Though it had to battle to the last match, the Vernon-Verona-Sherrill wrestling team still gained a crucial Tri-Valley League victory Tuesday night when it beat the visiting Camden Blue Devils by a score of 44-34.
The Red Devils were up by five points going into the 140-pound finale, so Aaron Prichard simply had to avoid a pin against Camden’s Tom Confer. He did so, quite easily, accumulating enough points for a technical fall over Confer 45 seconds into the third period.
Prior to that, VVS had started hot, winning six of the first seven matches. Gage Patry (145 pounds) beat Jake Mayden 10-3 as Nathan Walts (152 pounds), Josh Parkhurst (160 pounds) and James Simpkins (171 pounds) all got pins, Parkhurst the fastest as he took just 1:01 to finish off Sebastian Best.
When Zach Legler (215 pounds) pinned Richard Felt-Cooper at the end of the second period and Brian Ervin (285 pounds) got his pin over Danny Christmas in 1:19, VVS had a 33-10 lead, but it wasn’t over.
Camden stayed alive by getting four straight wins, cutting the margin to 33-28 before Dylan Kavanaugh (130 pounds) claimed a forfeit. And when Alex Gilbert, at 135 pounds, got pinned by Cory Sullivan, Prichard had to rebound with a win – which he did.
On Wednesday, Oneida returned to action and staged its own rally against New Hartford, ending up with a 42-33 victory over the Spartans.
New Hartford won five of the first seven matches, the only breaks coming from a forfeit to Nick Straczuk in the opening match at 171 and Tyler Havener (285) pinning Tom Pfisterer in 2:11.
Even with another forfeit to Connor Russ at 119, the Indians were staring at a 33-18 deficit with five matches left, but would not lose again.
In an exciting 135-pound match, Zach Murray ignited the comeback, doing just enough to beat New Hartford’s Nate Benjamin 13-12, and Connor LoMonaco (140) followed up with a pin over Ben Keeler in 1:51.
Another tense match at 145 inched Oneida closer, as Lon Palmer fought his way past Chris Broccoli 3-1, and a forfeit to Colin Law (152) put Oneida ahead 37-33.
Despite all this, Jake Straczuk still had to avoid a majority decision loss to Dan Rabbia in the 160-pound finale – which Straczuk did by pinning Rabbia in a scant 1:22.
