CLAYTON, New York (WWNY) – One of the premiere wrestling tournaments in the Northeast wrapped up on Sunday in Clayton, with the Thousand Islands Duals enjoying another year of success.
The tournament began on Friday morning with 15 junior varsity teams from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Massachusetts competing.
Friday afternoon, 40 varsity teams took center stage for the weekend, with teams from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine in action.
For local teams in action like the General Brown Lions, it’s a chance to get a head start on the Frontier League season.
”Well, one, it’s a great opportunity for our kids to have in our back yard that brings talent from all over the eastern seaboard for our kids to get a little measuring stick about how well they’re doing and how well they’ve progressed and what they need to work on. As far as not having a full year last year, this is bringing something back. It brings everything back to normal where they have an opportunity to compete in the sport that they love,” said General Brown Wrestling Coach Mike Hartle.
“Yeah, everybody’s gonna be ready to go because they want to show that they haven’t left anything behind and that they’ve improved instead of regressed,” said Sheamus Devine, a sophomore wrestler with General Brown.
With the Frontier League not having a 2020 wrestling season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, for many coaches the T.I. Duals is a chance for them to see their wrestlers in live action, allowing them to evaluate their roster both on and off the mat.
”Yeah, me personally, this summer has been great. I’ve had a good group of kids come in and work hard. They wrestled today, some of them, and did a nice job. It’s something positive to build on for next year, so I’m very excited,” said Pat Conners, the South Jeff and Sandy Creek Wrestling Coach.
”This is a big team bonding and comradery trip that we have. We cook out all weekend, kids get to hang out and it’s more about bonding and building the team atmosphere than anything. The competition is great, but what we look forward to most is just getting the guys together and building that family atmosphere,” said Hartle.
An atmosphere these wrestlers and coaches hope leads them to a successful season on the mat.
On Friday, the 2021 season officially kicked off for the S.U. Football team as they held their first fall practice.
Dino Babers’ team is going into 2021 with an open competition at the quarterback position with last year’s starter Tommy DeVito battling with Mississippi State transfer Garrett Shrader for the job.
DeVito only played in 4 games due to injury, and threw for 593 yards with 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, completing 50% of his passes.
Babers says he wants a clear cut winner for the job before camp wraps up.
”I think the position is wide open. What I mean by wide open is we’re looking for someone to take that position over and own it. I don’t want to decide who the quarterback is going to be. I want someone to just win the position so dog gone big that everybody knows who the quarterback is. And then let’s see if we can start the season with that guy and finish the season with that guy. When we do that, we normally like what our won and loss record is when it’s all said and done,” said Babers.
The Evans Mills Raceway Park had an overflow crowd Saturday for the Watertown Monster Truck Chaos Show.
The show was highlighted by 4 national tv monster trucks: Bounty Hunter, Scarlet Bandit, Jekyll and Hyde, and Iron Outlaw.
The event included a pre-show meet and greet pit party, and fans also had a chance to purchase rides on “Redneck Road Trip” and “Knucklehead” monster trucks.
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