Both the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool wrestling teams took part in high-profile tournaments during the holiday break – and both ended up in the middle of their respective packs.
The Northstars went west, to Spencerport, for the Teike/Bernabi Tournament, and took eighth place in a 17-team field with 79 points. The hosts from Spencerport won with 227.5 points.
Three CNS wrestlers got to the final round. None got closer than Dan Cicciarelli, at 103 pounds, who pinned Brandon Diaz (LaSalle) in the quarterfinals and Geoff Brown (Spencerport) in the semifinals to get to the title match.
Once there, Ciciarelli and Peru’s Kyle Agoney engaged in a spectacular battle far beyond regulation, where it took three overtimes for Agoney to pull out a 5-4 victory.
James Segars also got close at 152 pounds. He edged Jeff Palmeri (Rush-Henrietta) 4-3 in the quarterfinals and Troy Seymour (Peru) 3-2 in the semifinals, and also was in a close, low-scoring final -which finally caught up to Segars as Roy Daniels (Spencerport) beat him 3-1.
As for Kiel Dyer, the 145-pound CNS standout got past Liam Kearney (St. Joseph’s) 6-1 and Adam Stickle (Peru) 2-0 and reached the title match before Spencerport’s Steve Maier pinned him midway through the third period. Clayton D’Onofrio added a fourth-place finish at 285 pounds.
Liverpool’s wrestling team tested itself over the course of two days at SUNY-Oswego’s Laker Hall, site of the annual Kenneth Haines Tournament.
Through one day, the Warriors were ninth, right in the middle of the 19-team field with 80 points. At 285 pounds, both Alex Gilson made their way to the semifinal round.
Little was added to that total, though, and Liverpool settled for 12th place with 105 points. Both Gilson and Carroll-Marsh lost in their semifinal matches – Gilson 5-2 to Niagara-Wheatfield’s Max Antone, Carroll-Marsh to Hannibal’s Steve Kingsley in a second-period pin.
Carroll-Marsh won the consolation bracket, beating Dakota Taylor (Fairport) 6-2 for third place. Gilson would recover to finish fifth with a pin over Keith Woodward (Pittsford) in 4:03. Nate Hathaway chimed in at 112 pounds with a fourth-place effort.
Liverpool and CNS have their head-to-head clash Wednesday night, just a day before the Northstars face West Genesee. Both also have tournaments on the weekend – the Warriors at Central Square, CNS at Oswego.
