Over a span of two days at the tail end of 2008, the Fayetteville-Manlius and East Syracuse-Minoa wrestling teams both faced tough competition during the annual Brett Dixon Memorial Tournament at Central Square.
The Hornets went 3-6, while the Spartans gained a 2-7 mark. The difference in the standings was a head-to-head clash where F-M beat ESM 37-33 in the final meet on Tuesday afternoon.
They traded points in the first four matches. ESM got Mike Dee (152 pounds) to rout Mike Mannion 13-2 and Dustin Moss (171 pounds) to pin Jordan MacDonald in just 25 seconds. F-M countered with a forfeit to Roger Colon (189 pounds) and Keith Jones, at 160 pounds, winning an 11-2 decision over Zach Revette.
But the Hornets went ahead by winning the next two pointed matches. Jacob Norton (96 pounds) and Thomas Quinlan (103 pounds) both claimed forfeits, bit Stephen Breen (215 pounds) beat Jamie Landry 13-6 as Dan Abbott, at 285 pounds, got a 15-second pin over Rich Osborne.
Though ESM won the next four matches with Kevin MacDowell (119 pounds), Brendan O’Donnell (125 pounds), Conner Webb (130 pounds) and Matt Letcher (135 pounds), F-M held on to its lead. O’Donnell and Letcher both earned pins, while MacDowell beat Josh Scalzetti 11-4 and Webb shut out Robert Powell 9-0.
Ryan Kiggins, at 140 pounds, wrapped up F-M’s title when he pinned Kenny Flanagan before Ben Loder (145 pounds) gave ESM a 9-4 decision over Ian Byrnes.
F-M and ESM would both beat Liverpool, while the Hornets took out host Central Square 50-27 along the way. Penfield, from the Section V ranks, would snag the team title by beating all nine opponents it faced, including the Hornets (77-6) and the Spartans (57-21).
