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Ike’s Jaquay ties school record for wins; Knights have big weekend at Falconer

Eisenhower’s Logan Jaquay (right) poses with Falconer assistant coach Travis Hummel after Jaquay tied Hummel’s school-record for career wins at the 20th Patrick J. Morales Tournament on Saturday.

FALCONER, N.Y. – Logan Jaquay is taking it all in stride.

The Eisenhower senior matched the program’s all-time wins record at 117 with his 120-pound championship at the 20th annual Patrick J. Morales Tournament at Falconer on Saturday.

Not only that, he got to share the moment with the man who previously held the record by himself, Travis Hummel, who is a coach at Falconer.

“Logan has handled it well,” said Eisenhower coach Kris Black. “He was set up pretty well to tie it at least, going in. A forfeit in the final was not the way he wanted to do it, but it is what it is. The record will be icing on the cake when he looks back. Obviously he was happy, but he’s got bigger fish to fry.”

It was part of a big day for Eisenhower, as they led the tournament with four individual championships and finished third in the team standings behind only Corry, host Falconer and Kane.

“Four for four in the finals, that was pretty nice,” Black said. “I don’t think we’ve done that at Falconer, maybe ever. All four of them have their own style, and it’s cool to see.”

Jaquay was joined on the top of the stand by his brother, Gannon at 138, Josh Bortz at 145 and Cael Black at 220.

Also for the Knights, Easton Hedman was third at 132, while Jeremyah Aiken (182) and Josh Parker (195) both earned sixth-place finishes.

For Logan Jaquay, he was once again dominant. He started out with a fall over Minwer Berman of Lackawanna in 2:38, followed by a tech fall against Dillon Illerbrun of Kane to get to the semifinals.

In the semis, he disposed of Hunter Harris of Clarion via fall (3:14), before receiving a forfeit win for the title.

Gannon was equally impressive en route to his first-place finish. He started off with a 38-second pin of Tonawanda’s Cole Fronczak, than earned a 7-2 decision over Trey Proper of Corry to get to the semis. Once there, he grappled to a hard-fought 4-3 decision over Clarion’s Brendon Ramsey and capped off his tournament with a 6-2 decision over Colby Simon of Akron Coventry.

“The guy I want to talk about is Gannon,” Black said. “He’s coming into his own. He wrestled a great tournament. I voted for him for OW. He was the 4-seed coming in and beat a really tough 1-seed to get to the finals. He just keeps getting better each time out. It’s not always pretty, but the kid just keeps finding ways to win.

He’s got a tenacity to him that is nice to see. You have to respect it. He just wants to keep winning. He’s making his own spotlight.”

At 145, Bortz needed just 1:00 to pin Clarion’s John Watson in his opening match. He followed that up with three straight decisions for his first-place performance. He beat Kane’s Luke Ely 6-0, Kody Arntz of Akron 10-4 and finally a 5-3 decision over Kane’s Lane Hillard in the final.

“Josh was the 1-seed going in and he’s really coming into his own, too,” noted Black. “He’s got a little different of a style and he’s figuring out when to push and when to be smart. This is the best I’ve seen him wrestle. He’s taken a quiet leadership role. He has a system that works well for him and I think he’s going to continue to make noise.”

Cael Black, meanwhile, overwhelmed his opponents. He had three-consecutive first-period falls against Erie’s Oscar Vaughn, Jamestown’s Darren Pollaro and Lackawanna’s Christian Miller. He has a hard-fought match against Corry’s Shawn Proctor in the finals, ultimately earning a 7-3 decision.

“I thought Cael wrestled a good tournament,” coach Black stated. “He was a little more offensive. He pinned everybody up to the finals and was pretty dominant in his weight class. He was technically sound and strong on the mat. That gym is a good gym for him.”

Hedman won via a pair of falls and a major decision before dropping an 11-4 match to Maple Grove’s Luke Tomlinson in the semis. Tomlinson went on to win via fall in the finals at 132. Hedman, meanwhile, came back with a pair of pins, one in the second period and the other in just 28 seconds for his third-place finish.

“Easton had a really good tournament,” Black noted. “He lost in the semis, but was able to come back for third.”

And as for Parker and Aiken?

“Josh Parker has been away a couple years. He came back, made the lineup and is continuing to improve his technique. His goal was to get on the podium and he did. Jeremeyah Aiken. Forfeitted out his last two matches with a slight injury. As a freshman in upper weight, he wrestled a strong tournament.”

Coach Black also noted what really got Saturday going for the Knights, and it was Ethan Nizzi.

“Ethan Nizzi won a match Saturday morning when he was down 15-1,” he noted. “He just kept fighting, found a way, through him on his back and got the pin That’s the type of stuff that, honestly, that sparked our round on Saturday. First match of the day for us. That moment, that was humongous. To watch a freshman, for him to be able to not just lay down at the end, nobody would have said anything if he gave up that last point. That was big. Those are the things that make good teams.”

The Knights have another big week on tap, welcoming juggernauts Corry and Falconer on Wednesday and Thursday.

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