At least the Cicero-North Syracuse wrestling team got its full complement of practices finished before the onset of last week’s snow that dumped as much as four feet in some areas.
Just as the snow event was commencing, so was the Northstars’ season as it hosted the annual Andersen Tournament last Saturday, drawing 17 teams from across Upstate New York.
CNS finished seventh in the team standings, with 103 points. Palmyra-Macedon (Section V) took the top spot with 245.5 points, well clear of runner-up Chenango Forks (174 points). South Jefferson, with 128 points, finished fifth, best among Section III sides.
Only twice did Northstar wrestlers reach the finals. Ariel Anoceto did so at 189 pounds, earning three straight pins over Will VanScoter (South Jefferson), Nate Farley (Amsterdam) and Chad Voorhess (Elmira Free Academy) before dropping a close 5-4 decision to Palmyra-Macedon’s Cody Jacobs in the finals.
Meanwhile, at 285 pounds, Clayton D’Onofrio also made the finals. He pinned Tyler Gleason (Gouverneur) in 26 seconds) and Pat Byrne (Rush-Henrietta) in 1:26 to reach the title match, only to run into another Palmyra wrestler, Brandon Jones, and get pinned in the second period.
Matt Mastro earned third place at 215 pounds when Jesse Angevine (Windsor) had to withdraw due to injury default. Drew Dyer (96 pounds) beat Herkimer’s Ryan Zawtocki 12-1 to earn fifth place at 96 pounds, while Dan Ciciarelli, at 112 pounds, also finished fifth by topping Rob DiDomenico (Whitesboro) 7-1. James Segars was sixth at 160 pounds.
CNS was supposed to open CNY Counties League action last Wednesday against Institute of Technology Central (the combined team of Syracuse city school wrestlers), but it got snowed out.
After hosting the JV Blindmen’s Invitational on Saturday, CNS is set to visit West Genesee next Wednesday and compete Dec. 17 and 18 in the Tri-Valley Tournament at Camden.