Just like it does each January, the Cazenovia wrestling team brought together a large group of programs, most of them from Section III, to take part in the Lakers’ annual invitational meet at Buckley Gym.
In a 19-team field, Cazenovia finished 13th with 55.5 points. Rome Free Academy, with 146.5 points, edged Indian River (145 points) for the top spot as Elmira was third with 141 points.
Kevin Valentine had the Lakers’ best finish, reaching the 160-pound finals. He beat Alex Dauksza (Fayetteville-Manlius) 4-2 in the semifinals before a 7-2 defeat to Auburn’s Liam McLoughlin in the title bout.
John Frega finished third at 195 pounds, topping Baldwinsville’s Mike Letizia 4-1 in the consolation bracket final.
A week earlier, on Jan. 5, Cazenovia, in its first competition of 2019, went to the Port Byron Mid-Winter Invitational and finished 13th in a 20-team field with 78 points. Cicero-North Syracuse (169 points) edged South Jefferson/Sandy Creek (161 points) for the top spot.
Shaun Zampetti, at 99 pounds, pinned C-NS’s Dan Livesay in 2:41 and shut out Mynderse Academy’s Brock Youngs 9-0 to reach the finals, but could not quite get to the title, taking a 6-2 defeat to Red Creek’s Brian Sharkey.
Valentine reached the 160-pound consolation bracket final, but a 9-7 defeat to Mynderse’s C.J. Zerniak left Valentine in fourth place. Frega and Casey Cunningham (170 pounds both had semifinals defeats – Cunningham to Moravia’s Joe Shoemaker, Frega to Red Creek’s Alex Eich.
Meanwhile, Chittenango made the short trip to Canastota for the Fallen Heroes Tournament, where it got 68 points to finish 11th , far off the winning total of 245.5 points from Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA.
Three different Bears registered third-place finishes. Peyton Denney did so at 120 pounds, pinning J-D/CBA’s Luis Martinez late in the first period of their consolation bracket final.
Having lost a 10-7 semifinal to CBA/J-Ds’ Shoh Alibekov, Devin Myers (145 pounds) recovered to pin Dryden’s Vincent Scott in 4:09 for third place. John Spencer got third place at 220 pounds by beating Whitesboro’s Jake Small 8-2. Blayde DeBlieux (99) was sixth.
Then Chittenango hosted Cazenovia Wednesday night, and again the Lakers got the best of this neighborhood rivalry, earning a 51-30 victory over the Bears.
Only six of the 15 bouts were contested, and they were split. Cazenovia had Doug Buckley, at 145, pin Damian Fratello in the second period, with Carter Polhamus (285 pounds) pinning Ethan Ferguston in 2:42 and Zampetti edging DeBlieux 6-3.
The Bears had Denney defeat Luca Ferreira 13-5, Myers get past Vaentine 13-6 and John Spencer, at 220 pounds, pin Max Fisher in the last minute of the third period, also getting forfeits to Andrew Bailey (113 pounds), Mark Young (132 pounds) and Joe Mariani (138 pounds).
But with a larger roster, the Lakers were able to claim five forfeits, adding up to 30 points. Luke Rodriguez took one at 106 pounds, as did Frega, Cunningham, Gerald Viehauer (126 pounds) and Sam DeLeon (152 pounds).
