Right up to the last second of the last match, the Baldwinsville and Liverpool wrestling teams remained in close conflict, the result of their battle on the Warriors’ home mat a mystery.
It was perfectly appropriate that it ended 37-37, in terms of actual points. However, the Bees earned the decisive criteria point because it had prevailed in eight of the 15 matches.
With one match to go, Liverpool led 37-34. All it needed, in the 119-pound finale, was to have Nate Hathaway beat B’ville’s Joey Shaheen by any margin.
For six minutes, Hathaway and Shaheen stayed close, the points difficult to attain. However, Shaheen inched ahead in the late going, then held on for a 6-4 decision that pushed the Bees to overall victory.
Prior to that tense finish, the two sides had traded two separate runs. Liverpool struck first, at 125 pounds, as Casey Guilfoil pinned Connor Ross 11 seconds into the second period and Tyler Eason (130 pounds) rolled past Steve Petrelli 11-4.
Then it was the Bees’ turn, Jacob Norton earning his sides’ first points at 135 pounds with a pin over Lucas Castellanos in 3:47 and Ryan McArdell (140 pounds) shutting out Brockton Barton 9-0.
Liverpool would seize a big lead in the higher weight classes, taking five of the next seven matches, including a forfeit to Pat Carroll-Marsh at 285 pounds.
Dakota Inman (145 pounds) beat the Bees’ Brent Grippe 4-1, with Mende Cukalevski (152 pounds) taking just 29 seconds to pin Gunner Stephen. Joe Pizzuto (171 pounds) and Sean Munson (215 pounds) also earned pins for Liverpool – Pizzuto finishing off Joe Nasoni in 2:51, Munson stopping Jacob Florack with 46 seconds left in their match.
B’ville stayed alive with two hard-fought decisions, as James Eustice, at 160 pounds, held off Matt Call 7-5 and Pat Nasoni (189 pounds) kept Brendan Capria off the board in a 7-0 shutout. Still, it had to win each of the last four matches in the lighter weight classes to have any chance.
Sure enough, Kevin Paul (96 pounds) and Chad McArdell (112 pounds) both picked up quick pins – Paul over Travis Chewning-Kulick in 37 seconds, McArdell over Sam Marleau in 44 seconds – with a forfeit to Tim Sposato at 103 pounds in between, leading up to Shaheen’s big finish.
