The most anticipated match at the Section I wrestling tournament may not have been a championship bout after all. On Feb. 11, the top wrestlers in the area convened for the biggest tourney of the year at Arlington High School, but it was a semifinal battle between two New Rochelleans that stole the show.
Facing off at 170 pounds, Huguenot senior Jordan Wallace scored a narrow 3-1 victory over teammate Jake Logan and rode that win to a convincing victory in the finals and a top spot on the podium.
Coming into Saturday’s event, New Rochelle head coach Eddie Ortiz took a look at the brackets and lamented that his two standout grapplers were on a collision course for a meeting in the semis. Both Wallace, who entered the tournament as the top seed in the weight class, and Logan, who was seeded fourth, would have been prohibitive favorites to win the title in any other year.
But Wallace edged Logan in the semis, scoring a few early points and wrestling a strong defensive match to beat his teammate for the second-straight week.
“It was a tough semifinal match, both guys wrestled well,” Ortiz said. “But I told them no matter who won, they had to be good sports after the match and become their teammate’s biggest cheerleader in the final.”
After topping Logan in the semis in a hard-fought bout, Wallace proved why both wrestlers were so highly regarded, scoring a dominant 15-4 decision over Horace Greeley’s Jacob Ferriera in the finals.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Ferriera, he’s a great wrestler,” Ortiz said. “But it wasn’t just me; just about every coach felt that the way that the seeding worked out was unfortunate because both [Wallace and Logan] are two of the top guys in the state.”
For Wallace, who became New Rochelle’s all-time wins leader this year, winning the 170-pound title was just one of the goals for the winter season. The senior will head to the state championships in Albany next week where he hopes to become New Rochelle’s first state titlist since superheavyweight Malcolm Allen won the crown in 2011.
“He’s done a great job, he got a lot of confidence from all the work that he puts in and from what a competitive person he is,” Ortiz said. “He set his goals really high; he’s going for the state championship so there’s still some work to be done.”
Logan, who wrestled back to take third place on Saturday, could still make the state team as an at-large bid and should certainly have a bright future as one of the area’s top wrestlers.
“He’s going to be a force to be reckoned with,” Ortiz said. “As a sophomore, he’s already one of the best wrestlers in the upper weight classes and that’s something that’s usually reserved for juniors and seniors.”
A number of other local wrestlers had strong showings on Saturday as well. Mamaroneck’s Crew Fullerton placed second in the 132-pound bracket, Harrison’s Jay Martins took third place in the 126-pound division, and Eastchester’s Steven Bilali finished fourth at 152 pounds.
The state tournament will kick off on Feb. 24 at the Times Union Center in Albany. The semifinal and final rounds are scheduled for Feb. 25.
