Though none of Baldwinsville’s top wrestlers would earn titles at Saturday’s Section III Division I championship meet at Utica Memorial Auditorium, several found their way to the awards podium with top-six finishes.
Of them, Antonio Peck made the farthest advancement, getting all the way to the championship round at 145 pounds. The senior, who started as a no. 2 seed, survived two tough matches in the early rounds, getting past Cicero-North Syracuse’s Kiel Dyer 5-3 in the quarterfinals, then going through overtime in the semifinals to beat Fayetteville-Manlius’ Ryan Kiggins 3-2.
Only in the finals did Peck get stopped, as Fulton’s David Hall pinned him in the second period, his third straight pin. In fact, Hall became the first wrestler in Fulton’s long and rich history to earn three sectional titles.
In the Division I (large school) team standings, B’ville managed to take fifth place, with 93.5 points. Fulton finished on top with 233.5 points as CNS and Indian River tied for second with 199 points apiece.
At 103 pounds, the Bees’ Tim Sposato lost a narrow 4-2 semifinal to Camden’s Garrett Mitchell. But the junior won the consolation bracket, earning a technical fall over Dan Fancett (New Hartford), then beating Mexico’s Tim Powers 6-1 to earn third place.
Pat Nasoni (189 pounds) dropped an active semifinal to Carthage’s Kyle Grover 12-8, sandwiched in between a pair of pins over Joe Sullivan (Whitesboro) and Dana Palmer (APW) before claiming fourth place. He lost a narrow 5-2 decision to CNS’s Ariel Anoceto in the consolation bracket final.
Joey Shaheen met the same fate at 119 pounds, dropping an 8-4 semifinal to Rome Free Academy’s Antonio DeLuco (the eventual champion) in an 8-4 decision. But he beat Austin Small (Mexico) 4-2 to reach the third-place match before an 8-2 defeat to West Genesee’s Ian Coolican left him in fourth place.
Kevin Paul, at 96 pounds, got to the semifinals as a no. 6 seed, knocking off no. 3 seed Tory King (New Hartford) 7-3 before Jody Brown (Indian River) beat him in a narrow 5-4 semifinal. Paul beat Mitch Woodworth (Fulton) to reach the consolation bracket final, but lost a 5-0 decision to Indian River’s Nick Toutant and settled for fourth place.
Chad McArdell (112 pounds) pinned CNS’s Andrew Osborne in 53 seconds in the first round, but fell in the quarterfinals to Blake Haddad (New Hartford). McArdell would beat Paddy Quinlan (F-M) 5-4 in the consolation bracket, helping him finish sixth.
James Eustice, at 152 pounds, beat Spencer Norton (Central Square) 7-2 in the first round before a 4-0 defeat to CNS’s James Segars in the quarterfinals, and Joe Nasoni (189 pounds) earned a 60-second pin over East Syracuse-Minoa’s Rich Osborne before a quarterfinal defeat to RFA’s Dan Secor. Connor Ross (125 pounds), Jake Norton (130 pounds), Ryan McArdell (140 pounds) and Anthony Rafkins (140 pounds) lost in the first round.
