Teams of the decades

The Falconer Golden Falcons have been selected as the varsity wrestling "Team of the 1980’s" by the "Teams of the Decades" Committee.

The top point total overall for the decade of the 1980’s was Falconer high school. The Golden Falcons had three number one finishes and twice were ranked number two among Section Six schools. Falconer finished with 124 total points followed by Niagara Wheatfield, the Div 1 team of the 1990’s and 2000’s, with 68. Rounding out the remainder of the top ten had Pioneer and Sweet Home finished in a third place tie with 64 points, Clarence and Orchard Park were tied for fifth with 62 points, Iroquois was seventh with 50 points, Tonawanda eighth with 48 points, Maple Grove ninth with 40 points and Roy-Hart tenth with 38 points.

Falconer was coached in the 80’s by the legendary Bill Davenport, a member of the Western New York Coaches Hall of Fame. Plenty of brother acts among Falconer’s outstanding wrestlers of the 1980’s beginning with the Waddington brothers Jeff and Rob, Al and Dan Lindquist, Mark and Dan Baglia and Jim and Marty Schwab. Other outstanding grapplers on the great Falconer teams of the 1980’s were Lynn Jose, Joe Sopak, Troy Lefford, Ray Norton, Tony Milliner, Todd Carson and Brad Spencer.

Falconer will be honored prior to the finals at the Section Six Div II State Qualifier at East Aurora high school Saturday, February 12th and again at the Section Six Coaches Banquet in March.

For Release Monday, December 13, 2010

Section Six Wrestling Teams of the 90’s Announced

Niagara Wheatfield and Newfane Picked Teams of the 1990’s

Niagara Wheatfield and Newfane high schools have been selected as the varsity wrestling “Team’s of the 1990’s” in their respective divisions by the “Teams of the Decades” Committee.

The committee was created in 2009 to research and select the teams of the past six decades and members include Section Six Wrestling Hall of Fame coaches Walt Thurnau (Southwestern), and Dick Lange (Roy-Hart & Newfane). Members also include Niagara County Community College coach Eric Knuutila, an inductee of several national, state and local wrestling Halls of Fame and Bob Koshinski, Chairman of the Ilio DiPaolo Wrestling Scholarship Committee.

Using a wrestling tournament style scoring system, in which points are awarded for finishing in first place, second, third, etc, the committee reviewed the final top ten rankings from the 1990-91 season to the 1999-2000 season. Total points were then added up and the teams from the respective divisions were revealed

Finishing with the top point total in division one over the decade of the 1990’s was Niagara Wheatfield. The Falcons had five number one finishes and twice were ranked number two among large schools. The Falcons finished with 146 total points, 63 ahead of second place Lancaster, which finished with 83 points. Rounding out the top ten respectively were Pioneer (73), Jamestown (60), Lockport (58), Orchard Park (53), Iroquois (41), Clarence and Tonawanda (40) and Lew-Port (33).

Niagara Wheatfield was coached in the 90’s by legendary wrestling coach Armand Cacciatore, a member of several wrestling Halls of Fame at the national, state and local levels, as well as the late Bill Dixon and Dennis Matteson. Some of Niagara Wheatfield’s outstanding wrestlers in the 1990’s were the Dixon brothers, Bill, Dan and Dave, Mike Luick, Jon Hoover, Dave Brewer, Mike Ambrosia, Kris Proietti, Paul Garver, Joel Griffith, Mike Grimmer, Jason Herman, Jim Valentic, Rashad Evans, Marty Valery and Cleyton Smith.

In Division two the top team in the 1990’s was Newfane high school. The Panthers claimed five number one rankings and two number two rankings, edging out Falconer, also with five number one rankings and one number two. The point totals for the top ten were Newfane (155), Falconer (153), Southwestern (76), Ripley (70), Franklinville (53), Portville (43), Fredonia (40), Medina (31), Eden (24) and Allegheny Limestone (15).

Newfane was coached by Dick Lange, a member of the Section Six wrestling Hall of Fame and Doug Ames. Outstanding wrestlers for the Panthers in the 1990’s were Matt Dawson, Allen Gerhardt, Keith Jones, Dan Rafferty, State Champion Ryan Needle, Jason Ethridge, Tim Lukasik, Tom McCabe, Jeff Kingsbury, Mike Brown, Mike Adinolfe and Ray Needle.

Niagara Wheatfield and Newfane will be honored prior to the finals at the Niagara Frontier Wrestling Officials Association tournament to be held at Niagara County Community College on January 7^th & 8^th, 2011and again at the Section Six Coaches Banquet in March.

The committee will announce the teams of the 1980’s just prior to Section Six State Qualifier tournament in February of 2011. In February of 2010 Niagara Wheatfield and Fredonia were named the two respective teams of the 2000’s by the “Teams of the Decades” committee.

(L-R) Tim Lukasik, AD Mark DeFillippo, Rick Sweney,Sr, Jeff Mitchell, Knuutilo, Bill Dixon,Jr, Vince Schiffert, Josh Eagan