The Cazenovia wrestling team worked during the holiday break, taking part in the Dec. 29-30 Brett Dixon Memorial Duals at Central Square before returning to OHSL Liberty division action last Thursday night for a meet at Hannibal.

Here, in the 11 contested bouts, the Lakers won six of them, but had to forfeit three other times, a difference of 12 points that helped the Warriors hang on and prevail by a 45-37 margin.

Cazenovia did not contest the bouts at 285, 99 and 106 pounds late in the match, which made a 31-21 lead disappear before the 120-pound finale where Will Khalil pinned Evan Salmonsen late in the second period.

To build its lead, the Lakers leaned on just one forfeit, to Zack Maxwell at 132 pounds, which put Cazenovia on the board before Patrick Nourse (138 pounds) pinned Zach Dunbar in the waning seconds of the second period.

Paul McLaughlin, wrestling at 145 pounds, followed with a 10-1 victory over David Przepiora, with Nick Monroe (152 pounds) taking just 90 seconds to pin Kenny Young. Three Hannibal pins followed, though, setting up the Warriors’ forfeit-aided comeback before Alex Curr (182 pounds) edged Logan Scott 2-0 and Kevin Frega (195 pounds), named a Class B first-team All-State selection earlier in the week, pinned Devin Weldin in 1:24.

Cazenovia would go from there to Saturday’s Port Byron Mid-Winter Tournament, where it finished seventh in a 14-team field, earning 109 points as Marcellus, with 205 points, took top honors.

Frega earned the Lakers’ lone title, at 195, pinning Dominick Salerno (North Rose-Wolcott) in the quarterfinals and taking just 50 seconds to finish off Will Palmer (Mynderse Academy) in the semifinals before a title bout where he dominated Skaneateles’ Pat Greenfield, winning a 12-0 shutout.

Khalil got to the finals at 120 by edging Ithaca’s Darren Rich 6-3, but dropped a tight 8-6 decision to Marcellus’ Riley Donovan (who was named the meet’s Most Outstanding Wrestler) in that championship round. Curr’s 2-1 win over Hunter Talbot (Moravia) got him to the finals at 182, but he lost to Mynderse’s Scott Kline in a second-period fall.

Elsewhere at Port Byron, Nourse took fifth place at 132, pinning Mynderse’s Trent Youngs for that spot, while Will Shephard rose to fifth place at 120 when he won a 10-1 victory over Skaneateles’ Nevan Rourke.

Once Chittenango’s wrestling team returned to league action, it ran into East Syracuse Minoa last Wednesday night and, despite a late surge, fell just short in a 36-27 defeat to the Spartans.

Abram Miles won the 285-pound opener, pinning Brendan Reed midway through the third period, but the Bears didn’t prevail again until a forfeit to Eddie Houle at 132 and didn’t win on the mat again until 145, when James Moore held off Eric Randazzo 11-6.

ESM prevailed in large part because all five of its mat wins came from falls, resulting in 30 points. Chittenango had six mat victories, but three of them were decisions, including Connor Fredericks (170 pounds) shutting out Medo Pugonja 7-0 and Isaiah Prado (182) edging past Chris Todd 10-8. Antonio Cutrie did get a first-period pin over Ameer Ladd in the 220-pound finale.

Then the Bears went up Route 5, to Canastota, to compete Friday and Saturday in the Fallen Heroes Tournament, where it finished eighth out of 10 teams with 69 points as Baldwinsville (241 points) held off Camden (232.5 points) to finish on top.

Cutrie, who won at 220, shared Most Outstanding Wrestler honors with Canastota’s Nick Rouse. Cutrie pinned Chris Pappas (CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt) in 71 seconds in the quarterfinals, and then held off West Genesee’s Zach Valerino 11-9 in the semifinals before getting a second-period fall over Baldwinsville’s Mike Spicer in the finals.

Connor Fredericks finished third at 170, dropping his semifinal to Camden’s Joe Musachio 12-3, but beating CBA/J-D’s Lucas Rowe 8-0 in the consolation bracket final. Cory Fredericks beat Canastota’s Isaiah Domena to get fifth place at 160.