By JIM MACLEAN
One milestone accomplished — other big goals on the horizon. Fox Lane senior wrestler Alex Berisha is on a mission, one match at a time.
Berisha traveled upstate to compete in the prestigious Eastern States Classic tournament Saturday at the Impact Athletic Center in Clifton Park, N.Y., on Jan. 11. He came back with the championship trophy as he claimed the 215-pound title, becoming just the second wrestler in Fox Lane history to win a title at the Eastern States.
With the title, Berisha continues to earn his place among the greatest wrestlers to compete at Fox Lane, and he is aiming for a big finish. Berisha is a two-time Section 1 champion and he placed fifth at Eastern States last year and seventh in 2023. He was a New York state finalist last season, and he is determined to get back to the states and win a state championship this year.
“That felt great, a lot of hard work, a couple of years I came up short, so now to come out on top of the podium felt great,” Berisha said of his title. “A couple of close matches, but in a tournament like that a win is a win and you keep moving on. I feel great; best wrestling I’ve done, I feel strong and fast. I’m aiming for a state title, that’s the goal.”
Berisha turned it on in the championship match by taking control and finishing off an 8-1 victory over Christopher Leggett of Newburgh to win the title. In the semifinals, Berisha pulled out a 10-8 win over Michael Mauro of John Jay/East Fishkill, and he scored a 14-10 win in the quarterfinals.
He wasn’t the only one to have a good day on the mats for Fox Lane, as Barron Ransom and Luke Ryan both made the trip up north to compete in the prestigious tournament against many of the best high school wrestlers in the northeast. Ransom rallied back after losing his first match to earn a place on the podium as he finished seventh at 190 pounds.
“Alex is Alex, and that was a big tournament for him. He was in full control of every match, we’ve only had one other champion, so that was a big win for him,” said Fox Lane coach Anthony Rodrigues, whose son Steven was the only other Eastern States champion in Fox Lane history on his way to winning a state title. “This was a really good weekend for us, they all wrestled great. Luke wrestled really tough. Barron lost his first match and then ended up winning five matches to place. In the last match he was down 6-0 in the third and came back to get four takedowns and win the match.”
Fox Lane followed up the impressive showing at Eastern States with a big dual-meet on the road against rival Horace Greeley on Jan. 14, and it went down to the wire with Ransom and Berisha recording pins in the final two bouts to pull out a 36-31 victory.
The match started with Flavio DiNicola at 103 pounds suffering a 7-4 setback by decision, but staying off his back as the Foxes trailed 3-0. Next up was Carmelo Cambareri, who pulled out a 7-3 victory at 108 pounds to even up the score at 3-3. Piero DiNicola won by pin at 124 pounds, and Antonio Cambareri followed at 130 pounds with a win by pin for a 15-7 lead. Greeley stormed back with three-straight wins by pin to take a 25-15 lead.
That set the stage for Chris Bloom at 160 pounds. Bloom trailed entering the third period, but turned it around and scored a takedown in the final seconds of the match to pull out a 7-5 victory.
Fox Lane trailed 31-18 heading into the final three bouts, needing to win all three and the heavyweights came through. Oscar O’Donnell-Powell won by pin at 190 pounds, Ransom bumped up to 215 pounds and won by pin to make the score 31-30, and then Berisha bumped up to 285 pounds and won by pin to give the Foxes the win.
“Greeley is a really good team and we had to really plug some holes to pull this out and every match was key to that win,” explained Rodrigues. “Carmelo bumping up against a much bigger kid and winning was huge. Antonio, who hasn’t wrestled, came in and got a pin. Piero gets a pin, Oscar is like our relief pitcher and he comes in and gets a pin, even Flavio losing by decision not getting pinned, every point counted. And Chris Bloom, that was the match right there. I couldn’t be happier. That is a really good team win against a really good team.”
Fox Lane hopes to keep it going with a match on Thursday against Ossining, and the Foxes will compete in the Shoreline Tournament at New Rochelle on Saturday, Jan. 18.