach Diekel scored an early takedown against Jon Glennon, and then the two battled. Glennon scored five points in the second period on a takedown and back points, while Zach scored four points to start the third before Glennon got a reversal and finished out a 8-6 win. Zach will now wrestle for fifth place.
Here we go, it's day two and we're set to go with four consolation quarterfinal match-ups. Here's what we got (refresh this page for updates): 112 - John Diekel found himself down 2-0 after a takedown by Sam Recco after the first quarter, but choose top in the second period and scored three back points to take the lead. An extra point on a stall call in the third would finish the scoring at 4-2 in favor of Diekel. John will next face first round opponent Tom Page in the consolation semifinals. 125 - As expected, there was not much scoring in Thompson-Borst III. Evan started the scoring in the second with an escape, but Thompson was able to score a reversal early in the third period and hold on for the 2-1 victory. Curt will face Patrick Hogan in the consolation semifinals. 160 - Travis Beayon scored four points in the second period and fought through a reverse in the third to score a 4-2 victory. Travis was injured in the middle of the second, but was able to get the back points after the injury timeout. Travis will face Ray Wang in the consolation semifinals. 171 - Zach Diekel was tied 2-2 after on period against Arnold Gomez, with no scoring in the second period. In the third, Zach scored four quick points and then kept pushing the pace with takedowns to score the 10-5 victory. Zach will now face Jon Glennon in the consolation semifinals.
There is now a slideshow up on our video blog with shots from the first round and quarterfinals of the state wrestling tournament with John Diekel, Curt Thompson, Travis Beayon, Zach Diekel and Grant Gebo. We'll have some more shots and maybe a little post game from today, so keep in touch. Here's the link for day one slideshow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjU_rkui2k8
Here's what happened at states while I was at the girls game: 112 - John Diekel picked up a pair of falls, scoring a tech fall against Cory Necketopoulos and a fall at 1:21 against Joey Paddock. He will face Sam Recco in the consolation quarterfinals tomorrow morning. 125 - Section II Battle III will take place tomorrow morning, as Curt Thomspon rebounded with a major decision against Gerardo Alvarez. His "reward;" a third meeting in four weeks against Evan Borst - the rubber match! 160 - Travis Beayon pinned Vin Desousat at 4:47 to advance to face Neal Vecellio in the consolation quarters tomorrow morning. 171 - Zach Diekel scored a 13-2 major decision against Kasten Carter and will face Arnold Gomez in the consolation quarters. 215 - Grant Gebo scored a 9-3 decision against Jake Edington in his first wrestle-back, but his season ended when Noah Sibley scored a 3-1 victory against him in the second round. So, four are still in the mix for a podium spot along with Granville's Karl Palmer. Wrestling starts tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m.
Here is the link to the post-game video from the Lady Railroaders win against Fort Edward on Friday night. It was a very good game for the team and everyone got a chance to play heading into the Section II/Class D semifinal against Heatly on Tuesday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flEtdaL8dWY
Three into the quarters - here's how they did: 125 - The top seed Quinton Murphy was the first to do what he was supposed to. After two top seeds were upended and two more challenged, Murphy jumped out to a 4-0 lead after one period and scored a 10-4 win against Curt Thompson. Thompson worked hard to keep off his back, but was unable to get any prolonged offense. Curt will face the winner of the Kyle Underwood and Gerardo Alvarez in the second round of wrestlebacks tonight. 160 - Travis Beayon came out early and had a 3-0 lead early in the second period, but Zach Zupan fought back to tie the score at 4-4- heading into the final period. Zupan then got an escape after choosing to go down to start the period and that it how it remained, with Beayon dropping a 5-4 decision. Travis will face the winner of the Vin Desousa and John Wood match later tonight in the wrestlebacks. 171 - A very rough quarterfinal round was capped off when Zach Diekel suffered a 11-6 defeat by Austin Hayes. Hayes scored early and often as he built a 6-2 lead that Zach was not able to come back from. Zach will now face the winner of the Nevin Parish and Kasten Carter match later tonight in the wrestlebacks.
The first round has started, and here is what went down (This entry will update after each match): 112 - John Diekel was taken down in the first period by Tom Page of Eden, but scored two back points near the end of the second period to tie the score at 2-2. Diekel tried to fend off an escape by Page in the third, but got called for neck scissors, a one-point penalty. The match ended at 3-2. John will now face Cory Necketopoulos, who was beaten by Noah Valastro in the opening round. 125 - In a very exciting match, Curt Thompson took a 2-0 lead after the first period thanks to a takedown. Vinnie Napierski got two reversal points for a 2-2 match heading into the final period, and quickly got two more on back points to take a 4-2 lead. It appeared that Thompson was going to get the whistle for stalemates at the wrong time for the rest of the, but with about 15 seconds left, Thompson hit on a reversal and got two back points as time expired for the 6-4 win. Curt will next face top-seed Quinton Murphy of Holley in the quarterfinals. 160 - Travis Beayon started his state tourney the way he finished so many matches this season, with a pin. Travis got two quick points for a takedown, and then waited out Brian Dillman until he got the fall at 1:58. Travis will face Zach Zupan in the quarterfinals. 171 - Everyone here from Whitehall almost went into a state of shock for a moment, but in the end, all is right in the world. Zach Diekel was cruising over the first James Hasson, leading 5-0 and almost having a fall. Then, he lost his balance for a moment, and Hasson almost pulled the early upset of the tournament and got five quick points as Zach did everything and then some not to fall. After the first period, it was all Diekel, outscoring the opponent 10-5 (and giving Hasson all five of his points). Zach will face Austin Hayes in the quarterfinals. 215 - In an upset, Jon Casper pulled out a 5-2 win against Grant Gebo, taking a 2-0 lead into the second period and a 3-0 lead into the third. Grant got an escape early in the third, but was unable to get a takedown while Casper scored another takedown and gave up an escape to finish the scoring. Grant will take on Jake Edington to start wrestlebacks. That's it for the first round, be back in a little while for the quarterfinal matches of Curt Thompson, Travis Beayon and Zach Diekel.
The start of a busy day has me sitting at the Times Union Center getting ready for the state championships for wrestling. I'm watching the guys warm up right now. I will be down here for the first two rounds of wrestling today, then I'm heading back north to watch the girls quarterfinal game against Fort Edward. I'll post a preview of the game a little later. Hopefully, we'll have some video to upload as well throughout the day.
Now up at the wtlobstertank channel on YouTube is a talk with village DPW Jiem Rozell about what his day was like and what they are looking forward to. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FviDoiMdd3A
So, now the questions with sectional play start to get interesting.
If the snow does come back tomorrow like they say it's going to, where does that leave opening round games and games that are to be played on Friday. I'm guessing you're going to see a Friday-Saturday deal, which is not good for me if the girls or boys are playing at the same time as the state wrestling championship matches (that's right, I'm predicting at least one in the finals - not saying who, or just how many, though).
The plan so far tomorrow is to go down to get a hotel room, then hit the boys game in Sharon Springs and spend the night for wrestling - that's the one thing that will not be delayed.
Well, it's about time to brave the elements - I'll get some pictures and some video of the winter wonderland.
The village of Whitehall has declared a snow emergency on all village roads from now until 10 a.m. on Thursday.
Due to the need for snow removal, the village has put on a parking ban until tomorrow, and asks that all cars currently parked on the side of village streets be moved.
Since I got a new toy, we now have a video blog as well as this one. From time to time, I will be putting videos up on-line of meetings, events, and sports, starting with a pregame, halftime and postgame from the Whitehall and Sharon Springs game Thursday. I will link the video each time, but our channel on YouTube is youtube.com/wtlobstertank. Go ahead and check out the test video. Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuaOdvbPx0I
The game between the Whitehall and Sharon Springs varsity boys basketball teams set for tonight has been postponed and will now be played on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 4 p.m. at Sharon Springs.
The school board met tonight and made their first steps toward reducing what could have been a 21-percent tax levy increase. So far, it has only led to the elimination of one full-time position, an elementary school teaching position. The concern is that there could be more cuts on the way, and the union was there in force tonight. The board also went into an executive session, and I will have more on that tomorrow morning as I start to prepare the paper for printing.
Whitehall (3-15) Leading scorers Richard Tisi - 12.6 Chris Therrian - 9.4 James Tisi - 13.0 (1game) Luke Wescott - 4.4 Sharon Springs (12-6) Douglas Ullman - 13.4 Matt Larkin - 9.6 Kris Kelly - 9.3 Brett Ullman - 8.3 Neither team has size, with the Ullman boys both listed at 6’1”. The Spartans will hit the three, with Matt Larkin connecting on 37 of them this season. However, the Spartans are limping into the sectionals, losing 71-62 against Spa Catholic (Class B school), 67-54 against Fort Plain (Class C), 53-50 to Schenectady Christian (Class B) and 69-53 to Schoharie (Class C) - a four game losing streak. The Railroaders enter with a win under their belt against Johnsburg and a new-found offensive weapon in James Tisi. If you want a prediction, all I’m saying is let’s roll the balls out and see whose on fire from beyond the arc, because that is what Whitehall is going to have to do and prevent the Spartans from doing.
Went up on Friday to watch some skeleton with four Whitehaller's in the event, three from the varsity team and one former team member. Also saw Codie Bascue and Shan Beebe take a run on the bobsled. Today is the school board meeting where they may bring up some preliminary ideas on the 2010-11 budget - this is going to be a tough year for them, it seems, and only sounds like it could get tougher in the year to come.
This has been a very good day when it comes to Railroader sports. First, the day after the Lady Railroaders won the Adirondack League title, the third-ranked team in the state received the top seed in the Section II/Class D tournament. They will face the winner of the 8-9 game between Fort Edward and Loudonville Christian next Friday at home. Second, the boys hoops squad is the 14th seed in the Class D tourney, and will face Sharon Springs on Tuesday, Feb. 23. Finally, the news was good for both John Diekel and Grant Gebo, as they both received at-large bids to the state wrestling tournament next week. That gives Whitehall five wrestlers going to Albany, which I have to think is a record for the school.
The Whitehall girls etched out a 47-43 league title against Lake George tonight, extending their record to 18-0 and winning the Adirondack League title. The Railroaders will most likely be the top seed in the Section II/Class D tournament, with Germantown the two seed and Argyle the third. Checked in after the game with Mayor Fra Putorti, and it sounds like it was a quiet night at the village meeting. I'll follow up for next weeks paper.
Three-for-five went the Railroaders in the finals, with three earning state bids while two will wait to see if the computers crunch the numbers in their favor for an at-large birth: 112 - John Diekel wrestled hard but was out-quicked by Noah Valastro, 6-1. Diekel finishes the season at this point with a record of 43-6, and is thought to be "on the bubble" for an at-large bid to states. 125 - Match of the night once again, as Curt Thompson defeated Evan Borst by a score of 3-1, again in overtime. Plenty of rolling around in the final minute of this match, as Thompson earned the automatic bid to states, while Borst will undoubtedly join him as an at-large. Curt will go to states with a record of 45-3. 160 - Travis Beayon came out on fire and made quick work of Dave Kohls, pinning him at the 3:28 mark. Beayon earns a bid to Albany in his final season. Travis will go to Albany with a record of 47-3. 171 - Three time - three time - three time defending champion (now) Zach Diekel pinned Dustin Hallock at 2:59 in the match to earn his third straight trip to Albany, where he looks to improve on his fourth place finish of one year ago. Zach heads to states with a record of 45-4. 215 - The rematch was not as close here, as Nick G. pinned Grant Gebo at 3:34 of the match. Grant will also be waiting for the computer to crunch the number, finishing the season so far at 32-5. Also, congratulations to the Section II Division II champion at 140, Karl Palmer of Granville.
As you can tell by the title, Al Aubin beat Beecher Baker with a last second take down to advance to the consolation finals. However, he was unable to score in the third place match, falling 1-0 to Cody Bruno. The last five standing go tonight in the championship round with trips to the state tourney on the line. Good luck.
It didn't start pretty, but the Whitehall contingent went 5-1 in the semifinals, putting the teams record at 15-3 over the first three rounds and first round of wrestle backs. Here's what happened: 103 - Al Aubin took an early lead, but was unable to hold on in dropping at 7-2 decision to Freddy Pechette. Aubin will face a familiar foe in Beecher Baker in the consolation semifinals. 112 - John Diekel scored a pin at 1:39 and will face Noah Valastro tonight in the Section II/Division II championship match. Noah is the top seed. 125 - Curt Thompson scored an 8-1 victory over Taylor Treadgold, and will face friend and rival Evan Borst in the championship match. After last week's result, Borst is the top seed. 160 - Travis Beayon scored a 4-0 decision over Nick Waytkus, and will face Dave Kohls in the championship match. Travis is the top seed. 171 - Zach Diekel recorded a 10-3 decision over Erik Franklin and will face Dustin Hallock in the championship match, Zach is the top seed. 215 - Grant Gebo scored a 4-1 win over Adam Biron and will face Nick Gwiazdowski in the championship match. After last week, Nick entered as the top seed. I'll report back after the consolation bracket is finished up with.
Getting ready to leave for semifinal action at the Civic Center. Just checked my mail to find that Codie Bascue lost his first round wrestle back, 7-6. Either way, Codie had a tremendous second half to his season and will be a leader on the 2010-11 team. Congratulations to him and good luck to the six who start wrestling at 10 a.m.
The Railroader grapplers went 6-1 in the quarterfinals, so there were no big surprises. Here's how it went down: 103 - Al Aubin went into the third round with Daniel Jardine before scoring a fall at the 4:54 mark. He will face Freddy Pechette tomorrow in the semifinals. 112 - John Diekel picked up career win 100 with a 16-0 tech fall over Zachary Shaw. He will face Connor Lawrence in the semifinals. 125 - Curt Thompson scored a fall at 1:46 over Matt McKnight and will now face Taylor Treadgold in the semifinals. 145 - Codie Bascue was defeated by fall at 1:20 against Jake Oswald, but made some moves early that almost led to an escape. He will face a familiar opponent, Zach Baer, in the consolation opening round. 160 - Travis Beayon dropped Branden Goyer and got the fall at 1:32. He will face Nick Waytkus in the semifinals. 171 - Zach Diekel scored a 10-3 decision against Nick Ecuyer in the quarters, and will face Erik Franklin in the semifinals. 215 - Grant Gebo scored a pin at 2:12 against Zack Haynes. He will face Adam Biron in the semifinals. Wrestling starts tomorrow at 10 a.m. I won't get to see Codie in his first wrestle back, so here's to another win against Baer so I will see him tomorrow. Off to the boys game.
A very good opening round for the Railroaders at the Section II wrestling championships. Here's how it went down: 103 - Two seed Al Aubin pinned Dan Bernhard in the third period, will face Daniel Jardine of Hadley in the quarters. 112 - Two seed John Diekel pinned Zac Crankshaw in 48 seconds, will face Zach Shaw in the quarterfinals. 125 - Two seed Curt Thompson received a bye, will face Matt McKnight in the quarterfinals. 145 - Codie Bascue was moved up to the eighth seed after all wrestlers signed in, he received a bye and will face top seed Jake Oswald in the quarterfinals. 160 - Top seed Travis Beayon pinned Nick Wilsey in 1:16 and will face Branden Goyer in the quarterfinals. 171 - Top seed Zach Diekel pinned John Hecht in 2:28, will face Nick Ecuyer in the quarterfinals. 215 - Two seed Grant Gebo received a bye, will face Zack Haynes in the quarterfinals. I'll be back with as many results as I can get before I head back to Whitehall for the boys game tonight.
I went to the Peter Nye presentation last night about Bald Eagles. It was very good. He did a great job talking about the growing Eagle population and going through how they were able to come back to the area and the state. The paper is pretty much full this week, so my story on this will be in next week's Whitehall Times. Just looked up the score to the girls game - not surprising at all. Friday against Fort Edward is a game that they cannot look past, though, as they get ready for Lake George next Tuesday.
The rest of the Winter Fest was good, but the wind was not a friend to anyone. No wind, it would have been the perfect day, but there were still plenty of people enjoying the activities. Over at the Class D wrestling, the day was great. Four members of the Railroaders were crowned as champs, while seven will be going to the Civic Center next weekend. As far as I am concerned, Whitehall was involved in these three stories: 1. Match of the Night - unfortunately, it didn't go Curt Thompson’s way, but the match between he and Evan Borst did not disappoint, with Thompson taking a 4-2 advantage after the two rolled around the floor for about 30 seconds. borst tied it late, and then scored the winning takedown in overtime. 2. Fall of the night - This happened in the semis, when Zach Diekel jacked up his opponent and floored him on the mat. Everyone was shocked, including the wrestler who didn't even move. The fall elicited a lot of "Wows" from coaches, wrestlers and spectators. 3. Run of the night - Codie Bascue continued his hot second half of the season by finishing third at 145, earning a trip to the Civic Center. After starting the season with tons of potential and no results, Bascue has been a machine since the Beekmantown tournament. Well, I'm going to bed. I feel terrible and I am hoping to get better for work Monday.
Was at the Penguin Dip this morning and there were 15 brave souls who went into Lake Champlain, including several first-timers. The group from Ohio also came back with a third victim, which was cool. As for the rest of the day, going to get some more shots at Winter Fest before heading off to the wrestling sectionals in Warrensburg. Saw the girls game last night. They started out slow but picked it up as the game went along. Congratulations on back-to-back division titles.
The seeds have been announced for the Section II/Class D tourney, and here is where Whitehall grapplers will be. At 103, Al Aubin (34-10) is the top seed, with Beecher Baker of Warrensburg ranked second. At 112, John Diekel (35-3) is the top seed, with Duanesburg's Connor Lawrence the 2. At 125, Evan Borst of Duanesburg has the number one seed, and as I said in the paper, the match between Borst and No. 2 seed Curt Thompson (39-2) could be the most anticipated of the weekend. Now up to 160, where Travis Beayon (39-3) is the top seed and could face two seed Dan Batchelder of Salem. Whitehall fans might remember Batchelder as the guy throwing the pass to end the football game this year, so I'm sure they want Travis to give him his best. At 171, Zach Diekel (38-3) is the top seed and could face the other end of that game ending touchdown, with the second seed being Kyle McKeighan on Salem. At 215, Duanesburg's Nick Gwiazdowski is the top seed, with Grant Gebo (28-3) at the two. Overall, Whitehall has four one seeds and one two seed. Duanesburg is strong yet again, with seven top seeds and one two seed. Salem comes with two ones and four twos.
The paper is out, and, as I said in a previous post, I feel this is a good one. The first response I have gotten from the paper is from Ken Bartholomew, who feels there may be a conflict of interest in the Mayor bringing up a move to the SVFC building - there will be more in next week's issue. As for basketball, the Whitehall boys never stopped fighting, but fell to an Argyle team that I think has to be the favorite to win the section and go deep in the playoffs. On the girls side, there was no movement in the polls, because No. 1 Pine Valley lost (13-1) to Clymer Central (10-3, Section VI, both in the Chatauqua League) on the day the poll was released. Through the rest of the top five, No. 2 South Kortright (Section IV, Delaware League) moved to 13-0 with a 49-38 win over Jefferson on Tuesday. No. 3 Elba played Wheatland-Chili on Feb. 3, but I can't find a score. No. 5, I'm going to see them tonight.
The Whitehall-Argyle match-up last night was everything that you could hope for - a great game and a big win for what will be the third-ranked Whitehall girls basketball team. Why third you say, because Pine Valley, who was the top ranked team in the state last week, fell to an unranked D team this week, which will drop them out of the top spot in the polls, Leaving Elba (who looks to be for real) and South Kortright (balanced, but not much competition) in the top two spots, which should move Whitehall up to three and my alma mater up to four. As far as I'm concerned, I think Whitehall could make a case to jump SK to the second spot, but it probably won't happen. The biggest concern now is the potential for a let down game against Hartford, but with it being senior night, that should not happen. But then again, that's why they play the games. Tonight, it's off to the boys version of Argyle-a-gedon.
The paper is mostly done, accept for the whole at the top of the sports page in preparation for tonight's big game. Looking at the paper so far, I think that this week is a very good paper with a lot of good info and previews of the upcoming events like Winter Fest and the wrestling sectional championships. As for tonight, the game has been moved up to a 7 p.m. start because Argyle is not bringing their JV team. The more I think about it, the more I like Whitehall. Why? 1 - Argyle is coming off a bye last Friday, which means that this will be their first game in over two weeks - as a coach, I would hate to go into a big-time game with that much time off. 2- Whitehall has played in big games, they just don't know it. Everyone tabbed the first Hartford game of the season as a big one, the Granville game was big, the Lake George game was big, and now we have Argyle. So far, the girls have stepped up to every big game so far. Well, I'm off to finish up the paper and get to the game. Good luck, ladies.
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