ALBANY - From out of the sweaty chaos that are the New York state wrestling championships at Pepsi Arena, Jason Hilliard and Tim LaRose did what they had to do to maintain their perfect records, and stay in line for Division II state titles on Friday.
Michael Chacanaca / Special to The Citizen
Southern Cayuga's Jason Hilliardtries to take down Depew's Greg Angerski
during their quarterfinal match during the state wrestling meet at the Pepsi Arena in Albany Friday.
Wrestling at 140 pounds, Hilliard, a senior from Southern Cayuga, patiently dispatched Greg Angerski (Section VI-Depew) in the quarterfinals by a 6-0 score. Hilliard drew a bye through the preliminary round. Now 36-0 this season, Hilliard will go against a formidable opponent in the semifinal round today in Paul LaBlanc, a senior from Section III's Morrisville-Eaton. LaBlanc needed just 90 seconds to register two pins on Friday, raising his season's record to 38-0.
"(Today's) going to be definitely really tough, especially my first match," Hilliard said. "I'm just going to take it one match at a time."
Hilliard has a posse from the Southern Cayuga and Lansing communities that numbers around 20 people. And as luck would have it, they were seated directly in front of Mat 6, where Hilliard went up against Angerski.
The wiry-strong Hilliard quickly went to work against the identically-built Angerski, against whom he had competed in summer club competition.
Both wrestlers stayed on their feet for the first 1 1/2-minutes, until Hilliard earned a pair of two-point scores with lightning-quick moves.
Hilliard then concentrated on not yielding to Angerski, keeping him face-down for nearly the entire second period with an arm bar while maintaining the 4-0 edge. The Chief tacked on two more points in the third period for a dominating 6-0 decision.
"He really stayed in control," said Hilliard's coach from the Syracuse Shamrocks club, Rich Manning. "We've been working really hard with the armbar. Even if he's not scoring, you'll notice (Angerski) got up and (winced and clutched his shoulder)."
Hilliard received a warning from the referee in the third period for stalling. He admitted afterward that he was fatigued from keeping his weight down over the past 3-4 days (his weight before the season began was around 152-154 pounds).
"I wasn't as aggressive, I guess, as I normally am," Hilliard said. "I was just unusually tired."
Following Friday evening's weigh-outs, Hilliard doesn't have to worry about how many pounds he's carrying. Thus, he planned on eating plenty of healthy carbohydrates and drinking lots of chocolate milk.
He'll clearly need all of his strength to extend his dream season to 38-0.
As for LaRose, the Cato-Meridian senior had little trouble in earning two pins to reach the semifinal round for the second straight year.
LaRose pinned Ross Gordon of the PSAL's Petrides in 33 seconds, then did the same to Sean Carusi of Section VIII's Locust Valley in 3:05.
A year ago, the Blue Devil broke his left ankle on his first match of the second day, against eventual champion Frank Zielinski of Section VI's Fredonia. (It was mistakenly reported in The Citizen on Thursday that the injury occurred against Carusi).
To meet Zielinski again would make LaRose one happy heavyweight, for it would have to occur in the championship bout tonight.
First, though, LaRose will need to defeat Dustin Frederick (Section VII-Ausable Valley), who beat Lou Crispo of Section I's Eastchester by a 7-3 score and now stands 29-1.
"If I could win, I will," said LaRose. "I'm just going to try my hardest, and hopefully everything will work out."
LaRose (29-0) showed off some impressive athleticism for a 270-pounder, snapping down both of his opponents en route to pinfalls.
The Gordon bout was basically a mismatch. Then, against the slightly doughy Carusi, LaRose avoided any precarious positions, and had a 4-0 lead before pinning his man halfway through the second period.
"I was trying to work some (arm) bars on him, but they didn't work, so I got him in a power half (nelson), and he flipped right over for me, so that was good," said LaRose.
Cato-Meridian coach Dan Butler noted that LaRose poses somewhat of an unusual challenge to other heavyweights, and will need to continue to do so to continue winning today.
"One thing he's doing well is he's attacking," Butler said. "He's got a better leg attack than a lot of these guys. Heavyweights are a lot of upper body, but he has a good leg attack, and he's doing that well today. He's going right after them. He's putting the guy on the defensive and going from there.
"Everyone is tough down here, so there's no easy road," Butler added. "If he can wrestle the way he can, he'll do well, and he's doing well so far."
"(Today's) going to be definitely really tough, especially my first match," Hilliard said. "I'm just going to take it one match at a time."
Hilliard has a posse from the Southern Cayuga and Lansing communities that numbers around 20 people. And as luck would have it, they were seated directly in front of Mat 6, where Hilliard went up against Angerski.
The wiry-strong Hilliard quickly went to work against the identically-built Angerski, against whom he had competed in summer club competition.
Both wrestlers stayed on their feet for the first 1 1/2-minutes, until Hilliard earned a pair of two-point scores with lightning-quick moves.
Hilliard then concentrated on not yielding to Angerski, keeping him face-down for nearly the entire second period with an arm bar while maintaining the 4-0 edge. The Chief tacked on two more points in the third period for a dominating 6-0 decision.
"He really stayed in control," said Hilliard's coach from the Syracuse Shamrocks club, Rich Manning. "We've been working really hard with the armbar. Even if he's not scoring, you'll notice (Angerski) got up and (winced and clutched his shoulder)."
Hilliard received a warning from the referee in the third period for stalling. He admitted afterward that he was fatigued from keeping his weight down over the past 3-4 days (his weight before the season began was around 152-154 pounds).
"I wasn't as aggressive, I guess, as I normally am," Hilliard said. "I was just unusually tired."
Following Friday evening's weigh-outs, Hilliard doesn't have to worry about how many pounds he's carrying. Thus, he planned on eating plenty of healthy carbohydrates and drinking lots of chocolate milk.
He'll clearly need all of his strength to extend his dream season to 38-0.
As for LaRose, the Cato-Meridian senior had little trouble in earning two pins to reach the semifinal round for the second straight year.
LaRose pinned Ross Gordon of the PSAL's Petrides in 33 seconds, then did the same to Sean Carusi of Section VIII's Locust Valley in 3:05.
A year ago, the Blue Devil broke his left ankle on his first match of the second day, against eventual champion Frank Zielinski of Section VI's Fredonia. (It was mistakenly reported in The Citizen on Thursday that the injury occurred against Carusi).
To meet Zielinski again would make LaRose one happy heavyweight, for it would have to occur in the championship bout tonight.
First, though, LaRose will need to defeat Dustin Frederick (Section VII-Ausable Valley), who beat Lou Crispo of Section I's Eastchester by a 7-3 score and now stands 29-1.
"If I could win, I will," said LaRose. "I'm just going to try my hardest, and hopefully everything will work out."
LaRose (29-0) showed off some impressive athleticism for a 270-pounder, snapping down both of his opponents en route to pinfalls.
The Gordon bout was basically a mismatch. Then, against the slightly doughy Carusi, LaRose avoided any precarious positions, and had a 4-0 lead before pinning his man halfway through the second period.
"I was trying to work some (arm) bars on him, but they didn't work, so I got him in a power half (nelson), and he flipped right over for me, so that was good," said LaRose.
Cato-Meridian coach Dan Butler noted that LaRose poses somewhat of an unusual challenge to other heavyweights, and will need to continue to do so to continue winning today.
"One thing he's doing well is he's attacking," Butler said. "He's got a better leg attack than a lot of these guys. Heavyweights are a lot of upper body, but he has a good leg attack, and he's doing that well today. He's going right after them. He's putting the guy on the defensive and going from there.
"Everyone is tough down here, so there's no easy road," Butler added. "If he can wrestle the way he can, he'll do well, and he's doing well so far."
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