Three decades after the Skaneateles wrestling team last produced a Section III champion, Kevin Pembridge made quite an effort to end that drought Saturday at Utica Memorial Auditorium.
And though he couldn’t quite pull it off, Pembridge still managed a third-place finish in the Division II (small school) 140-pound division, capping off a superb senior season.
Pembridge started out as the no. 4 seed with a 25-3 record and was coming off winning the sectional Class B title Feb. 5 at Oneida, the first class crown for Skaneateles since 1983.
Now, in pursuit of that sectional crown last won by the Lakers’ Joe Brillo in 1981, Pembridge, after a first-round bye, took little time to win his quarterfinal against Cooperstown’s Jacob Miller, pinning him in 51 seconds.
The good news was that it put Pembridge in the semifinals. The bad news was that he now faced undefeated (40-0) top seed Derek Pfluger, from Sandy Creek, who won the state title at 135 pounds a year ago. Sure enough, Pfluger pinned Pembridge in 3:01 and would go on to yet another sectional championship, his fourth.
Forced into the consolation bracket, Pembridge rebounded with a 12-0 romp over Jeremy Bombardier (General Brown). Then, in an exciting third-place match against Mitch Janes (Port Byron), Pembridge built a big early lead and held on to win an 8-7 decision and improve his season mark to 28-4.
Chris Wise also wrestled for the Lakers at 171 pounds in the sectional meet. He pinned Cansatota’s Jesse Puchales in 1:13 in the first round, but lost in the quarterfinal to Phoenix’s Austyn Hayes (the eventual champion) and fell, 10-3, to Rob Burnett (Hannibal) in the consolation bracket.
