Ross, Keith go down

Back in here Rochester for day two. We're only 20 minutes into action and two wrestlers have already lost.

Matt Ross was pinned in his semifinal match in 4:23 by Sean McCormick of Johnson City. McCormick meets Bob Dierna of Wayne for the 96 pound championship.

A surprising match followed when Steven Keith lost 8-3 to Justis Flamio of Mahopac. Keith's bid for a second straight state title is over. Now he'll have to come back and fight for third.

Keith will now face Islip's Jake Benedetto in a rematch of the Section XI final. Benedetto lost in the quarterfinals to Nick Arajau of Syosset before winning two wrestleback matches. The winner of that match wrestles for third/fourth place. Brandon Escobar will meet Peter Morales of Grand Street Campus on the other side. Escobar, who lost in the quarters to Flamio, won two wrestleback matches as well.

So there's still a chance we could see an Escobar/Keith match one more time, although not exactly as either wrestler would have hoped.

Our last hope for a state champion falls to T.J. Neidhart and Zach Buonaiuto. Both will have their hands full to do so. Neidhart meets Donnie Vinson, who easily beat Ray Powers in the first round. If Buonaiuto can get past Josh Peters, waiting in the finals will likely be Hunter Meys, a state champion last year at 171 pounds. He was also the Most Outstanding Wrestler. Meys has recorded two pins thus far, including a 28 second throwdown in the quarterfinals.