Just a night after getting beat by Whitesboro, the Oneida wrestling team turned it around on Wednesday, against New Hartford, putting together a 36-31 victory over the Spartans.
True, it helped that Danny Collins, at 145 pounds, and Matt Harp, at 152 pounds, didn’t have to wrestle and took forfeits, but Oneida earned plenty of other titles on the mat.
Nick Hopkins, at 112 pounds, fought hard to beat Troy Lohr 8-4, while Joe Casella (119 pounds) edged past Jack Mulvihill 8-5 to earn three more points. Jeff Clark (125 pounds) earned his second pin in as many nights, taking 1:02 to finish off Mashrur Mohiudin.
Both of Oneida’s other wins came through pins, too. Steve Ellsworth (160 pounds) needed 2:37 for his pin over Adam Fenton, while Carl Finch (215 pounds) earned his fall over Patrick Parker in 3:35.
As this was going on, Vernon-Verona-Sherrillgot a clear view of the Tri-Valley League’s best squad.
Holland Patent paid a visit to “The Pit” Wednesday night and pulled off victories in each of the last seven matches to overcome the Red Devils’ hot start and prevail by a score of 46-22.
VVS got on the board in the second match, at 103 pounds, where Dylan Kavanaugh rolled to a 9-1 decision over the Golden Knights’ Eric Stevens.
But the real string for the Red Devils began at 119 pounds, where Dan Walts was waiting to strike. Walts earned a pin over George VanDreaser in 1:16, just before David Rathbun (125 pounds) pinned Pat O’Hern in 2:16 and Nathan Walts (130 pounds) finished off Pat Doyle in 2:30.
From that point forward, though, HP ruled the night, with four pins included in those seven victories. Alex Mieczkowski (171 pounds) would wrestle well in a 9-5 loss to Tyler Mann before Nick Mieczkowski (189 pounds) fell to Dan Fruscella 5-0.