Earning a big win against a well-established program, the Marcellus wrestling team began its 2017-18 season by traveling to Mexico last Wednesday night and pulling off a 44-42 victory over the Tigers.
A pair of early forfeits to Ethan Ciota (106 pounds) and Tim Okhman (126 pounds) helped, but the Mustangs still had to win six times on the mat, five of them in a row.
Ryan Moses, at 113 pounds, pinned George Smith in 79 seconds, but the win streak commenced at 132 pounds when Cahal Donovan pulled away from Austin Reed in an 18-5 decision.
Two pins followed, with Jack Santariello (138 pounds) finishing off Bryan Stock late in the second period and Riley LaFrance (145 pounds) stopping Kayleb Matt midway through the third period.
When Trevor Widrick (152 pounds) stopped Skylar Raymond 13-5 and Rob Seeley (160 pounds) got a 78-second fall over Raymond, the Mustangs had enough points to withstand Mexico winning the six bouts with three pins and three forfeits.
West Genesee also won its opening match of the season, toppling East Syracuse Minoa 50-28 by winning seven of the last eight bouts on the card.
With the Wildcats trailing 22-15, Eljarian Burgin, at 126, began the Wildcats’ charge when he pinned Noah Harbinger in 42 seconds.
Patrick Ivery (132) followed with a third-period fall over Nolan Palmer as Brady Ryan (138) pinned Bennett Ferrari in 3:28 and Cole Saxon (145) got an 18-2 technical fall over Dane Peck.
With the match still in doubt, WG’s Ian Blachford started to put it away at 160 when he edged Austin West 6-4. Griffin Sasso (170 pounds) beat Aslan Abdulla 10-3 as Cole Wade (182 pounds) closed it out with a second-period fall over Matt Lewis.
Chandler McAvan had started the match at 195 pounds by pinning Andrew Crone with 45 seconds left in their bout. Nate Wade (106) claimed a forfeit after Shawn Sakran’s tough 3-1 decision over 285-pound opponent Logan Cowell.
On that same night, Jordan-Elbridge opened against Auburn, falling 52-27 to a Maroons side that built a 40-0 advantage through seven straight wins to open the match, three of them forfeits.
Only when forfeits were given to Joey Wells (99 pounds) and Jessi Tripp (106) did the Eagles get on the board. Later in the meet, Jared Alpha ( 132) pinned Jack Bennink in 16 seconds and Marion Quigley (145) got a tough 7-4 win over Liam McLoughlin after Brandon Stoltz (138) lost to Eric Anseth by that exact same score.
Marcellus took part in last Friday’s Matthew Marino Invitational at Webster Schroeder, near Rochester, but earned just 13 points, well back of a tough field where Fairport, with 124 points, claimed the top spot.
West Genesee, meanwhile, had a strong showing in the Andersen Tournament at Cicero-North Syracuse, finishing seventh out of 19 sides with 102.5 points as Fulton (238.5 points) held off Spencerport (222.5 points) for top honors.
Wade was the Wildcats’ lone finalist, at 99 pounds, and he beat Spencerport’s Dominic Vinci in a 16-1 technical fall. Earl was fourth at 152 and Elias took fourth place at 160, while Wade was fifth at 182 and Burgin was sixth at 126, McAvan taking sixth place at 195.
J-E would go 3-2 at the Rebel Duals, getting narrow victories over Oswego (42-38), Skaneateles (48-39) and Moravia (45-40), but taking losses to host APW-Pulaski and Canton.
