From a team and individual standpoint, wrestlers from East Syracuse-Minoa and CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt had an impact during the inaugural Herkimer Tournament on Dec. 12.
The Spartans were just 13th in the 19-team field (56.5 points), but Dustin Moss performed so well at 171 pounds that he was named the meet’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Moss, an All-Central New York football selection at running back, pinned Travis Herringshaw (Mohawk) in 3:19 in the quarterfinals, then took just 1:03 to pin Josh Piana (Little Falls) in the semifinal round.
This led to a classic championship battle between Moss and Canastota’s Zach Zupan. They traded points all through the six minutes, but Moss prevailed 9-7.
Also for the Spartans, Eric Cushing finished third at 285 pounds, beating Jacob Gillard (Little Falls) in the consolation match, while Brenden O’Donnell took fourth place at 135 pounds.
As for CBA/J-D, it earned eighth place with 82.5 points, led by J.T. Romagnoli’s victory at 119 pounds. Romagnoli pinned Kevin Thayer (Unatego) in the quarterfinals, blanked Ricki Clemons (Little Falls) 8-0 in the semifinals and won a tight 6-5 decision over Liverpool’s Tyler Eason in the championship match.
Andy Romagnoli made it to the 96-pound finals, pinning Michael Boyle (Cooperstown) in 1:28 and topping Zach McGuinness (Oswego) 8-3 before running into Austin Ryan (Unatego), who won the title with a first-period pin.
Two nights later, CBA/J-D took on Homer, whose depth proved to be too much as it lost to the Trojans 51-23.
Continuing to dominate opponents, J.T. Romagnoli pinned Hugh Kiernan in 1:23, while Andy Romagnoli moved to 103 pounds and blanked Matt DeWitt in a 15-0 technical fall.
Also, Aaron Benedict won at 140 pounds, taking 1:25 to pin Eric Metzgar, while Ben Honis (125 pounds) claimed a forfeit. Otherwise, Homer won each match, sweeping the higher weight classes from 140 pounds upward.
ESM took its own shot at Homer on Wednesday night — and met with the same result, falling to the Trojans 49-18.
Homer claimed each of the five matches in the lowest weight classes. O’Donnell pinned Ben McBride at the end of the first period, while Moss (at 189 pounds) earned his pin over Ryan Murray with 20 seconds left and Connor Fitzpatrick (171 pounds) finished off James Cochran 19 seconds into the third period.
Fayetteville-Manlius returned on Wednesday night and had a rough trip to West Genesee, managing just one match win in a 58-3 loss to the Wildcats.
Mick O’Bryan, wrestling at 215 pounds, prevented the shutout when he beat Joe Clancy 6-2. Other close matches went the Wildcats’ way, though, as Connor Wingate (135 pounds) fell to Jon Fetterolf 6-4 and Johnny Hajduk (140 pounds) lost to Nick Longo 2-0.
Also, Jacob Norton, at 103 pounds, took a 4-0 defeat to Dirk Logan as Josh Scalzetti (119 pounds) lost to Connor Grome 4-1.