Though it could handle the other entrants in the CNY Counties League National division, the Cicero-North Syracuse wrestling team could not budge the red-clad rulers at the top.
The Northstars lost, 51-18, to Baldwinsville in last Wednesday night’s first-place showdown, only able to take four of the 13 contested matches.
They started at 220 pounds, where Brian Honsinger quickly built a lead on Jared West and, 47 seconds into the third period turned over West for a pin and a lead B’ville would not relinquish all night.
A 285-pound thriller saw Jake Florack and Andres Anoceto go to the third period 0-0, but then trade points until, at 3-3, Florack managed a last-second escape and takedown to win a 6-3 decision.
Ray Sorenson put C-NS on the board at 99 pounds, pinning Kevin Lewis in just 1:27, the fastest fall of the entire meet. Two close matches followed, as Joe Barber (106 pounds) fell to David Rush 4-2 and Joe Mayers (113 pounds) gave the Northstars a 7-3 win over Jeremy Pond.
The highly-anticipated 120-pound match between Drew Dyer and B’ville’s Kevin Paul and C-NS’s nearly ended with a first-period pin for Dyer, but he held on and lasted all six minutes in a 9-1 defeat. Brandon Burnham (126 pounds) lost to Brandon Schmid (126 pounds) in a technical fall before Joe Copani, at 132 pounds, claimed a forfeit.
C-NS’s last win came at 138 pounds, where Jeremy Rivera held off Connor Ross 8-5 to make the score 21-18. After that, the Bees took over.
Chad McArdell, at 145 pounds, pinned Robert Rein in 3:23. In a 152-pound thriller, Nate Langstaff nearly came back from a four-point deficit, but fell to Brian Rush 7-6, with Sam Ruiz (160 pounds) suffering the same close call as he lot to Jake Norton 6-5.
Nothing else was as close, though, as Jake Claflin (170 pounds) and David Griglock (182 pounds) both lost through pins, and C-NS forfeited the last match at 195 pounds to B’ville’s Joe Nasoni.
Oddly enough, C-NS and B’ville were in the same gym again on Saturday – only this time it was part of a larger field for the Cazenovia Invitational.
And the Northstars did well, picking up 154 points to edge the host Cazenovia Lakers (152.5 points) for second place in the 16-team field – only behind B’ville, who prevailed with 182.5 points.
Four different times, C-NS wrestlers reached the championship round, but none of them won. Barber (99) took a 5-1 defeat to Adirondack’s Derek Spann in his title match, while Mayers, moving down to 106, ran into another Adirondack star, Ryan O’Rourke in the finals and lost a 6-1 decision.
In yet another 6-1 decision, Copani dropped the 132-pound final to West Genesee’s Connor Grome. Anoceto made his way to the championship match at 285 with a 30-second semifinal pin over Zach Akey (Sandy Creek), but lost 7-3 to Brad Lucas (Cazenovia).
Dyer did get to third place at 113, blanking another Cazenovia wrestler, Carter Biviano, 8-0 in the consolation bracket final. Langstaff, with a 7-2 decision over Chris Wein (Cato-Meridian), gained third place at 145.
West took fourth place at 220 after two more defeats to Honsinger, the latter of them a 6-3 consolation-bracket decision. Griglock pinned Port Byron’s Nick Buehler for fifth place at 182 as Rivera finished sixth at 138.
C-NS will serve as hosts for Saturday’s Section III Dual Meet, a gathering of 16 of the best teams in Central New York in a single-elimination tournament. Phoenix, who beat Fulton 33-32 in last year’s title match, looks to defend the title against challengers like South Jefferson and General Brown.
