Onondaga — Having finished second in the Feb. 6 Section III Class AA tournament, the CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt wrestling team now went after individual glory as part of last Saturday’s overall sectional meet at SRC Arena – and got it from someone overdue, and someone new.
Matt Griffin was the top seed at 99 pounds, having lost in the sectional final each of the previous two years. Here, though, no one would stop him.
Even with an extra round to go through, Griffin handled it, getting a two-minute technical fall over Hunter Guyette (Carthage) before quick pins over Corey Okun (Liverpool) in 46 seconds and Jeff Robinson (Whitesboro) in 28 seconds. Now, in his third straight sectional final, Griffin finally prevailed, withstanding a tough challenge from Indian River’s Logan Patterson to gain a 4-2 decision and improve to 37-2 this winter.
At 138 pounds, Jonah Cavallo rose from the no. 4 seed to take the title and join Griffin by automatically qualifying for the Feb. 26-27 state meet at Albany’s Times Union Center, despite the presence of CBA/J-D teammate Dustin Harris as the top seed.
Cavallo had edged Stefan Colbert (Indian River) 3-1 as Harris beat Hunter Duger (Auburn )5-2 to set up a semifinal against each other. Cavallo dominated this bout from start to finish, nearly getting a technical fall, but still routing Harris 17-3 and going on the final where he used a late escape to edge Baldwinsville’s Jeremy Pond 4-3 for the title. Harris would finish fifth, topping Jacob Garrow (Central Square) 10-3 for that spot.
Garrett Bauer, the no. 3 seed at 113 pounds,, pinned Riley Green (Carthage) before surviving a 6-5 quarterfinal with Andy Nicholson (Central Square) and then needing an overtime takedown to get past Fulton’s Wyatt Willis 6-4 in the semifinals. But New Hartford star Kelan McKenna proved too much in the final, pinning Bauer in just 62 seconds.
continued — Ethan Palmer, as the no. 4 seed at 195 pounds, fell in the quarterfinals to Fulton’s Aaron Yablonski, only to sweep through the consolation bracket, pinning East Syracuse Minoa’s Chris Todd and Indian River’s Chris Davis before getting revenge on Yablonski 14-3 for a third-place finish.
Jake Wright worked from the no. 3 seed at 160 pounds, where Adam Honis also wrestled. Wright lost a tense 9-8 semifinal to Oswego’s Stephen Demong and would eventually take fourth place, while Honis lost in the opening round to Liverpool’s Adam Piscatelli in a 10-8 decision.
As the no. 3 seed at 285 pounds, Ramy Guindy got past a 1-0 quarterfinal with Christian Anoceto (Cicero-North Syracuse) but lost in the semifinals to Indian River’s Dylan Ashwood, eventually gaining sixth place.
Shane Smith wrestled at 120 pounds, where he recovered from a 6-4 quarterfinal defeat to B’ville’s Jake Naples by beating Fulton’s Nick Noel 9-5 for fifth place. Ethan Wells worked at 106 pounds, where he lost in the quarterfinal to Kaleb Carreon (Fulton). Lucas Grannin, as part of the field at 145 pounds, dropped his opener to Lucas Hogan (Auburn), while Abdullah Khatib (126 pounds) fell to Dominic DellaPosta (Whitesboro) 12-4 in the opening round.
Fayetteville-Manlius also had wrestlers in the sectional meet, and none did better than Ali Salem, who finished third at 132 pounds. Salem won a 7-5 quarterfinal over Syracuse ITC’s Mehki Shepherd and, after a semifinal defeat to eventual champion Audey Ashkar (Liverpool), beat Devin Hook (Whitesboro) 4-1 and claimed the consolation bracket final over B’ville’s Tyler Patrick 9-4.
Muhktar Qubaisy had the no. 5 seed at 182 pounds and took fourth place, dropping a close consolation bracket final to New Hartford’s Kyle Kuty 3-1 in overtime. Braden Florczyk finished fifth at 99 pounds, edging Auburn’s Luca Priozzollo 6-5 for that spot after a quarterfinal loss to Whitesboro’s Jeff Robinson. Bryce Doane had the no. 6 seed in 152 and improved on that, beating Fulton’s Jacob Bailey 4-2 for fifth place, while Andrew Testani wrestled at 285 and lost in the first round.
continued — ESM was led again by Jeff Loder, the no. 5 seed at 152, with Alex Regan the no. 5 seed at 160. Loder reached the semifinals, where he lost, 7-3, to Fulton’s Tim Holden, and went on a fourth-place finish, just ahead of Doane.
Joe Monteleone, at 195, recovered from a quarterfinal defeat to win twice in the consolation bracket, edging B’ville’s Jake Wicks 6-4 and then taking fifth place when he beat Davis in an 8-3 decision. Chris Todd, in that same bracket, lost to the eventual champion, B’ville’s Alex Bowen.
As for Regan, he got sixth place, twice falling to West Genesee’s Liam Kotas – once in the main bracket, and again in an 8-3 contest with fifth place on the line. Donovan Marriott got sixth place at 106 pounds, while Medo Pugonja was the no. 6 seed at 170 pounds and went 1-2, one win short of the placements.
Garren Kuney wrestled at 138, falling in the opening round to Garrow, while Eric Randazzo wrestled at 145 and took a defeat to West Genesee’s Mike Linton. Darian Crossman wrestled at 182, falling to Fulton’s Victor Runeare 10-6 and Ameer Ladd (220 pounds) losing to Auburn’s Julian Bernard 6-5.