One clear indication of the level of respect the Cazenovia wrestling team has achieved is an invitation to one of the winter’s signature competitions.
That would be the Section III Dual Meet, held Saturday at Cicero-North Syracuse High School. It annually draws 16 of the top teams in the area for a single-elimination tournament, with the winner getting unofficial bragging rights for the next 12 months.
The Lakers got a favorable draw in the opening round, avoiding any of the top seeds and meeting another unseeded side, Adirondack, and it came down to the final match before Cazenovia defeated the Wildcats 43-38.
Dylan Evans wrestled in that 120-pound finale with his team trailing 38-37. Any victory against Devin Banks would do, but Evans left no doubts, pinning Banks 26 seconds into the second period to help the Lakers advance.
Much earlier, Nick Petroff (126 pounds) opened by pinning Connor Weiss in just 47 seconds as Sam Langan (132 pounds) followed with a fall over Jared Johnson in 1:20.
Then Adironack claimed three straight pins to go up 18-12 before Mike Nourse (160 pounds) beat Coty Lutz 8-2. John Nannery (171 pounds) and Dan Phillips (182 pounds) both followed with 15-0 technical falls over James Lamm and Connor Hamilton, respectively.
When Matt Staiger, at 220 pounds, pinned Andrew Abdoo in 1:43 and Brad Lucas (285 pounds) finished off Kieran Armstrong in 2:46, Cazenovia had a 37-21 edge, which vanished when Adirondack got two pins and a technical fall in the lightest weight classes before Evans pulled it out.
Just getting to the quarterfinals was quite a feat, but the Lakers were overwhelmed in that round by top seed South Jefferson in a 58-22 decision.
Of the first eight matches, the Spartans won seven of them, six by pin, to quickly settle matters. Only Nourse broke that spell, pinning Griffin Charlebois, while Lucas claimed a forfeit.
Carter Biviano, at 113 pounds, did beat Tyler Bates 13-7, with Evans routing Kyle Snyder 14-2 and Petroff edging Cody Modlin 1-0.
Backing up that top seed, South Jefferson would go on to win the Sectional Dual Meet, topping Baldswinsville (winner of the Cazenovia Invitational on Jan. 12) 43-31 in the semifinals and routing General Brown 45-19 in the championship round.
Before all this, it just so happened that the Lakers had its first-place OHSL Liberty showdown Wednesday with Phoenix, the defending champions of the Dual Meet. Despite an all-out effort, Cazenovia could not keep up with the Firebirds, taking a 51-21 defeat.
Three of the Lakers’ wins came in a row. Evans pinned Brad Dietz in 3:32, with Petroff (126) pulling out an 8-6 decision over Alex Fatcheric and Langan doing the same to edge past Kyle Demo 5-3.
Cazenovia also did quite well in the upper weight classes. Lucas, fresh off his Cazenovia Invitational win, took just 59 seconds to pin Derrick Button, while Phillips finished off Tim Gandino 24 seconds into the second period.
Staiger worked his way to a 6-3 victory over Trever Ferens, this after Hayden Polhamus (195) took Mike Mironti to overtime before dropping a 9-7 decision.
Cazenovia will face New Hartford Thursday and vie for top honors Saturday in the OHSL Liberty/Patriot Tournament.
