Proving its elite status once more, the Baldwinsville wrestling team made it to the semifinal round at Saturday’s Section III Dual Meet at Cicero-North Syracuse.
Starting with the no. 5 seed in a 16-team field, the Bees flattened Lowville 59-13 in the opening round and outlasted Indian River 45-38 in the quarterfinals before a 42-31 semifinal defeat to top seed South Jefferson.
As it worked out, B’ville ended up facing Frontier League opposition for the entire tournament, starting with Lowville, where the Bees would win all but three of the matches against the Red Raiders.
Brandon Schmid beat Bradley Curry 7-2 in the 126-pound opener as Vito Coloia (132 pounds) followed up with a 9-5 decision over Shawn Widrick.
Starting at 145 pounds, B’ville won six straight. Chad McArdell had a 53-second pin over Isaiah Boaz before Jake Norton (152 pounds) pinned Tyler Bray in the waning seconds. Steve Petrelli, at 160 pounds, blanked Jacob Curry 3-0 as Gunnar Sutphen (170 pounds) routed Mike Duffer 11-2 and Nick Balduzzi (182 pounds) cruised past A.J. Thomas 9-1.
From there, four Bees – Brian Honsinger (220 pounds), Kevin Lewis (99 pounds), David Rush (106 pounds) and Kevin Paul (120 pounds) – claimed forfeits, but Joe Nasoni (195 pounds) did wrestle, and took just 55 seconds to pin Roger Cecconi.
Then the Bees went after Indian River, but this would have more suspense, the meet still in doubt until Jeremy Pond (113 pounds) recorded a 38-second pin over Devin Thorton in the late going.
They swapped the first four matches, Connor Ross (138 pounds) taking just 38 seconds to pin Ben Callaghan before McArdell earned a crucial victory, moving up to 152 and holding off Dylan Crowder 5-3.
Norton, who moved up to 160, pinned Logan Running with just eight seconds left, but the Warriors countered with two wins of its own to take a 20-15 lead before Nasoni took a forfeit.
Honsinger, in his first match of the day, took just 42 seconds to finish off DaQuan Brown, and Jake Florack wrestled at 285 pounds, pinning Alex Avery in 324 to make it 33-20. Pond’s win, plus a forfeit to Paul, closed it out.
The semifinal match with South Jefferson, who was no. 7 in the latest state small-school rankings, saw B’ville get an early lead when McArdell, back at 145, pinned Jake Moulton in 1:46 and Norton follow with a 12-1 decision over Jayson Kellogg, all this after Ross lost to Jon Crast 7-3.
But the Spartans earned three straight pins to go in front 21-10 before another forfeit to Nasoni. Florack would keep the Bees within reach, needing an overtime takedown to beat Antonio Diaz 3-1.
South Jefferson then made its decisive move, winning three straight matches, including decisions where Rush fell to Caleb Beach 5-0 and Pond lost to Tyler Bates 7-2. Paul would earn another victory, pinning Adam Hutchinson in 3:51 as Coloia claimed a late forfeit.
As it turned out, the Bees fell to the team that finished on top. South Jefferson rolled past no. 3 seed General Brown 45-19 in the championship round, the second time in three days the Spartans had beaten the Lions, having done so in a Frontier League meet on Thursday.
B’ville tuned up for the Dual Meet by venturing to Central Square last Wednesday night and putting together an impressive 57-21 victory over the Red Hawks.
Despite entering the meet with a 28-2 record, Central Square could not keep up with the Bees’ relentless push, which started at 126 when Schmid held off Max Emond 7-5.
Two matches later, at 138, Ross pinned Mike Byrne in 1:04, putting B’ville ahead for good before Brian Rush (145) held off Nate Rogers 14-10. McArdell proceeded to pin Josh Bliss in 2:50.
Starting at 182, B’ville, leading 18-15, would win seven of the last eight matches. Balduzzi pinned Justin Lanning in 1:11, with Nasoni (195) taking 5:20 to finish off Eljah Sampo. Honsinger (220) and Luke Earle (285) also got pins
To start the closing rush, David Rush, at 106, pinned Chelsy Sanchagrin in 3:55. Pond needed just 1:26 to pin Dylan Wallace, and Paul got a 5-1 decision over Blake Engebretsen.
