Liverpool’s wrestling team would get the showdown with Baldwinsville it wanted so much, only it had to wait a week and a half for it.
Having seen their meet on Jan. 7 postponed, the Warriors and Bees waited to square off until both were in the LHS gymnasium for Saturday’s Liverpool Duals, and Liverpool won it, 43-33, beginning a clean sweep of the day’s events.
They started at 120 pounds, and Liverpool seized control by winning four of the first five bouts, with Audey Ashkar pinning Tyler Patrick and Anthony Ianno (126 pounds) doing the same in a fall over Josh Peck.
Jeremy Poind (132 pounds) did pin Devin Delia for B’ville, but Peter Nash (138 pounds) got a tough 6-5 victory over David Rush and Mike Mills, at 145 pounds, battled past Brian Rush 5-2.
Down 18-6, B’ville caught up with pins from Sam Candee (152 pounds) and Connor Ross (160 pounds), but that 18-18 tie didn’t last long.
Another exchange followed, Liverpool getting nine points from a pin by Jalen Barron (182 pounds) over Dan Wicks and Zack Khatib (170 pounds) edging Thor Sutphen 4-2, the Bees countering with Alex Bowen (182 pounds) shutting out Nathaniel Knox 3-0 and Mike Spicer (220 pounds) pinning Alan Cary.
This left the two sides tied, 27-27, with four bouts left. But B’ville had to forfeit at 99 pounds and, when David Carnie got a pin at 285 pounds over Austin Reinhardt and Sean Nadeau (113 pounds) beat Kevin Lewis 12-2, the Warriors clinched the win.
Led by Nash, who as named his team’s Most Outstanding Wrestler, Liverpool went from the B’ville meet to handling West Genesee 60-21 and romping past Johnson City 64-12. A 57-29 win over Rome Free Academy set up the decisive bout against Phoenix, which proved close – but the Warriors, by a 37-33 margin, pulled it out.
Before this, Liverpool tuned up last Thursday night by hosting Port Byron and easily handling the Panthers by a 60-15 margin.
Ashkar, Mills, Khatib, Peter Nash and Anthony Richardson (152 pounds) all had pins in quick succession, with Nash taking just 69 seconds to finish off Leland Sumner.
Sean Nadeau, opening the meet at 113 pounds, had a 15-0 technical fall over Katherine Sumner, while Cary held off Nick Buehler 3-2. Jerry Nash (120 pounds) lost, 4-3, to Andrew Taber, with Jack Ragonese (182 pounds) falling to Gavin Kirby 7-4 and Christian Bradshaw, at 99 pounds, taking a 5-3 defeat to Joe Powers.
Cicero-North Syracuse, meanwhile, returned to the win column a week after a league defeat to West Genesee, visiting Fayetteville-Manlius last Wednesday and sweeping the bouts in the lower weight classes to beat the Hornets 63-18.
Many of those matches ended quickly. Jacob Hall, at 132, pinned Ali Salem in 36 seconds, while Ray Sorensen (113) took just 53 seconds to finish off Zac Colon. Travis Harrington, at 106, pinned Ben Nosovitch in 1:13, five fewer seconds than it took Joe Barber (120) to get his fall over Joe Falcone. Nick Gazzillo (138) waited until the second period to pin Kai Stenson.
Only Joe Mayers, at 126, had a close call, edging past Jack Kinsella 5-3 as David Ciciarelli (99 pounds) claimed a forfeit, and C-NS found success in the higher weight classes, too.
Anthony Carella, wrestling at 170, pinned Sam French in just 49 seconds. Austin Miller (220) got his pin over Luke Ovadias in 1:21, with Chris St. Denny (285) pinning Andrew Testani midway through the second period. Nick Misita, at 182 pounds, claimed a forfeit.
C-NS went from there to the Hannibal Duals, where it went 3-2. With Sorenson named his team’s Most Outstanding Wrestler, the Northstars beat the hosts from Hannibal, plus East Syracuse-Minoa and Copenhagen, but lost to Marcellus 51-21 and Cortland 64-15.
Ironically, the Northstars would visit Baldwinsville this Wednesday, just as Liverpool concludes back-to-back meets against Lowville and Auburn, all leading up to Saturday’s Section III Dual Meet at C-NS, where Liverpool will participate and face no. 2 seed General Brown in the opening round.
Matches start at 10 a.m., with Adirondack the top seed, followed in the seeding order by General Brown, Mexico, Fulton, Cortland and Central Valley Academy. Liverpool joins B’ville, Indian River, Camden, Marcellus, Canastota, Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, Cazenovia, Phoenix and South Jefferson as unseeded teams in the Dual Meet.
