Marcellus and Jordan-Elbridge’s wrestling teams would both take their turns at Saturday’s Onondaga High School League Liberty/Patriot tournament.
In a 12-team field, the Mustangs finished seventh, with 92 points, while the Eagles took eighth with 85.5 points. Cazenovia prevailed with 195 points.
Zach Ruggles gave the Mustangs its lone title, at 106 pounds, by pinning Hannibal’s Victor Colon in the semifinals and outscoring Cazenovia’s Carter Biviano 13-5 for the first-place medal.
Also for the Mustangs, Ben Hood (99 pounds) shut out Cazenovia’s Aaron LaHart 9-0 for third place, with Matt Dempsey (152 pounds) holding off Tully’s Davis Herold 5-2 to also claim third place. In the consolation bracket final at 220, John Cavaretta edged Homer’s Nick Kinvlle 7-6. Nate Long (120 pounds) and Andrew Eberle (138 pounds) each finished sixth.
J-E’s Mitch Alpha edged Dylan Evans 10-7 to reach the 126-pound final, but got injured and took a default against Onondaga’s Tyler Field. Mitch Cooper (170 pounds) handled Tully’s Drew Steiger 14-6 to reach the final, only to take a 5-2 defeat to Fabius-Pompey’s Ben Young.
The Eagles’ Collin Ennulat beat Tully’s Matt Barry 9-6 for third place at 160 pounds. Ryan Hubbs settled for fourth place at 182 pounds after a 3-1 overtime defeat to Mike Murray (Port Byron), with Joe Mills fourth at 152 pounds.
West Genesee concluded its regular-season slate last Wednesday night in fine fashion, ripping past visiting Fayetteville-Manlius 54-18.
No doubt, the Wildcats were helped by the fact that the Hornets had to forfeit four matches to Tyler Heggelke (120), Vasyl Podarunok (220), Mike Wojtalewski (285) and Jake Jones (99), but WG still had enough success on the mat anyway.
Matt Nichols, at 182, pinned Jake Okun in 2:49, part of a stretch where the Wildcats took all of the matches in the higher weight classes.
Evan Stefano won a tight 170-pound decision over Jon Hajduk 5-4, with Matt Calasicbetta (160) also battling in a 5-3 decision over Angelo Pavone. By contrast, Brandon Anderson (152) came close to a technical fall in a 16-3 romp of Tim Byrnes, with Matt Kemp (195) handling Nathan Olson 10-2.
WG would also see Yvan Kouakou gain a pin over 113-pound opponent Jack Kinsella with 41 seconds left in their match, while Connor Grome (132) put away Jake Norton 9-1. At 126, Odae Badwan hung close to Pat Quinlan, though he lost a 12-7 decision.
The Wildcats go to Cicero-North Syracuse for Saturday’s Section III Class AA championships, just as Marcellus goes to the Class B meet at Cazenovia and J-E makes the long trek to Sherburne-Earlville for the Class C championships. All look to put wrestlers in the Feb. 11 overall sectional meet at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena.
