Assuming full control of a friendly neighborhood gathering, the Canastota wrestling team made the short trek down Route 5 to Chittenango last Thursday night — and got nearly everything it wanted.
Leading from the start in this non-league meet, the Raiders suffered just two blemishes on its way to a 43-9 victory over the Bears.
A majority of matches went the full six minutes, meaning Canastota had to work hard for every single point.
Nate Hopkins, in the opening match at 140 pounds, blanked Kyle McGee 5-0, setting the winning Raider tone. Sean Wilkinson (145 pounds) followed with a pin of Anthony Galli in 3:50.
Remarkably, each of the next five matches ended up one-point decisions.
Brian Brodfuehrer, at 152 pounds, required a single escape to edge past Zach Hamelinck 1-0, as Jake LaBarre (160 pounds) beat Karl Chappell 3-2.
Ryan Schiedo got Chittenango on the board at 171 pounds with a 4-3 win over John Carver, but James Coonrod (189 pounds) edged Kyle Schiedo by that exact same score and Sam Stagnitti (215 pounds) won a 10-9 thriller over Josh Wright.
After all these tense battles, Brandon Durfee gained a bit more room at 103 pounds when he beat Gunnar Brooks 4-2, and Tyler Sirota (112 pounds) achieved just the second pin of the night when he finished off Rudy Farsaci in 1:45.
More Raider fun followed at 119 pounds, where Brett Durfee scored an impressive 14-6 win over Cole Farsaci before Jake Popple’s last-second pin of Wes Blanding at 125 pounds and Schuyler Jayson (130 pounds) beating Matt Flaherty 12-5.
Chittenango did get one bit of good news at the end of the meet, as Dennis Marcely (135 pounds) needed just 1:10 to pin John Duwel.
Prior to their meeting, both teams had competed in events during the holiday break — Canastota at the large Oswego Holiday Tournament on Dec. 28, Chittenango at the Camden Dual Meet held on Dec. 29.
Canastota fared quite well in the 22-team field at Oswego, taking ninth place with 103.5 points as Fulton (286.5 points) claimed the top spot.
Wilkinson had the best finish, taking fourth place at 140 pounds. It nearly was third, but Wilkinson fell to Nick Lalone (Cato-Meridian) 3-2 in the consolation finals.
Jayson snagged fifth place at 125 by pinning Ysean Ali (Niagara-Wheatfield) in 2:51, while LaBarre got seventh place at 160 pounds. Durfee (112 pounds) and Sirota (119 pounds) were both eighth in their respective weight classes.
As for Chittenango, it finished third at the Camden Dual Meet, with a 3-2 record. The Bears earned one-sided victories over Little Falls (55-7), General Brown (60-12) and Marcellus (57-15), while taking a narrow 33-31 defeat to the host Blue Devils and 48-30 to Copenhagen.
The Bears, after the defeat to Canastota, competed Saturday at the Leo J. Sammon Tournament in Ilion.
Canastota, after Tuesday’s battle with Sherburne-Earlville, will have its own big meet on Friday and Saturday when it hosts the Richard New Memorial Invitational — with Chittenango in the field after a Wednesday home meet against Fowler.
