Though it’s not until Jan. 9, the stage has cleared for the Baldwinsville wrestling team to clash with Cicero-North Syracuse with the CNY Counties League regular-season title likely at stake.
The Bees had to pass through one more league test against Liverpool last Wednesday night at the Baker High School gym, and after an uneven start, B’ville ran over the Warriors in the latter stages of a 57-19 victory.
Of the first five matches, B’ville only prevailed in two of them. David Rush won the 106-pound opener over Alex Jorgensen with a pin in 1:20, and after Liverpool won twice, Kevin Paul (126 pounds) steadily worked his way to a 17-1 technical fall over Anthony Ianno.
It wasn’t until 138 pounds, though, that the Bees moved ahead for good, thanks to Vito Coloia, who rolled to a 12-2 victory over Brian Carr.
Four more wins would quickly follow. Chad McArdell (145 pounds) pinned Darren Breen midway through the second period, with Jake Norton (152 pounds) containing Brock Barton 8-1.
Then Brian Rush (160 pounds) got pushed by Dakota Inman to overtime, only to get a takedown and a 6-4 decision before Gunnar Sutphen (170 pounds) took 3:02 to pin Bryan Merril.
With four matches left, B’ville led 33-19, but what followed was a near-perfect finish.
Joe Nasoni, at 195 pounds, pinned Louis Ragonese in 37 seconds. Brian Honsinger (220 pounds) needed just 54 seconds to finish off Ron Wilson, but Jake Florack (285 pounds) topped both of them with a 32-second fall over David Carney. To close it out, Kevin Lewis (99 pounds) pinned Sean Nadeau midway through the second period.
