Flush with momentum after its dramatic, come-from-behind win over Liverpool that sealed a first-place finish in the Dec. 14 Falcon Duals at Fabius-Pompey, the Marcellus wrestling team had more success on the horizon.
When the Mustangs went to Buckley Gym to face Cazenovia last Wednesday night, no rally was required, as it won the first six matches and never got caught, defeating the Lakers 46-30.
Nick Destefano got it started at 126 pounds, pinning Dominick King midway through the second period, and Zach Ruggles (132 pounds) followed with a pin over Nick Monroe in 2:48.
Though Tristan Duger went all six minutes at 138 pounds, he rolled past Paul McLaughlin 10-2, with Nate Long (145 pounds) getting a pin over Alex Nannery in 2:49.
Nate Lukins (152 pounds) topped Mike Marshall 9-4, and Dan Tierney followed at 160 pounds with the quickest pin of the match, taking just 22 seconds to finish off Sam Mabie.
From there, Cazenovia recovered enough to win six of the remaining nine matches. But the Mustangs still found success as John Dunn, at 220 pounds, beat Dan Phillips 7-2, with Riley Donovan (99 pounds) pinning Jacob Wells in 1:33 and Sam Rice (113 pounds) taking just two more seconds than Donovan to get his fall over Zack Maxwell.
Ben Hood (120 pounds) lost, 5-3, to Carter Biviano, and Alex Czerniak got injured in his 106-pound match against Will Shephard, leading to a default.
As this went on, West Genesee was at home, taking on Cicero-North Syracuse, and unable to get much going in a 59-18 defeat to the Northstars.
In fact, the Wildcats won just twice on the mat, as Liam Kotas, at 152 pounds, outscored Robert Rein 13-7 and Dalton Elias had an even wilder match at 182 pounds, needing every point possible to turn back Jerrett Norton 17-13.
Otherwise, Yvan Kouakou (145 pounds) and Pete Zholobov (195 pounds) claimed forfeits, and C-NS won every other match, including three times where WG had to forfeit. Only one decision proved close as Odae Badwan, wrestling at 138 pounds, took a 6-4 defeat to Joe Copani.
Both Marcellus and West Genesee return to action during the holiday break in separate tournaments on Dec. 27 and 28 – the Mustangs in the Kenneth Haines Memorial Tournament at SUNY-Oswego, the Wildcats in the Brett Dixon Memorial Duals at Central Square.
