Prior to the holiday break, the Morrisville-Eaton wrestling team competed twice, earning a big victory at home over a large-school foe.
That foe in question was Whitesboro, who showed up on Dec. 22 and watched as M-E, despite sacrificing three weight classes to forfeits, still beat that other group of Warriors by a score of 33-28.
By far, the most anticipated match came at 160 pounds, where Ryan LeBlanc met Matt DeMichiel in a rematch of their classic Dec. 16 showdown in the Tri-Valley Tournament final at Whitesboro, won by DeMichiel in triple overtime.
Here, extra time would not be needed. By getting the single takedown he needed and giving up nothing more than a single escape, LeBlanc meet DeMichiel, 3-1, and gave his team three valuable points.
This launched a decisive run of four consecutive M-E victories. Right after LeBlanc, Alex Meyers (171 pounds) beat Tom Zumpano 9-4, while Ethan Childs won at 189 pounds by topping Chris Faga 5-3.
Needing a victory at 215 pounds to prevail in the meet (since 103 pounds, the last division, was a Whitesboro forfeit), Mike Barker pulled it out, using a series of takedowns to wear down Joe Giovinazzo 13-7.
Prior to LeBlanc, Joey Van Dee (140 pounds) pinned Jeff Evanciew in 1:45, and Jordan Doroshenko (135 pounds) finished off Hunter Brown in 3:31. At 130 pounds, Rourke Devlin held off Joe Carstenbrock 11-7.
Three nights earlier, M-E had hosted Adirondack and had far less success as the Wildcats topped the Warriors 50-20.
Forced to forfeit four different matches and give up 24 points, M-E did managed some success along the way.
LeBlanc needed two full periods to beat Steve Smallidge in a technical fall, just before Meyers pinned Tom Egancyzk in 3:19. Devlin needed 2:35 to pin Josh Fear, with Doroshenko defeating Joel Bailey 6-3.
