Congratulations 2017-18 Friar Wrestling Team on a 369.5 point Victory to become number #1 Catholic team in New York.

2017-18 Wrestling State Champions

99: Sean Flick 
113: Tommy Szilagyi
?132: Christian Hansen
145: Justin Crawford
195: Matthew Savarese 
220: Maguire Horl
285: Nicholas Greer 

2017-18 NSCHSAA League Champions
99: Sean Flick
120: Dominik DiBenedetto
?138: Ty Lukens
145: Justin Crawford
160: Jake Tutuska 
195: Matthew Savarese
220: Maguire Horl 
 

By Desiree Mathurin
?Newsday Feb. 11, 2018

At the start of the match, Nicholas Greer found himself in an undesirable position.

The St. Anthony’s wrestler was tossed on his back by his opponent, Kellenberg’s Chris Scholz, who took a 4-0 lead in the 285-pound final match. Greer regained a dominant position and added two points for himself.

Greer knew one thing, he wouldn’t let that happen again.

Greer took Scholz’s back, pinned his arm and earned the win by fall in 1:06, making Greer a CHSAA state champion at 285 for the second year in a row.

“I knew I had to fight and get off my back instantly, so Scholz’s wouldn’t get the extra points,” Greer said. “As soon as I had his arm around his back, I said to myself ‘I got this.’ ”

Greer started off the tournament, which took place Sunday at Monsignor Farrell in Staten Island, by pinning his first two opponents in a combined time of 3 minutes, 12 seconds.

With the win Greer qualified for the NYSPHSAA Tournament in Albany, a place he is familiar with.

“This win is a stepping stone toward public states,” Greer said. “I’m proud of myself but I’m looking forward to Albany. I went 0-2 last year and that was a learning experience. It’s time to go back up there and get to work.”

St. Anthony’s won the team championship for the fifth time in a row, scoring 369.5 points. The Friars are sending seven champions to Albany, including 220-pounder Maguire Horl.

Horl defeated Luke Tobia from Iona via decision, 4-1. He won the 220-pound CHSAA title his sophomore year but couldn’t compete last year because of injury.

For Horl, getting the opportunity to compete at the state tournament is part of what inspired him.

“It was depressing not to be back last year to defend my title,” said Horl, who defeated his first three opponents via pin in a combined time of 2:37. “It’s good to get my second title but the bigger picture is in two weeks in Albany.”

By Newsday Reporter Gene Morris

Justin Crawford entered Sunday’s Nassau-Suffolk CHSAA wrestling tournament with one goal in mind.

Crawford, a St. Anthony’s senior, has been on the radar since winning a CHSAA state title as a freshman in 2015. He placed second in that tournament last season and was third in 2016.

Despite that, he had never captured a Nassau-Suffolk league title — until Sunday.

In one of the marquee matches, Crawford scored a 17-2 technical fall over Kellenberg’s Sean Coakley to win the 145-pound bracket in the tournament at Chaminade.

Crawford was named the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler and the champion of champions.

“I wrestled him earlier this year and I wasn’t happy,” Crawford said. “I really just wanted to come out today and score as many points as I could.”

Coakley previously finished second at the CHSAA state tournament at 113 in 2017 and third at 113 in 2016.

“Coakley is a really great kid but Crawford is doing exactly what we expected,” St. Anthony’s coach Tony Walters said. “He’s the most consistent wrestler we have. He’s wrestled national caliber kids and beat them. I definitely think he’s top three in the state and he wants to win a New York state title. That’s the goal."

“I’m just trying to stay focused,” Crawford said. “Winning a state title has been the goal and that’s what I’m going for.”

As a team, St Anthony’s had eight of the 15 champions and sent 14 wrestlers to the finals. Nicholas Greer won his third consecutive title at 285, Matthew Savarese repeated at 195 and Maguire Horl captured his second at 220 after winning in 2016. The Friars took the team title with 441.5 points. Chaminade was second with 349 and Kellenberg finished third with 254.5.

Horl missed a chance to repeat last season after suffering a shoulder injury the week leading up to the league tournament. He was cleared to wrestle in nationals in March and has been preparing for a run at a state title.

“We worked on strengthening it and getting him as many matches as possible,” Walters said. “He’s looking to get back to Albany.”

Week 5 - Preston Maucere of Saint Anthony's HS

The Long Island Wrestling Association Wrestler of the Week, for the week ending December 31, 2017, is 120 lb junior, Preston Maucere, of Saint Anthony’s HS. Unseeded in his bracket, Maucere went 5-0 this weekend to win the title at the 10th annual Prep Slam Invitational in Georgia. This included wins over two All State wrestlers (Louisiana and Tennessee), a state champion from Louisiana, and Nick Masters, 2017 Georgia State Champion/2017 USAW Cadet FS National runner-up. 

photo by Keith Maucere 

By Jr. Friar Tori Walters

Although fall sports are coming to an end, Friar Wrestling is just around the corner. Finishing off their 2016-2017 season as NYSCHSAA State, League, and League Dual Champions with 9 Catholic State Finalists, 2 Catholic State Champions and their 4th consecutive CHSAA Championship title.

Varsity Head Coach Antoni Walters is looking to make history this year. “This year we will be the first team other than Chaminade to win 5 Catholic State titles, ever. Then we’re going to become the first Catholic high school to win a New York State Public Federation Title.”

Winning that public state title shouldn’t be too hard considering the competition the team will be facing this year. Their first dual meets are against Wyoming Seminary, Bergen Catholic and St. Peter’s Prep, currently ranked #1, #6 and #14 in the nation respectively, all within 3 days of each other. Following that, the team will be heading to the Prep Slam in Georgia, one of the toughest private school tournaments in the country. “We have the best schedule in New York State, #1 in the country, #6 in the country all coming to St. Anthony’s.”

In terms of the Catholic league there isn’t much competition. During their 2016-17 season, the Friars beat Chaminade, 60-15, St. John the Baptist, 62-15, Holy Trinity, 74-6, and Kellenberg, 64-12, showing how truly dominant they are. Assistant Coach Vinny Realmuto, a former Friar Wrestler himself (Class of 2001), is looking forward to the first two dual meets of the season, Wyoming Seminary (PA), and Bergen Catholic (NJ). “They are consistently top ranked teams in the country. They should be a good gauge to see where we are as a team.”

Coach Walters, an Amityville wrestler, who is a 2x World Team Trials Qualifier in Freestyle and a US Greco-Roman National Champion, is entering his 23rd year as the Head Coach of the program. He believes his captains are ready to lead the team. “Our captains are three seniors, Nicholas Greer, Justin Crawford and Maguire Horl, and I see them all going to public states this year.” In terms of their leadership of the team, Coach Walters believes all they need to do is lead by example and the rest will fall in line.

The rest of the team should perform well also, said Walters, “as long as they do what they’re supposed to do, don’t question it and live the mentality, history will be made. As it says on the wall, If you don’t believe, you don’t belong.” The Friars lost 12 seniors last year, 7 of which were starters. Coach Realmuto believes that “losing Brian Kelly’s experience and Dutch Schultz’s leadership are hard to replace, but I believe that we have some guys ready to step up and fill those roles in a big way.”

In terms of coaching, the team lost one Assistant Coach at the end of the season and gained another former friar, Jamel Hudson (2012) to their coaching staff, along with Realmuto (2001), Frank Lombardo (2005) and Connor Horl, who was not a friar but a Garden City Wrestler. “Having alumni on the coaching staff is a vital part of St. Anthony’s Wrestling. The alumni coaches know the history of the team, they wrestled under Walters, and they know what is expected of the wrestlers and of themselves.” says Realmuto.

The road to public states is a long one that all begins with the annual ten-mile run, five miles to Walters’ house, and five miles back to St. Anthony’s. The ten-mile run is a requirement of all team members, Coach Walters included. Running, sometimes biking, alongside his wrestlers is the same way he practices with them. The mentality that Coach Walters creates in the room develops a family atmosphere unlike any other. “Friar Wrestling is unlike any other team, we’re one huge family and that’s why we’re going to to win that title.”

Be sure to come out and support Friar Wrestling at their first home match against Wyoming Seminary on Thursday, December 21 at 6pm.

By the Long Island Wrestling Association
November 10, 2017

This past Tuesday night, St. Anthony's Head Coach, Antoni Walters, shared the news that two of his top seniors---middleweight, Justin Crawford, and big man extraordinaire, Maguire Horl, had each signed National Letters of Intent to wrestle at the collegiate level.  

Crawford, a shoe-in to be an Ironman Award recipient at the 2018 Catholic State Tournament, following finishes of 1st, 3rd, and 2nd at 106, 120, and 145 pounds respectively from 2015-2017, will be taking his talents to the Buckeye State where he will attend and continue his athletic career as a part of the Notre Dame College dynasty...

Under the leadership of Frank Romano, the Falcons are the defending NCAA DII National Team Champions.  They previously won their first Division II crown in 2014, and were the National runners-up in 2016.  Hence, when he arrives in South Euclid, Ohio, there should be a confidence for Crawford that he will be in great hands and will have no shortage of excellent training partners who will push him to reach his full potential.  

An absolute hammer from the top position, I have on more than a few occasions expressed my high opinion of Crawford to both Coach Walters and to his club coach at Ascend WC, Craig Vitagliano, that "if he can just manage to hold his own from neutral, this young man can most definitely be on the podium in Albany in 2018."  

Known to be an individual who never shies away from testing himself against the nation's best, just a sampling of the 2018 team captain's  accolades includes winning three matches (3-2) in Virginia Beach at 2017 NHSCA Junior Nationals, earning the silver medal at the 2016 Ridgefield Challenge (against some of the top programs in New England), as well as back-to-back strong showings at the nearly 50-team Prep Slam Invitational in Georgia, taking 4th as a a sophomore before following it up with a top-5 effort in 2017.

In addition to being favored to win his second career individual CHSAA State title in 2018, Crawford is a big reason why the Friars as a collective unit are considered as close to automatic as you can get to pulling off the five-peat in terms of team hardware.  

Equally as influential and dominant during the on-going Friar reign atop the Catholic wrestling world has been Crawford's fellow tri-captain, Horl.  

Coming to South Huntington in his sophomore year after being a Nassau league runner-up for Garden City in his rookie campaign, the future Sacred Heart University Pioneer student-athlete had an immediate impact in his first season as a part of Friar Nation, winning both the Nassau-Suffolk League and Catholic High School Athletic Association State crowns at 220-pounds in 2016....

While he would go winless in his debut under the roof of the Times Union Center, Horl gained valuable experience and paved the way for a breakout junior season that witnessed him capture gold against national-level quality fields at both the Prep Slam Invitational (as the #10 seed) and the Ridgefield Challenge.  In his combined seven victories at these two events, Horl secured falls in five...Complementing his double titles was an early season 3rd-place performance at the Flo XCalibur Tournament versus several top teams from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York....

On fire down the homestretch, all signs pointed to a very strong likelihood that Horl could/would be a NYSPHSAA Large School place-winner in his return to the state capital.  Unfortunately, he never received that opportunity as an ill-timed injury just prior to the league tournament prematurely ended his 2017 season.  Unable to compete, he had to endure the pain of watching as Canisius's Mason Hoose parlayed winning the CHSAA title into an eventual 5th place showing at the NYS Federation Tournament.  

Now healthy, Horl will be determined to close out this chapter of his wrestling career by not only adding a second CHSAA gold, but also by fulfilling the destiny of his lineage.  The son of 1980 NYS 5th place finisher, Larry [on behalf of South Side] and the younger brother of the 2010 DI runner-up, Connor [Garden City], 2018 represents Mcguire's turn to "join the family business."

What is best of all about stories like this one, is that per Walters, in each case, the respective young man ended up committing to his #1 choice....Nothing beats seeing that hard-work pay off with their dreams coming to fruition.  

Congratulations to Justin, Mcguire, the Crawford and Horl families, and all of the people within the STA wrestling community that made this news possible !!!

#LiveTheMentality #Believe