Journeymen Fall Classic Recap

Photo - Lori Strouse

Journeymen Fall Classic Recap - High School Boys

Journeymen Wrestling hosted their annual Fall Classic this weekend with the High School Main Event competing on Sunday, October 5th. The Empire State as always welcomed extremely tough competition to the Capital Region, where the event was held at Union College in Schenectady. Overall, New York left with three champs alongside 14 other individuals finishing in the top eight.

Perhaps the most impressive performance this weekend came from St. Francis standout Griffin LaPlante. Currently ranked 11th in the country at 157lbs, it's hard to believe he came in as the three seed. LaPlante would win his pool and notch a win over returning NYS state medalist Danny Dacey to advance to the championship bracket. In the semifinals, he would knock off Lorenzo Alston (NC) by a score of 4-2 without surrendering an offensive point. Alston is currently ranked 7th in the country at 157lbs having won a North Carolina state title and placed 2nd at NHSCA Junior Nationals. Alston, like LaPlante, is also an NC State commit so this matchup is one we could see for years to come but instead for a bid to crack the lineup. In the finals LaPlante would best Reagan Milheim (PA) 11-6 and scored three takedowns in the match. Milheim is currently ranked 4th in the country and finished 6th in LaPlante's Fargo bracket (where LaPlante made the blood round). In the past four months LaPlante has now knocked off #4 Milheim, #6 Heeg, and #7 Alston. He continues to prove that is a top five guy in the country at 157lbs.

Wrestling fans welcomed back Gavin Mangano this weekend as he wrestled in his first competition since suffering his gruesome injury at the New York State Tournament in the state finals. The newest addition of Penn State's squad picked up right where he left off having dominated the competition 62-5 en route to winning the 140lbs bracket. Mangano would tech fall Seach Hibler (NJ) 16-1 in the finals, only needing 4:27 to do so. Hibler placed 8th at the New Jersey state tournament this past year. Mangano, currently ranked 6th in the country at 138lbs, looks primed to make another run at Super 32 here in a couple short weeks.

Devin Downes also had a phenomenal weekend as he won the 215lbs bracket which included a win over greyshirt Connor Bercume in the finals. The Journeymen Fall Classic allows postgraduates, oftentimes called "greyshirts", to compete at their tournament. A greyshirt is an individual who graduated high school and is taking a gap year before they begin college. Bercume is a Harvard commit, and as Ivy League schools do not allow redshirting, he is greyshirting at Blair Academy. That being said, Downes knocked off a 3x Michigan state champ who's also already competing at a college level in the finals. Downes notably beat Cael Dunn (NC) who won a state title this year by a score of 4-1, and in the semifinals beat Fargo All-American Kendahl Hoare (PA) 7-3.

Finishing 2nd at 119 lbs, Cooper Merli now comes off back-to-back weeks of national level competition. Merli finished 3rd at the Grappler Fall Classic last weekend having beat 2x Fargo All-American Layne Martin (MI) alongside National Prep Champ and Fargo All-American Liam Davis (FL). Both were nationally ranked. This weekend, Merli notched a 9-1 major decision victory over Julian Rios (MA) in the semifinals. Rios, currently a top 125 pound-for-pound senior, made the blood round in the Junior Freestyle portion of Fargo and also finished 4th at Super 32 a year ago. Merli looks dialed in to make a run at Super 32 in the next two weeks and continues to prove he's a top dog in a 120lbs bracket.

Coming in initially as the 5th seed at 145lbs, Matty McDermott would beat in-state competition in Niko Marnika and Anthony Moreno to advance to the gold bracket. In the quarterfinals he would defeat Virginia state champ Lincoln Kelley 6-4 to set up a match with #19 Christian Jelle (MN) in the semifinals. McDermott would notch a huge win under his belt as he would beat the Minnesota state champ and Junior Folkstyle Nationals runner-up 7-2 without surrendering an offensive point and punch his ticket to the finals. In the finals, McDermott would drop a closely contested 3-0 bout to 3x Oklahoma state champ TJ Verrette. McDermott now follows up his runner-up finish at NHSCA Freshman Nationals and 3rd place finish at the 15U US Open with a runner-up finish at the Journeymen Fall-Classic.

In a tournament that he entered completely unseeded, Joe Scott finished 6th at 135lbs and looked fabulous along the way. Most notably, Scott would secure a 6-2 win over Bucknell commit and PIAA state runner-up Antonio Boni (PA) in his consolation quarter bout. Boni is currently a top 150 pound-for-pound senior in the entire country according to MatScouts. Boni would beat Blair Academy's newest addition in Fargo 16U Runner-Up Finnegan O'Brien (formerly Locust Valley / Chaminade) for 7th place. The Letchworth product also beat Florida state medalist Jasper Croom en route to his 6th place medal.

Andrew Poh continues to look better and better after he fell just short of earning all-state honors at the New York state tournament back in February. Poh would enter in NHSCA Junior Nationals where he would finish 7th on the podium and knocked off a New Jersey state medalist along the way. At the Journeymen Fall Classic this weekend he would beat 2x New York state medalist in Vinny Mastrianni and 3x South Carolina state champ Preston White! The Class of 2026 graduate is still uncommitted and searching for a place to land for collegiate wrestling.

Lastly, Iona Prep star George Johnson is now up a few weight classes and competed at 160lbs this weekend. Clearly the weight gain has not hindered his performance as he defeated two returning state medalists in Danny Dacey and Chris Nocca en route to winning the silver bracket and finishing in 9th place.

Notable New York vs New York Results

113 - Trevor Patrovich (Hauppauge) maj dec Xavier Seabury (North Babylon), 11-0
119 - Cooper Merli (NYMA) over Colton Schmiessing (Oyster Bay), Inj Def 1:04 (8-3 Merli)
119 - Vincent Orandello (MacArthur) dec Brody DiCaprio (Christian Brothers), 4-0
119 - Vincent Orandello (MacArthur) maj dec Austin Campsey (East Hampton), 17-6
119 - Austin Campsey (East Hampton) dec Anthony Valls (Chenango Valley), 4-0
125 - Andrew Poh (Valley Stream North) dec Vincent Mastrianni (Colonie), 10-4
130 - Brennan Sprague (Monsignor Farrell) maj dec Drew Schiavo (Niskayuna), 11-1
140 - Greg Green (Shenendehowa) dec Trey LeChase (Fairport), 5-3
140 - Ryan Ball (Somers) fall Greg Green (Shenendehowa), F2:32
145 - Matty McDermott (Smithtown East) dec Niko Marnika (Commack), 7-0
145 - Matty McDermott (Smithtown East) dec Anthony Moreno (NYMA), 6-0
152 - Samson McKissick-Staley (Pittsford) dec Andrew McCarthy (NYMA), 7-4
152 - Devon Weber (Greece) dec Joey Losee (Shenendehowa), 7-0
152 - Shea Morris (NYMA) tech fall Joey Losee (Shenendehowa), 21-3
152 - Joey Losee (Shenendehowa) dec Cyler Baer (Gouverneur), 6-5
160 - Griffin LaPlante (St. Francis) maj dec Danny Dacey (Saratoga Springs), 19-5
160 - George Johnson (Iona Prep) dec Chris Nocca (Horace Greeley), 8-2
160 - George Johnson (Iona Prep) maj dec Danney Dacey (Saratoga Springs), 9-1
185 - Casey Liess (Northfield Mount Hermon) dec Liam English (Berne Knox Westerlo), 10-7
185 - Quentin Getzin (Ithaca) dec Lerrod Smalls (NYMA), 7-2

New York Top 8 Placements

113 - Trevor Patrovich (Hauppauge), 4th
113 - Xavier Seabury (North Babylon), 8th
119 - Cooper Merli (NYMA), 2nd
119 - Vincenzo Mannello (BBHVW), 8th
125 - Anthony LaGala-Ryan (Longwood), 4th
125 - Andrew Poh (Valley Stream North), 6th
130 - Bennet Palmeri (Fairport), 7th
135 - Joe Scott (Letchworth), 6th
135 - Finnegan O'Brien (Blair Academy), 8th
140 - Gavin Mangano (Shoreham-Wading River), 1st
140 - Jake Nieto (Massapequa), 5th
145 - Matty McDermott (Smithtown East), 2nd
152 - Samson McKissick-Staley (Pittsford), 3rd
160 - Griffin LaPlante (St. Francis), 1st
185 - Casey Liess (Northfield Mount Hermon), 4th
185 - Liam English (Berne Knox Westerlo), 5th
215 - Devin Downes (Plainedge), 1st
Most Outstanding Wrestler - Gavin Mangano