9th Annual

Interscholastic League Championships

Varsity Wrestling Tournament
@ Benjamin Franklin High School (Rochester, NY)
Preliminaries & Quarters - Tuesday, April 14, 1931
Semis - Thursday, March 16, 1931
Finals - Monday, April 20, 1931

Final Results

Tech High Places 10 Men in Finals of School Mat Meet
Shopmen Dominate Grappling in Semi-final Round; DeFrancisco Beats Ruppenthal in Thriller; Two Champs Eliminated
Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, NY
Friday, April 17, 1931
 

Full Text: Copyright © 1931 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Company Inc.

Tech High School's championship wrestling squad showed its real strength by sending ten out of a possible 18 men into the finals of the city interscholastic individual mat title tournament as a result of winning 10 of 12 bouts in the semi-finals yesterday afternoon at Benjamin Franklin High School. Coach Hoff's Shopmen, well-drilled and exhibiting a surprising skill and knowledge of the grappling sport, placed men in eight of the nine weight classes as Tech boys came through in both ends of the semi-finals in two of the divisions.

The 105-pound class is the only one in which a Tech representative did not win. Hall of West won the decision over Madalena, Shopman, in the lightest division with a time advantage of 2 minutes, 24 seconds. Rice, in the 118-pound class, was the only other wearer of the Tech colors to lose yesterday. He bowed to Joe Caccamise of East High by a time edge of 4 minutes, 27 seconds. The all-Tech finals will be in the 112 and 135-pound divisions.

Two defending champions lost out yesterday--both times to Shopmen. DiBenedetto threw Ed Aratari, Oriental, in the 112-pound group; and Jimmy Gala of West High lost to Houle in an extra period tussle for the upsets.

Probably the best match of the afternoon resulted in the 126-pound class when John DeFrancisco of Monroe won over Bob Ruppenthal of Franklin in an over-time struggle by the close time advantage of 2 minutes, 1 second. DeFrancisco upset Sam Russo of Franklin, crowned city amateur titleholder at the Y.M.C.A. tourney Saturday, in his first-round match.

Tom Polis, Shopman and amateur champion in the 135-pound section as a result of winning in the Y event, put on a thrilling bout in defeating Chuck Geyer of Franklin yesterday. Polis came from behind to eke out the narrow edge of 1 minute, 8 seconds.

The 175-pound and unlimited groups supplied plenty of heavy action as the big boys grunted and squirmed in mauling each other. Schroeder of Tech gained a close decision over Pete Johnson of Franklin in the unlimited group for the heavyweight feature.

The finals will be held Monday afternoon, starting at 3:30 o'clock at Franklin High.