While many of us spent our two-week vacation sleeping late into the afternoon and relishing the 16 glorious days of repose, the Academy Wrestling team barely took any time off. After a two-hour practice nearly every morning, including Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day, two tournaments and a match, their dedication has, undoubtedly, been worth it – they are, for the first time in many years, undefeated (i.e. undefeated in league duel-matches; Academy is not undefeated in tournaments, but the outcomes of tournaments do not affect a team’s standing in the league).
The 2nd Annual Academy Wrestling Duel-Tournament was held on Saturday, December 19th. After defeating three of the four teams, Greenville, CBA, and Schoharie, Academy’s final match against Bethlehem would determine the champion. Academy was leading 40-36, and with only George Featherstonhaugh still left to wrestle, Bethlehem needed a pin, and those six points, in order to win. Although Featherstonhaugh did not win that final match, he was not pinned either; Bethlehem only received the three points for a decision, brining the score to a narrow but decisive 40-39. Academy, having defeated all four other teams, had won the tournament.
The following Wednesday, December 23rd, Academy secured yet another victory, this time against Cohoes. The match, however, was not simply a test of the physical strength of one wrestler against another, but it was also an example of the tactical acumen that is necessary to succeed in this sport. Although there are specific weight classes that wrestlers normally compete in, it is possible for a wrestler to ‘bump’ up or down into a higher or lower weight class, respectively, depending on the other team’s roster and possible forfeits. Sometimes the decision to bump a wrestler is made prior to the match, but, more often than not, such decisions depend on whether or not the other team is also bumping their wrestlers.
At the start of every weight-class match, each wrestler approaches the head table separately, where they give their name to the official scorekeeper. Which wrestler checks in first alternates with every weight-class – if a wrestler from team A checks in first for any gives weight class, the wrestler from team B will check in first the following weight class. This procedure may seem perfunctory and trivial, but it can become crucial at certain times, as in the Cohoes match. This is because team A cannot know for sure who team B will wrestle at a given weight class until that wrestler checks in at the table; only then can team A decide whether or not to bump one of their wrestlers.
The advantage of this process became evident in the Cohoes match, when, at the last minute, Academy bumped one of their wrestlers down into a weight class that Cohoes did not expect to have to wrestle. The Cadets tried to hid snickers of triumph as the dazed Cohoes wrestler scrambled out of his seat, where he had blissfully been enjoying the misconceived notion that he would not have to wrestle that day; he was pinned in the first period. Thanks to this, and other instances of Coach Buran’s slightly deceptive, albeit completely legal, tactical strategies, Academy won 60-26.
January 1st, 2010, not only brought a new decade, but also an overnight tournament four hours away in Bath, NY. Although the team was not as triumphant as it has been in other tournaments, wrestling new and challenging opponents was a humbling and beneficial experience.
Adam Miller and Mory Gueye, however, were both injured in the tournament – Miller with a concussion and Gueye with a collarbone injury. Because neither could wrestle in the upcoming Lansingburgh match on January 7th, Lansingburgh would automatically receive 12 points, six for each forfeit, which put Academy at a disadvantage before the match had even begun.
For the first time in many years, Academy has a chance at winning the Colonial Council, but can only do so if they do not lose a single match. Due to the unexpected injuries, the Lansingburgh match, which was originally stacked in Academy’s favor, suddenly became an anxious and uncertain affair; anyone who happened to be in one of Mr.Buran’s classes the day of the match was inevitably informed of these nerve-wracking circumstances.
Academy took a 16-point lead after several matches, but by the time only the 103-lb and 112-lb weight classes remained, the score had tightened to 37-35. Although Academy was still in the lead, the team does not have a 112-lb wrestler; thus, that match would be forfeited to Lansingburgh, giving them an additional six points. Academy needed to win the 103-lb match with a six-point pin (a three-point decision or a four-point major decision would not have been sufficient to beat Lansingburgh’s eventual 41 points, and a five-point technical fall is rare). As eighth-grader Cameron Milliken, Academy’s 103-lb wrestler, and Lansingburgh’s Nick Cioffi took their positions on the mat, the room was noticeably, albeit understandably, tense; Academy’s season, as well as the outcome of years of dedication from both the wrestlers and the coaches, all depended on the next six minutes.
It took less than half that time, however, for Milliken to pin Cioffi, bringing the final score of the match to 43-41. A roaring cheer erupted from the Academy bench; the entire team leaped up, and, lunging toward the mat, embraced Milliken with a flood of high-fives as he returned with an unadulterated grin spread across his face.
On Saturday, January 9th, another all-day tournament was held in Galway, where 13 schools, including Academy, squeezed into an impossibly crowded gym. Thirteen hours later, six Academy wrestlers left with trophies: Cameron Milliken (8th grade, 103-lb) was 3rd, Nick DiCaprio (junior, 119-lb) was 2nd, Kyle DiCaprio (senior, 135-lb) was 3rd, David Buran (senior captain, 152-lb), who placed for the first time, received 4th; Stuart Curtis (junior captain, 171-lb), was 3rd, and Renel Potter (senior, 189-lb) was 4th. Curtis also received an award for the fastest pin in the tournament – he pinned Matt Colsen from Broadalbin-Perth in 12 seconds – and Nick DiCaprio received an award for the best final’s match.
Academy’s next match is home, at 6pm this Thursday against Ravena, and the following Wednesday is their last home match, against Mechanicville, also at 6pm. Everyone is encouraged to come watch what will undoubtedly prove to be two, very exciting and crucial competitions.
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