Southwestern junior Adrian Torres drives for a late takedown against Wyatt Sartori of Dansville/Wayland/Cohocton-V in the 101-pound semifinals in the NYSPHSAA wrestling championships at MVP Arena in Albany on Saturday.

ALBANY — Adrian Torres was trailing 7-5 against the favored 2-seed in the biggest match of his life in the state semifinals.

Needing to score he shot toward Wyatt Sartori of Dansville/Wayland/Cohocton-V and managed a takedown with 5 seconds left to go up 8-7 and earned a spot in the 101-pound Division II New York Public High School Athletic Association Championship on Saturday at MVP Arena in Albany.

Torres will take on top-seed Declan McKee of Tioga-IV in the finals, an opponent he even managed to defeat 3-2 in tiebreakers of the Linda C. Knuutila Memorial championship at 108 pounds this season.

Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama/Clymer’s Mason Maring was favored to join Torres in the finals later on Saturday as he was wrestling the opponent he defeated to get to states, Wilson’s Hamza Merrick.

However, the familiarity Merrick had with Maring paid off in their semifinal bout as he flipped the script from an 18-5 major decision to a pin for his spot in the 285-pound state championship. Merrick will take on defending state champion Troy Beeman of Waverly-IV, an opponent he lost to in the quarterfinals last season in the tournament before finishing in third place.

Southwestern junior Adrian Torres holds off Wyatt Sartori of Dansville/Wayland/Cohocton-V to steal the win during the 101-pound semifinals in the NYSPHSAA wrestling championships at MVP Arena in Albany on Saturday.

Maring will still be able to wrestleback for at most third and can go no lower than sixth on the podium.

While Torres was able to score the late points needed for a spot in the championship, Falconer/Cassadaga Valley sophomore Dylan Newman could not notch the last second score in a 2-1 decision against Brock Frederick of South Jefferson-III.

Newman received a penalty in the first round and after that both wrestlers scored one point from escapes, a big difference from last year’s result between the pair in which Frederick won by pinfall at 0:33 in the 116-pound quarterfinals.

Randolph senior Caden Inkley faced a tall task in his semifinal at 152 pounds going up against 2024 Division I 138-pound finalist Luke Nieto of Plainedge-VIII and the top-seeded Nieto lived up to his billing with a dominant 19-2 technical fall.

Both Maring and Inkley made the most of their semifinal losses by getting to the highest point of the podium they still could.

Southwestern junior Adrian Torres celebrates after securing his spot in the 101-pound Division II final at the NYSPHSAA wrestling championships at MVP Arena in Albany on Saturday.

Aside from the costly mistake against Merrick, Maring was back to business with a 12-1 major decision against Landon Andrade of Sherburne Earlville-III. Then in the third place match he dominated again with a 10-0 major decision over Zach Kuelling of Williamson/Marion/Sodus-V, finishing his high school on the podium.

Inkley bounced back with a 9-3 decision over Cooper Robinson of Waverly-V to reach the third-place match and that became a battle he really needed to grind for.

After two periods against Waylan Winseman of Honeoye Falls/Lima-V, Inkley trailed 2-0. He then kicked things into drive in the final period of his high school career by scoring eight points on two takedowns and two escapes for an 8-7 decision for third place.

All of the semifinalists guaranteed spots on the podium, while the remaining five local wrestlers had to work through the wrestlebacks.

Southwestern sophomore Miles Torres had the longest road to go after he essentially began his tournament in the consolation bracket due to an injury in the first round at 108 pounds.

Southwestern junior Adrian Torres jumps into the arms of his coaches after securing his spot in the 101-pound Division II final at the NYSPHSAA wrestling championships at MVP Arena in Albany on Saturday.

After picking up a pair of wins on Friday, Torres needed just one win to guarantee a podium placement and he got that with a 4-1 sudden victory over Dylan Newman of Windsor-V to begin Saturday.

The younger Torres brother was not done after that as he was out to show if not for injury he could have certainly made a lot of noise in the championship bracket. Rattling off another two wins, including an 11-6 decision over semifinalist Seth Strain of Adirondack-III, Torres found himself in the third-place match.

Then in that match Torres was dealt his only loss of the tournament in which he wrestled to completion as top-seeded Mason Tanner of Jordan Elbridge-III defeated him with a 13-1 major decision.

Chautauqua Lake sophomore Thandon Bensink started in the same position as Torres on Saturday, but his quest for the podium at 131 pounds was cut short by Evan Sheils of Lansing-IV with a pin at 2:38.

Reaching the quarterfinals on Friday, Randolph senior Domanik Clark, Southwestern junior Carmine Calimeri and Falconer/Cassadaga Valley sophomore Patrick Braley needed just one win on Saturday to place at states.

Wilson's Hamza Merrick works Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama/Clymer's Mason Maring to an upset pin in the 285-pound semifinals. Maring bounced with two wins to finish his career in third place at 285 pounds in Division II.

Clark started with a 10-3 decision over Ryan Mashaw of Gouverneur-X, dominating the match the entire way aside from one reversal scored against him. He then followed that up with a more dominant victory as he earned a 10-1 major decision against John Parisi of Nanuet-I and was set to wrestle one of the semifinalists.

The Randolph senior was relegated to the fifth-place match as Owen Clark of Lansing-IV secured a pin at 1:51. Clark finished his high school wrestling career in sixth place at 138 pounds as Hunter Lines of Homer-III defeated him 4-0.

Calimeri scored a 17-1 technical fall over Barrett David of South Seneca-V to clinch a state medal, but then lost to eventual third-place finisher at 124 pounds, Trevor Middendorf of Newark Valley-IV, by 7-5 decision. Then he lost one more time with an 18-10 major decision by Lucas Hoffman of Odessa Montour/Watkins Glen in the seventh-place match.

After falling in his semifinal, Newman lost two straight matches to finish a pair of spots above Calimeri on the podium. First he lost 8-2 against Aidan Lee of John Glenn-XI and then in the fifth-place bout suffered a 10-1 major decision to Joe Scott of Letchworth-V.

Braley had a similar finish to Calimeri as he began the 190-pound wrestlebacks with a 9-4 decision against Dikota Hamilton of Trumansburg/Charles O Dickerson-IV. Then he suffered an 18-8 major decision by Alwalid Bourkia of Scotia Glenville before dropping an exciting 11-8 sudden victory decision against Avery Bustamante of Wayne-V in the seventh-place match.

Randolph senior Caden Inkley dropped his 152-pound semifinal match against top-seed Luke Nieto of Plainedge-VIII. Inkley rebounded with two wins to finish his career in third place at 152 pounds in Division II.

Southwestern sophomore Miles Torres made it all the way through the 108-pound wrestlebacks and took fourth place in Division II.

Falconer/Cassadaga Valley sophomore Dylan Newman dropped his 124-pound semifinal against Brock Frederick of South Jefferson-III by a 2-1 decision. Newman finished the season in sixth place at 124 pounds in Division II.

Randolph senior Domanik Clark finished 6th at 138 pounds in Division II.

Falconer/Cassadaga Valley sophomore Patrick Braley finished in 8th place at 190 pounds in Division II.

Southwestern junior Carmine Calimeri finished in 8th at 124 pounds in Division II.