A strong run through December had displayed, to anyone paying attention, how good the CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt wrestling team was, but a single victory on the first Wednesday of 2016 only reinforced that notion.

Taking on traditional power Mexico, CBA/J-D swept through the middle weight classes, and that proved enough to produce a 36-33 victory over the Tigers that kept the hosts tied for first with Fulton in the OHSL Freedom American division standings, each of them with 8-1 marks.

From 138 to 160 pounds, CBA/J-D won all four bouts. Dustin Harris, at 138, rolled past Brent Sawyer 13-4, while Jonah Cavallo (145 pounds) took just 56 seconds to pin Curtis Dimon. Then, in a 152-pound nail-biter, Lucas Granan used a single escape to beat Dylan Mannise 1-0 before Jake Wright (160 pounds) earned his own close decision, a 6-4 win over Collyn Bartlett.

It helped, too, that Mexico forfeited bouts to Lucas Rowe at182 pounds and Ethan Palmer at 195 pounds. Requiring two other wins, CBA/J-D got them when Matt Griffin, at 99 pounds, beat Dean Shambo 10-2 and Shane Smith (120 pounds) rolled to an 11-2 decision over Austin Reed.

Though Garrett Bauer (113 pounds) lost to Mexico star Austin O’Reilly, he kept it close, so the 13-7 decision only resulted in three points for the Tigers. Zach Langdon (170 pounds) and Chris Pappas (220 pounds) did the same, unable to win, but going all six minutes to keep Mexico from more points, crucial in a match this tight.

From there, CBA/J-D went to the Fallen Heroes Tournament, held Friday and Saturday at Canastota High School, Accumulating 213.5 points, CBA/J-D finished third in the 10-team field, close behind Baldwinsville (241 points) and Camden (232.5 points) in the standings.

Griffin won at 99, pinning Brady Worthing (Tioga) in the second period of the semifinal and shutting out John Worthing, also from Tioga, 5-0 in the title bout as teammate Ethan Wells finished sixth in that same weight class. Up at 113, Bauer powered through Tioga’s David MacWhinnie in a second-period technical fall and, in the finals, edged B’ville’s Zach Hahn 5-2.

Shane Smith topped Ogdensburg’s Cordell David 7-3 to reach the 120-pound final, but lost to Canastota’s Nick Rouse, who shared Most Outstanding Wrestler honors with Chittenango’s Antonio Cutrie, the champion at 220 pounds. Harris dropped a close final at 138 to Odgensburg’s Brody Sheppard 10-5 and, like Smith, finished second.

Cavallo pinned Darrek Cook (Cato-Meridian) in the third period to finish third at 145, while Wright, at 160, matched that finish by dominating Liam Kotas (West Genesee) 16-3 in their consolation bracket final.

Palmer was third at 195, pinning Canastota’s Chris Ruthaford in the third period for that spot as Mingus Betsey (285 pounds) and Lucas Rowe (170) each had fourth-place efforts and Ramy Guindy was sixth at 285. Aaron Gucciardi (120) beat David 3-0 for fifth place as Lucas Granan was fifth at 145, topping Shane Moore (Onondaga) 5-1 and Pappas pinned Chittenango’s Nolan Allen for fifth place at 220.

When East Syracuse Minoa faced off with Chittenango last Wednesday night, it lost six of the 11 contested bouts, yet still emerged with a 36-27 victory over the Bears.

That was because, in three of the six defeats, Eric Randazzo (145 pounds), Medo Pugonja (170 pounds) and Chris Todd (182 pounds) were able to go the full six minutes, avoiding a technical fall or pin. Todd took a 10-8 defeat to Isaiah Prado and Randazzo fell to James Moore 11-6.

As to the pins, following a forfeit to Donovan Marriott (106 pounds), Casey O’Donnell, at 113 pounds, finished off Mason Benedict in the waning seconds of the first period, while Garren Kuney (138 pounds) needed just 75 seconds to pin Alex Teeter.

At 152 pounds, Jeff Loder’s impressive season continued with a pin over Barrett Hoyt in 1:39, while Alex Regan had to wait until the final 30 seconds to pin 160-pound opponent Robert Shepard. Finally, Joe Monteleone, at 195 pounds, clinched the victory when he pinned Cory Fredericks in the third period.

ESM went from there to Saturday’s Central Square Duals, where it lost a close 43-42 decision to Sandy Creek and also competed hard against Indian River and South Jefferson, only to fall to the Warriors 47-27 and the Spartans 48-30.

Fayetteville-Manlius took on Cicero-North Syracuse that same night, and led through three bouts before the Northstars took over and handed the Hornets a 64-15 defeat.

They started at 145, and one bout later, at 152, Justin Young got F-M on the board, defeating Baley Sherbourne 19-9. When Bryce Doane, at 160, got a 7-3 decision over Josh Bigford, the Hornets had a 7-6 advantage.

Then C-NS claimed the next five bouts, all by pin, a streak not broken until 99 pounds, when F-M’s Braden Florczyk shut out Devan Flood 8-0. And though the Northstars again won five straight, Ali Salem did give the Hornets another victory at 138 when he beat Nick Gazzilo 10-2.