Fabian wins first two matches to advance to semifinals

Shoreham-Wading River senior T.J. Fabian’s quest for a state championship began with a pair of dominant wins Friday afternoon at Times Union Center in Albany.

After a bevy of upsets, his road to a state title will take an unexpected route.

Fabian, the top seed at 126, opened his tournament with a 10-0 major decision over John McHugh, a junior from Columbia (Section II). Fabian followed that with a 7-0 win over Nick Toutant, a sophomore from Indian River (Section III).

He’s yet to surrender a point.

When the bracket came out, it looked like Fabian would be in line to face former state champion Mark West of Hauppauge in the semifinals. But West, the No. 4 seed, went down in the first round, 7-3, against Fredrick Dunau of St. Anthony’s.

On the other side of the bracket, No. 2 seed and defending state champion Dylan Realbuto of Somers (Section I) lost in the quarterfinals when he was pinned in 3 minutes 27 seconds by Keanu Thompson of Grand Street Campus. Realbuto was second in the state two years ago.

In another quarterfinal, No. 3 seed Chris Arraoz of Wantagh lost his quarterfinal match against Antonio Deluco of Rome Free Academy (Section III).

The semifinals begin 10 a.m. Saturday.

Click below for a live blog from Day 1 of the New York State Wrestling Championships.