On a crowded Wednesday night, the Vernon Verona Sherrill, Oneida and Chittenango wrestling teams each took turns on the mat — but only one would prevail.
The Red Devils overwhelmed New Hartford, 51-13, while the Indians dropped a narrow 36-35 decision to Whitesboro and the Bears met the same fate in a 31-29 defeat to Cortland.
VVS won big despite a big individual showdown going the other way. Dylan Kavanaugh, at 112 pounds, was tied with New Hartford’s Brandon Delmonte when, with just five seconds left, Delmonte took Kavanaugh down for a surprising pin.
That came amidst a slew of Red Devils points, starting with forfeits to Alex Mieczkowski (171 pounds) and Nick Mieczkowski (189 pounds), and continuing with Kyle Reader pinning 215-pound opponent Patrick Parker in 1:42 and Kasey Proper (103 pounds) beating Blake Haddad in an 8-6 decision.
Overall, VVS would win six times by forfeit, as Dan Walts (130 pounds), Alex Gilbert (135 pounds), Lane Frost (152 pounds) and Shane Erwin (160 pounds) all stayed off the mat. John Hudson, at 119 pounds, blanked Tony Karam 4-0 and Joe Tiller (125 pounds) earned a 5-2 decision over Jack Mulvihill.
Oneida’s meet with Whitesboro saw the Warriors win the first five matches, all by pin, to go ahead 30-0, yet the Indians almost made up the entire margin.
After Jon Holbrooks won a 285-pound exhibition over Kris Jones with a second-period pin, Zach McGuinness (103 pounds) claimed a forfeit and Connor Russ, at 112 pounds, pinned Rob DiDomenico midway through the third period.
A forfeit pushed the Warriors’ margin back to 36-12, but after Nick Hopkins’ forfeit at 119, Oneida would win the last four matches, including pins by Joe Casella (130 pounds) over Pat Moran and Connor Lomonaco (140 pounds) over Akira Reid.
Matt Fisher, at 135 pounds, shut out Dylan Tuttle 4-0. In the 145-pound finale, Oneida needed a four-point majority decision to tie it 36-36 and get the decisive criteria point for most matches won, but Lon Palmer could only manage three points as Whitesboro’s Jeff Evanciew played defense and held Palmer to a 3-2 decision.
Chittenango had the exact opposite experience against Cortland, building a big early lead before the Purple Tigers came back.
Winning the first five matches to go up 23-0, the Bears saw Wes Blanding (130 pounds) beat Ryan Webber 13-2 and John Regan (135 pounds) nearly get a technical fall in a 19-5 romp over Anthony Stento.
Zak Jackson, at 140 pounds, edged Jason DeGouff 5-3 and Nick Bacon (145 pounds) earned a pin over Tyler Thayer with 26 seconds left before Dan Naugle (152 pounds) pinned Hunter Brandon in the second period.
Cortland would counter by winning the next five matches, the Bears not getting back on the board until the forfeit to Brad Phelps at 119 pounds that put them back ahead 29-27. But in the 125-pound finale, Rudy Farsaci could not prevent Eric Reisweber from beating him 10-0.