Ian DeSol has been one of the better wrestlers at Guilderland High School for the last five years, but he had never won a Section II title.
That changed Saturday night in Niskayuna, as DeSol picked up a 4-2 victory over Colonie’s Josh Simmons for the 145-pound division championship at the Section II, Class A tournament. In the process, he picked up his 100th win.
DeSol, who had placed in the top six at Sectionals nearly every year since he joined the varsity team, said he was happy his moment finally arrived.
The main goal for this tournament is to qualify for next week (the state tournament qualifier), but this is a good morale boost for next week. This will be good to have in the back of my mind, he said.
`I’m really happy for Ian. He’s worked really hard in the five years he’s been with us,` said Guilderland coach Regan Johnson.
DeSol overcame a slow, cautious pace dictated by Simmons. DeSol scored two takedowns ` the first coming late in the second period near the edge of the mat. Simmons tried getting out of bounds, but DeSol kept his toes inside the circle to get the two points.
`That’s stuff that coach John-son taught me ` how to keep my toes in and get the takedown,` said DeSol.
DeSol got another takedown in the third period to build a 4-1 lead. Simmons escaped to get within two points, but he never came close to earning a tying takedown.
`When guys want to hold your hand and slow you down, and they don’t want to open up and wrestle you, it creates problems,` said Johnson. `The Colonie kid was good, but he wasn’t aggressive.`
`I just had to push the tempo a bit and make him give me something,` said DeSol.
DeSol was one of three Guilderland wrestlers to earn class A titles. Lightweight Matt Cubillos claimed his first Sectional crown by defeating Colonie’s Jason Chudzinski 8-2 in the 119-pound final, and heavyweight Kyle Hussey won his second championship with a 15-3 victory over Columbia’s Garrett Moldorff in the 275-pound final.
Two more Dutchmen reached the finals. Robert Romeo lost to Ballston Spa’s Kyle Kilburn 12-6 in the 125-pound championship bout, and Josh Sawyer suffered a 5-2 loss to Ballston Spa’s Alex Steciuk in the 160-pound final.
The Romeo-Kilburn match was one of the most exciting of the championship round. Romeo rallied from a 7-2 deficit with a takedown and two back points to pull within a point, but Kilburn earned an escape and then sealed the victory with a third-period takedown and two back points of his own.
`For (Romeo) to get to the class A finals shows good things happen when you work hard,` said Johnson.
Four more Guilderland wrestlers earned berths in the state qualifier by placing in the top six of their weight classes. Travis Wolanski (96 pounds) and Bobby Dygert (130) finished third by winning their consolation bracket finals, while Tyler Qulia (215) pin-ned Bethlehem’s Kevin Kolbay to win his fifth-place bout. Greg Serafin (135) finished sixth in his weight class.
The Dutchmen finished fourth in the team standings with 157 points, a half-point behind third-place Niskayuna. Shenendehowa cruised to its third consecutive class A crown with 231 points, nearly 60 points ahead of runner-up Colonie.“