For its first competition of 2019, the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool wrestling teams both made their way to last Saturday’s Port Byron Mid-Winter Invitational.
And the Northstars won it, picking up 169 points to edge South Jefferson/Sandy Creek) (161 points) for the top spot. The Warriors finished sixth with 121 points.
C-NS’s Troyan Jones won the 220-pound title in a particularly spectacular way, pinning his finals opponent, Hannibal’s Anthony Crofoot, in just 11 seconds. This followed a semifinal where Jones wrestled all six minutes, but routed Jordan-Elbridge’s Jared Lawrence 14-1.
Dan Sweeney and Harrison Portorsnok both reached the finals at 106 pounds for the Northstars, and Sweeney won their head-to-head clash, taking a close 2-1 decision.
Nate Osborne nearly won at 126 pounds for the Northstars, routing Hannibal’s Seth Salmonsen in the semifinals in a 17-2 technical fall, but dropping a close 3-2 decision to Port Byron’s Joe Powers in the title bout.
Anthony DeSimone, at 152 pounds, edged Morrisville-Eaton’s Keith Lewis 3-2 to reach the finals, but ran into Mynderse Academy’s Trent Youngs and managed a single escape in a 7-1 loss.
Liverpool’s Steve Pascarella was the champion at 138 pounds. Having pinned Mason Rusinko (Geneva) in the semifinals, Pascarella had a title bout against APW/Pulaski’s Trent Gates and controlled it to win 11-4. Rocco DeGiormo finished fifth at 106.
Also, Anthony Piscatelli took the title at 160 pounds for the Warriors, pinning Cazenovia’s Kevin Valentine in the semifinals and then, in the title bout, holding off Auburn’s Liam McLoughlin 9-7. Hamier Williams-Borges pinned J-E’s Anthony Baron for third place at 195 pounds.
Both C-NS and Liverpool had taken part Dec. 28-29 in the Kenneth Haines Memorial Tournament at SUNY-Oswego, with the Northstars finishing eighth in the 30-team field by earning 113.5 points. Only Fulton (second) and Camden (fifth) did better among Section III teams.
Jones had the best finish for C-NS, getting to second place at 220. Jones pinned Josh Hulsizer (Cato-Meridian) in the quarterfinals and pinned Kevin Halford (Niagara-Wheatfield) in the semifinals in 85 seconds before a title bout where he could not get on the board against South Seneca’s Keagan Carmenatty and lost, 5-0.
Sweeney recovered from an early-round 1-0 defeat to Vandavian Way (Gouverneur) to finish fourth at 106, winning five bouts in the consolation bracket before getting pinned in the third-place bout by Cole Nadritch (Webster Thomas).
Osborne pinned Hunter White (Cato-Meridian) in 95 seconds to finish fifth at 126, with Julian Zavaglia matching that effort as he edged Jack Bailey (Onondaga/Tully) 7-6 for fifth place at 182 pounds.
Adam Rush was sixth at 195 pounds, denied a better finish in a 1-0 defeat to Marcellus’ Tom Kinsella as Harrison Portorsnok finished eighth at 106 behind Sweeney.
Liverpool, meanwhile, had 64 points to finish 17th, with Pascarella pinning Gouverneur’s Joe McIntosh in the second period to get fifth place at 132 as Piscatelli got sixth place at 160 pounds. Williams-Borges pinned Noah Mixon (Niagara-Wheatfield) in 1:42 to get seventh place at 195.
