NY Dual Meet Tournament: Canisteo-Greenwood wrestlers eye state championship

CANISTEO – The Canisteo-Greenwood Redskins are once again ready for the biggest of stages.

After coming away with a huge pair of wins in the Section V Dual Meet Championships and another trophy to add to the collection, the Redskins are now heading to the SRC Arena and Events Center in Syracuse on Saturday morning in an attempt to capture the ever-elusive NYS Dual Meet Championship.

On Jan. 12, the Redskins traveled to Pal-Mac high school and defeated the hosts in the semifinal matchup before rolling past Honeoye Falls-Lima in the championship round in order to win yet another Section V Dual Meet Championship and qualify for the NYS Championships.

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After a dominating performance in Section V and a consistent stream of wins in every tournament they have participated in, the Redskins come into Syracuse as the No. 2 seed in Division 2. They have been placed in a round-robin group with Section 11’s Shoreham Wading River and Section 3’s Central Valley Academy. Canisteo-Greenwood will face off with Central Valley at 9 a.m. and then will face Shoreham Wading River at noon.

If the Redskins win both of those matches, they will advance to the semifinal stage at 2:30 p.m. If the Redskins pick up yet another win, then they will be placed into the NYS Championship finals at 6 p.m.

Winning a NYS Championship would be an amazing accomplishment, but C-G Head Coach Philip Stewart knows that simply getting there for the third time is an accomplishment on its own, as the Redskins have had to beat much larger schools just to earn this opportunity.

“Going to state duals is such a different feel than individual championships," Stewart said. "It's a great opportunity for all of our kids to experience going to a state-level competition. It's a great feeling to make it to the state championships as a team again.

"There are some really tough teams in Section V and we are a lot of times competing against schools much larger than ours. The state duals is only split into two divisions; large schools and small schools. Some of the small school teams have graduating classes of close to 200 kids. So it's a great accomplishment for our little school to be able to compete with and beat those schools.”

The NYS Dual Meet Championships, along with the Section V Dual Meet Championships, is a wholly unique wrestling experience, as it requires a team performance to win. In the dual meet format, teams must beat a specific squad as each match is worth the same. This is much different from the Section V individual championships, where a few truly great wrestlers can propel a group to a team championship.

If the Redskins are going to come away as state champs, they will need a complete performance from every wrestler on the roster.

“Winning the duals is a total team effort and that's what I love about it," Stewart said. "The kids feeding off of one another and supporting each other no matter the outcome.

"This will be our third trip to the state championships out of the four years they have had it. The first year we finished second and then we were knocked out in the pool matches the next year.”

Canisteo-Greenwood has a strong lineup of kids who work extremely hard, and that’s why they have earned this opportunity to compete. But win or lose, the Redskins always come home with dignity and class, having represented their school and community well.

And for Stewart, that is always the most important thing.

“We would of course love to bring home a state championship for our community and we will give it all we have. More importantly, we just want to represent our school and section V with our best effort and make everyone proud of that. We have a great group of kids who work hard and deserve this opportunity,” said Stewart.

This article originally appeared on The Evening Tribune: Canisteo-Greenwood looks to grab a NYS Dual Meet Championship