GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland wrestling team had to move its first home dual meet of the season.

After a few teams canceled from what would have been the first Dutchmen Duals of the season, Guilderland Coach Regan Johnson decided to move the remaining teams to the Niskayuna Duals.
"We got to see some teams that we don’t get to see," Johnson said. "We don’t wrestle Salem. Warrensburg has a good young team and we don’t see them, normally. Suffern of Section I, we never see. We saw some different competition and we didn’t have very far to go."

The Dutchmen went 3-1 on Saturday, but had some tough matches.

Guilderland beat Warrensburg, 48-24; Suffern, 39-34; Salem, 33-31; and lost to Kingston, 39-37.
"The first match we wrestled very well but it came down to the last match," Johnson said. "Ian DeSol had to pin his kid, and he did everything he could. He just couldn’t pin him.
"It was an exciting match," Johnson said. "The first three matches were exciting. We lost by two, won by one, and won by five. Kingston has some good kids. Salem is a small school but they are very good. It’s the first time we’ve wrestled them, at least since I’ve been here. They were the small-school champs last year. They are very competitive and a good team. It was our last match and we were able to pull it out."

"Good tournament"

Johnson saw some good individual performances at the Niskayuna meet.

Matt Cubillos, DeSol, and John D’Ambrosio all went unbeaten on the day, finishing 4-0 in their weight classes.

Josh Sawyer and Eugene Sellie finished the duals with a 3-1 record.

Keith Cole went 2-2 on the day, but had an exciting match against a wrestler from Salem that went down to the wire.

Johnson said that his wrestlers will benefit from facing strong competition.
"Even if they lose," he said, "having close, tough matches benefits them. The kids don’t always understand this but, if you lose, it doesn’t hurt if you had a tough match with the kid."

Combining the tournaments, Johnson said, will help both Guilderland and Saratoga.
"I think we both helped each other out," the coach said. "We had three good teams go in and add to an already good tournament."

"Banged up"

The Dutchmen are hobbled with injuries at the moment.

Junior Kyle Hussey hasn’t wrestled this season because of a knee injury and will be out for a couple of more weeks.

Senior James Ramson got banged up at the Niskayuna Duals but should be ready to go by this weekend. D’Ambrosio has a skin infection but should also be ready to wrestle soon.
"Injuries happen," Johnson said. "It always happens. Last year, we had three guys out for a couple of weeks. The season’s long and guys get banged up. Small injuries tend to get worse if you don’t take care of them."

The Dutch wrestled Columbia on Wednesday and then travel back to Burnt Hills for the Lee Van Slyke Tournament before taking a break for Christmas.