SOURCE: www.democratandchronicle.com

February 29, 2004

By James Johnson
Democrat and Chronicle
February 29, 2004

Full Text: Copyright © 2004 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Company Inc.

AMHERST, NY — Andrew Grillo was born into a family of wrestlers, and his high school career closed with kinfolk in his corner.

The Holley senior claimed the 135-pound small-schools division state title Saturday and triggered a joyful Grillo group hug in the process.

At the final whistle of Andrew Grillo's 4-2 victory over Matt Campion from Frewsburg, Grillo's father John wrapped his arms around his two oldest sons, Adam and Ashley-John.

Andrew Grillo joined them after he improved his record to 42-0 and became the only state champion in his immediate family.

His older brothers returned to coach at Holley after outstanding high school careers of their own.

"I've never felt better," said Andrew Grillo, one of six wrestlers from Section V to earn state championships.

"You can't ask for anything more."

Grillo earned the title after a tense bout with Campion, the Section VI champion wrestling near his hometown, inside Alumni Arena at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

The final point of the match was scored after Grillo pulled off an escape early in the third. He fended off two takedown attempts in which Campion had one of his feet off the ground.

"This is the proudest moment of my life — as a former athlete, wrestler and as a father," John Grillo said.

"This has been a dream of his since he was in nursery school."

Kendall senior Donald Williams made good on the hours of practice he has endured for years and a return trip to states after he finished fifth at the 2003 championships in Syracuse.

Like Grillo, Williams seemed to always be in the right position during his small-schools 145-pound division final, which he won 2-1.

Even at the end of the match, when senior Brandon MacWhinnie made one last takedown attempt that Williams just warded off with an arm at the edge of the mat.

"I thought he had me," said Williams, Kendall's first state wrestling champ. "It was kind of my mistake. I stood up. I looked at the referee and he said, 'No points,' and I was as happy as I could be.

"I was pumped before the match. This time it was in my head that I was going to win and no one was going to stop me."

Pembroke junior Nick Price held off Dan Bishop from Whitehall in Section XI, 2-1, to win the 103 small-schools division title.

Canandaigua's Trevor Chinn at 145 and Kyle Ingraham at 125 were Section V's only large-schools division state champions.

The other champ from the area came from Attica, which sent the largest contingent of wrestlers from one Section V school with four.

John Wassink, a 171-pound senior, defeated Dan Fairbairn from Unatego in Section IV, 8-6 in overtime to win the small-schools division.

Webster Schroeder junior Gregor Gillespie was unbeatable for nearly the last two seasons, but met his match in the semifinals of the 130-pound large-schools bracket.

Steve Brown, a junior who wrestles for the combined Canton-Potsdam team in Section X, knocked Gillespie out of contention with a 6-4 win over the 2003 119-pound state champ.

Brown led 6-1 after the first period.

"His style was kind of funky and he had great hips," Gillespie said. "I could never get him out of position.

"He wrestled me right and I wrestled him wrong. I went with his style. He played the game right, I guess."