For years, the high school wrestling Section III Dual Meet was a one-day, one-division affair, often contested at Cicero-North Syracuse as a packed gym watched the top programs in Central New York battle for top honors.
Now, broken up into Division I (large schools) and Division II (small schools), it’s a two-day event, with opening rounds last Tuesday and finals on Thursday to determine berths in this Saturday’s state dual meet at SRC Arena.
C-NS and Liverpool both had spots in the eight-team Division I field, and the Warriors made it out of the first round with a dramatic 43-40 win over Central Square.
With three bouts left, Liverpool trailed the Redhawks’ 40-25, and had to have pins from Naz Kelly at 182 pounds and Hamier Williams-Borges at 195 pounds since Jake Ronan (220 pounds) was to take a forfeit.
Kelly did his part, taking just 76 seconds to finish off James Peck, and when Williams-Borges got his pin over Josiah Prosser in the second period, the Warriors had advanced.
Central Square had started out 22-0 with three pins and a majority decision before Jeremy Ianno, at 120 pounds, got Liverpool on the board, blanking Gabe Rupracht 8-0.
It took pins from Jacob Ianno (132 pounds), Dom Ianno (145 pounds) and Chris Ianno (160 pounds), plus Jonah Gellar (138 pounds) beating Dante Coppola 6-2, to set up the Warriors’ late comeback.
Now in the semifinals against no. 2 seed Indian River, Liverpool had a far more difficult time against that other group of Warriors, taking a 63-21 defeat.
IR won every bout from 99 to 132 pounds, too much for Liverpool to overcome, though Williams-Borges did pin Jared Cook in 37 seconds.
Chris Ianno got his own pin over Gannon Lynch in 2:40 and Dom Ianno pinned Cadence Severs in 2:52, with Gellar outlasting Kenneth Melton 6-3.
C-NS, meanwhile, lost 48-36 to Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA in the opening round, this despite winning four of the first five bouts on the card.
Opening at 285, Jared Bradish pinned Nikoli Sims in 1:42, with Anthony Ciciarelli (99) edging Matthew Dougherty 6-4 as Dan Sweeney (113 pounds) pinned Nathan Finn and Harrison Portorsnok (120 pounds) pinned William BeSeth in the waning seconds.
But the Northstars would only win twice more, Vincent Ciciarelli (138 pounds) pinning Anyas Goeman in 33 seconds before Adam Brown (145) shut out Corey Bauer 7-0.
In a consolation bout, C-NS routed Oswego 70-9, with pins from Sweeney (over Hunter McCarthy in nine seconds), Brown, Eric Salenski (120), Dominick Racht (132), John Sherbourne (145) and Devin Southworth (160). At 220, Adam Rush edged Alfonso Alonso 4-2 before Brady Ramos (285) got past Haji Haji 3-2.
Then, in Friday’s Akley Duals at Oswego, C-NS won twice more, handling Homer 51-25 and then putting together a 48-37 victory over Whitesboro.
Against the Trojans, the Northstars got pins from Portorsnok, Brown, Sherbourne, Bradish and Kamdin Bembry (195), with Southworth pulling out an 8-4 decision over Zander Johnson.
Then, facing Whitesboro, C-NS Sweeney’s 59-second pin over James Scarchilli opened the match as Racht and Gaetano Julian (132) got pins, as did Brown and Southworth.
