When the Cazenovia wrestling team ventured to Hannibal for Saturday’s Section III Class C championship meet, it faced one of its toughest fields of the entire season.
The Lakers still did a good job, though, claiming fifth place in a 14-team tournament with 129 points. General Brown, a finalist in the Section III Dual Meet two weeks earlier, won with 194 points as Holland Patent (165 points) was second.
Dylan Evans was the top seed at 120 pounds. After beating Don Sportello (Ilion) 11-4 in the semifinals, Evans took on Canastota’s Nate Walker in the title match and could not do much, Walker controlling matters and prevailing in a 6-2 decision. Evans is now 36-4 on the season.
Mike Nourse (26-14 this year) made his way to the championship round at 160 pounds when he rolled past Coty Lutz (Adirondack) 10-2. However, the final proved too tough as General Brown’s Tyler Silverthorn earned a 21-6 technical fall, leaving Nourse to match Evans’ second-place finish.
Nick Petroff (126 pounds) and Dan Phillips (182 pounds) both had third-place efforts. Petroff, a no. 6 seed, dropped his semifinal to Ryan Snow (General Brown), but recovered to claim the consolation bracket final and improve his season mark to 36-7 in a tough 10-7 verdict over Ilion’s Andrew Burch.
As for Phillips, his no. 3 seed led straight to Taylor Short (Holland Patent) and a 12-0 semifinal loss, but like Petroff, he won twice in the consolation bracket and, improving his record to 32-10, edged past General Browns’ Riccardo Dawkins 4-3 for third place.
Brad Lucas (285 pounds) earned fourth place, recovering from a quarterfinal loss to go 2-1 in consolation matches, while John Nannery was fourth at 170 pounds.
Matt Staiger’s pin of Owen Albanese (Canastota) in 4:08 gave him fifth place at 220 pounds, with Will Shephard (99 pounds) gaining fifth in a 2-0 decision over Holland Patent’s Andrew Stowell. Hayden Polhamus was fifth at 195 pounds when HP’s Matt Williams had to forfeit.
Meanwhile, in the sectional Class B meet at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, Chittenango finished 10th out of 14 teams with 68.5 points as sectional Dual Meet champion South Jefferson (260.5 points) rolled to the top.
Matt Bixby, vying for third place at 120, lost a 3-1 overtime decision to South Jefferson’s Adam Hutchinson, leaving him fourth alongside teammates Will Young (126) and Tyler Lewis (145), who dropped his third-place match to APW/Pulaski’s Tyler Petrie 7-3.
Also for the Bears, Justin Cox (195) pinned Dylan Hotchkiss (Homer) in 1:55 for fifth place as Casey Placito (285) got fifth when VVS’s Zach Legler had to default due to injury.
All of the area’s top wrestlers head to Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena this Saturday for the Section III Division II (small school) championship, which starts at 10 a.m. Winners earn automatic bids in the Feb. 22-23 state meet in Albany.
