CAVE
CREEK – Cactus Shadows senior Chris Sclafani capped his stellar
wrestling career with the Falcons as he earned a fourth‑place
finish at last week’s 4A‑Division II state tournament.
Sclafani
went 3‑2 at state, losing to Mingus’ Cory Ferguson 5‑2
in the third‑place match of the 215‑pound weight
class to help the Falcons finish 17th as a team.
Sclafani’s
finish highlighted a trio of solid showings for Cactus Shadows
at the state meet, which was held Feb. 8‑10 at Jobing.com
Arena. Riley O’Neal (112 pounds) and Zach O’Kane (125) both
reached the quarterfinals of their respective weight classes,
but they both failed to place.
Mingus
won the team championship in convincing fashion by 125 points
over second‑place Buckeye. Cactus Shadows’ region rival,
Sunnyslope, took third. The Falcons finished with 35 team
points.
Sclafani
carried the point load for the Falcons, earning wins over
Flagstaff’s Jeremy Smith in the first round and Louie Huerta
of Cholla in the quarterfinals. Buckeye’s Clint Gladden, who
eventually won the championship, then sent Sclafani to the
consolation bracket with a pin at 5:21.
In
his first consolation match, Sclafani pinned Austin Cormier
of Queen Creek at 2:08 to advance to the third‑place
match.
Other
Cactus Shadows wrestlers who earned at least one win at the
state meet included Keith Howell (130 pounds), Brian Colan
(140) and Carl Matthes (160).
Reach
the reporter at jason@thedesertadvocate.com.
