No matter what it had done before hosting its own invitational meet on Saturday, the Cazenovia wrestling team knew that competing at home, in Buckley Gym, would provide some motivation.
As it turned out, it was enough to push the Lakers all the way to fifth place in a 16-team field with 132 points. At the top, Baldwinsville won it, finishing just half a point ahead of Cicero-North Syracuse, the Bees getting 172.5 points to the Northstars’ 172 points.
Mike Nourse gave Cazenovia its lone victory at 170 pounds. Nourse, with a bye straight into the semifinals, won that match over Pete Zhobolov (West Genesee) 8-0, and then got past C-NS’s Tom Peterson 9-3 in the championship round.
Dan Phillips, wrestling at 195 pounds, used pins over Nick Buehler (Port Byron) and Dan Appley (Herkimer) to get to the final against B’ville’s Joe Nasoni, only to lose that match when Nasoni pinned him late in the first period. Jacob Wells got a third-place finish at 99 pounds.
Brad Lucas finished fourth at 285 pounds, while Zack Maxwell gained fourth place at 113 pounds and Will Shephard was fourth at 106 pounds. Hayden Polhamus (182 pounds) lost in the semifinals, but pinned Nick Kinney (Homer) for fifth place. Carter Biviano did the same at 120 pounds, beating Jacob Cline (Homer) with a fall at 2:44 to finish fifth. Mike Marshall was sixth at 160 pounds.
As for Chittenango, who was eighth with 82.5 points, Alex Miller (120) beat West Genesee’s Mike Linton 5-0 for third place, with Tony Cutrie getting third at 182 after beating Victor Halverson (Sandy Creek) 5-1 in the consolation bracket final.
Wyatt Blanding (126 pounds) pinned Onondaga’s Dylan Stellmack in 2:15 to take fifth place, with Matt Bixby fifth at 132 in a 1-0 decision over Fabius-Pompey’s Bill Heselden. Casey Placito (220 pounds) was fifth after Oxford’s Garyn Huntley defaulted.
Just before this, Cazenovia hosted Hannibal last Wednesday night, and stayed in it until the final match before it lost to the Warriors 38-33.
Hannibal raced out in front with four straight wins from 145 to 170 pounds, including two pins and a forfeit, but the Lakers answered with its own four-win streak.
Nourse (named a third-team Class B All-State football selection earlier this week) got it going at 182, pinning Chris Knox in 3:45. A pair of forfeits to Polhamus (195) and Phillips (220) followed, with Lucas working hard at 285 to beat Lucas Gage 5-1.
The Warriors then won three of the next four bouts, including Maxwell’s 10-5 defeat to Dustin Ouellette at 113, with Shephard getting a victory at 106 when he pinned Evan Salmonsen midway through the second period.
Carter Biviano’s 30-second fall over Doug Clark at 126 pounds cut Hannibal’s margin to 35-33, meaning that if Paul McGlaughlin could win at 132 against Brandon Wolfe, the Lakers would take the meet. McGlaughlin was tough, but Wolfe prevailed 7-4.
As this went on, Chittenango went on the road and, against the combined CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt entry, lost a tough 47-29 decision.
Dropping the first two matches, Chittenango did not get on the board until 120, when Miller battled past Jonah Monto-Cavallo 5-1. In the very next match, Blanding suffered a 3-1 overtime defeat to Arsen Bagiryan.
At 132, Connor Fredericks pinned Cole Murphy early in the third period, only to have Will Young (138) lose a wild 18-10 match to Matt Lauro. The Bears did win the next two bouts as Bixby edged Lucas Rowe 2-1 and Jake Wilmer (152 pounds) needed 2:36 to pin Devlin White.
CBA/J-D would clinch the meet, though, by winning four of the next five bouts, only interrupted by Justin Cox’s pin of 195-pound opponent David Sayre. Placito (285) did finish well with an 18-3 technical fall over Ethan Palmer.
