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Published: February 15, 2009 12:06 am      

HS WRESTLING: NF's Buck among those to take class title

Matt Allinson wasn’t going to finish with a loss on his home mat. So, he didn’t.

Despite suffering a shoulder injury in the first period of Saturday’s 145-pound Class AAA championship, the Starpoint senior gutted out a 6-4 decision over Cheektowaga’s Scott Patrzyk.

“It hurt the whole match, but I wasn’t going to back out,” Allinson said. “I just tried to keep my mind off of it because I didn’t want to lose my last match at Starpoint.”

Allinson, who has 11 career wins, scored five unanswered points to earn the win.

Grand Island’s Lee Schuster was also impressive, pinning every one of his opponents on the way to a championship at 112. The senior pinned Sam Beichner of Williamsville East in 2:35 in the finals.

“It was the longest match I had all tournament,” Schuster said. “I cradled him first and just threw my legs for a little extra squeeze at the end. Hopefully this gets me going because right now I feel like there’s no reason I can’t place at states.”

Lewiston-Porter sophomore Joe Hill worked hard for his championship at 171, holding off a late rally for a 4-2 victory over Cheektowaga’s Kenn Dodd.

“It’s really exciting because that’s all I wanted to do this year was take first here,” said Hill, who was fourth a year ago. “The coaches have been working with me a lot and it paid off.”

In the final match of the event, Niagara Frontier League rivals Mike Fraterrigo of Kenmore East and Ryan Harnden of Grand Island met up for the heavyweight title. Fraterrigo used an escape to edge Harnden, 4-3 in overtime.

Local second place finishers included T.J. Acker (103, Grand Island) and Dylan Heinzenroth (119, Starpoint). Locals in third were Dan Reagan (112, Lewiston-Porter), Tygue Busch (140, Grand Island), Anthony Genova (152, Grand Island) and Lucas Germano (171, Kenmore East).

Cheektowaga won the team standings and the Warriors’ Jared Messina (130) was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler.