Elements of a successful present and a glorious past were mixed together to create a memorable week for the Baldwinsville wrestling team.
It was the current Bees that earned the glory during Saturday’s Section III Class AA championship meet at Cicero-North Syracuse, where it put six wrestlers in the finals and, with 235 points, easily held off CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt (162.5 points) for the title, with the host Northstars third and Fayetteville-Manlius fourth.
Kevin Paul won the 120-pound title and improved to 35-4 on the season. After pulling away from Arsen Bagiryan (CBA/J-D) 10-3 in the semifinals, Paul dominated his title match with West Genesee’s Tyler Heggelke, claiming a 13-5 decision.
Brian Honsinger, at 220 pounds, earned B’ville’s other title. A last-second pin of Zach Shapiro (CBA/J-D) and a 9-2 win over Matt Mastro (C-NS) set up a final with Syracuse’s Maurice Russell, who beat Honsinger’s teammate, Jake Florack, 5-2 in the other semifinal. Gaining revenge for Florack’s loss, Honsinger pinned Russell midway through the second period, at the 2:55 mark.
Three other Bees came within inches of titles. Joe Nasoni smashed through the 195-pound division with a pair of first-period pins until CBA/J-D’s Ben Honis engaged him in a low-scoring final and pulled it out by a slim 3-2 margin.
It came down to a close 145-pound championship match where the Bees’ Chad McArdell, who like Nasoni got first-period falls in both of his preliminary matches, met up with CBA/J-D’s J.T. Romagnoli, and it was in doubt until the final seconds, when McArdell fell to Romagnoli 4-3.
Much the same happened to Luke Earle at 285 pounds. Earle pinned Jake Okun (F-M) in 1:10 and Cody Stone (Central Square) in 3:32 before a title match with C-NS’s Andres Anoceto that swung both ways until Anoceto pulled it out, 7-6.
Connor Ross got to the 138-pound final with an impressive 15-6 semifinal win over C-NS’s Jeremy Rivera, only to run into Jacob Norton (Fayetteville-Manlius, not related to the Bees’ Jake Norton) and fall, 7-3, in the title match.
Beyond all this was a string of high finishes from B’ville’s wrestlers. David Rush (106 pounds) beat Chelsy Sanschagrin (Central Square) 14-0 for third place, with Gunnar Sutphen (170 pounds) taking third when he pinned F-M’s Mark King just 37 seconds into the consolation bracket final.
Kevin Lewis (99 pounds) was fourth, with Steve Petrelli getting fourth place at 152 pounds and the Bees’ Jake Norton fourth at 160 pounds.
Jeremy Pond (113 pounds) pinned Mike Linton (West Genesee) for a fifth-place finish, exactly where Brandon Schmid (126 pounds) finished after beating Max Edmon (Central Square) 9-1. Brian Rush was fifth at 145 behind McArdell.
All of these wrestlers qualified to appear this Saturday in the Section III Division I (large school) championship meet, starting at 10 a.m. at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena. Winners earn automatic berths in the Feb. 22-23 state meet in Albany.
Three nights earlier, a non-league meet created a real sense of nostalgia as B’ville took on Fulton, renewing a rivalry that burned hot in the 1970s and ‘80s, when both teams were in the same league and had many of the best wrestlers in Central New York.
This modern edition was fun, too, as the Bees topped the Red Raiders 37-28, the exciting tone set in the first match when Vito Caloia (132) took Fulton’s Tim Holden to overtime before losing in a 5-4 decision.
Right after, the Bees seized control with four straight wins. Ross pinned Brandon Hill in 3:15, with Brian Rush squeaking out a 1-0 verdict over Aaron Yablonski with a single escape. McArdell took 3:01 to pin Mike DeMauro as Jake Norton, at 160, blanked Sam Rios 9-0.
Another B’ville run started at 182, where Sutphen held off Ryan Hall 9-6. Honsinger, at 195, had his own close match with Derek Owen, but prevailed 6-4 before Nasoni, at 220, pinned Brian Marshall in just 43 seconds.
Having built a big lead, the Bees could afford to take defeats in five of the last six matches, with Paul the lone exception as he took 58 seconds to pin Nick Morrison. Jake Florack lost a close 285-pound decision to Brennan Roberge 4-2.
