Chittenango wrestling senior Cole Farsaci had a terrific effort during Sunday’s Section III Division I (large school) championship meet at Utica Memorial Auditorium, going all the way to the 112-pound final.
Farsaci, as the no. 2 seed, had a first-round bye, then pinned West Genesee’s Connor Grome in 1:09 in his quarterfinal match. Once in the semifinals, Farsaci met Cody Sullivan (Camden) and, with some last-second points, prevailed 7-6.
Now came the final, where Farsaci was an underdog to talented Baldwinsville freshman Anthony Finocchiaro.
Sure enough, Farsaci fell behind 5-0, but he stormed back in the third period, twice getting takedowns and working all the way to the wire before taking a 6-4 defeat. For the season, Farsaci is 38-4, and with that kind of mark, he had a chance to earn a wild-card berth in this weekend’s state meet at Times Union Center in Albany.
The Bears had a large contingent in Utica, and many of them earned solid finishes.
Wes Blanding took third place at 130 pounds. He beat Tony Torrese (Fulton) 9-2 to get to the semifinals, only to fall there to Solvay’s Aaron Benedict in a tight 3-1 match where Benedict’s last-second takedown made a difference.
Furious with this, Blanding (34-8) won a close 6-3 decision over Ron Burghardt (Central Square) and, in a rematch with Torrese, prevailed 4-3 to get that third spot.
Anthony Galli (140 pounds) finished fourth, beating Josh Wines (Camden) 9-2 before a 7-2 semifinal defeat to Cicero-North Syracuse’s Todd Hagger. Galli also lost a tight third-place final, 3-1, to B’ville’s Antonio Peck.
Ryan Schiedo, at 171 pounds, matched Galli’s fourth-place effort. He lost in the quarterfinal round, only to prevail twice in the consolation bracket over Niko Manning and Andrew Giromini (both from B’ville) before a 9-3 defeat to Corcoran’s David Minney in the third-place match.
Cody Carberry, beaten in the quarterfinals at 96 points, went 2-1 in the consolation bracket, beating Riley Delaney (Solvay) 12-9, then snatching fifth place with a 4-3 decision over Oneida’s Zach McGuinness. Josh Wright, at 215 pounds, took a 6-2 first-round loss to West Genesee’s Pete Schoeneck.
