A strong month for the Liverpool wrestling team continued on Dec. 21 when it earned a trio of first-place finishes as part of the Phoenix Round Robin Tournament.
Overall, the Warriors picked up 129.5 points, putting them in third place in an 11-team field, just ahead of host Phoenix (121 points), but behind runner-up Baldwinsville (139 points) as Mattituck, from Long Island, won with 155 points.
Just six wrestlers were in the field at 113 pounds, where Audey Ashkar got to the top. Ashkar had one technical fall, a 19-4 romp over Mattituck’s T.J. Beebe, but otherwise he pinned every opponent, getting his quickest fall over Cortland’s Dane George in 1:17.
More wrestlers were involved at 120 pounds, causing a split into two division, but Peter Nash still handled it, using two pins, a technical fall and a major decision to go 4-0 in his bracket. Then, in the finals, Nash needed just 3:13 to pin Port Byron’s Austin Parker and go on top.
Meanwhile, at 285 pounds, David Carnie would go to the top. Carnie got through a 28-second pin over Kam Cook (Port Byron) and a wild 16-12 match with Phoenix’s Derek Button before the finals, where against Qwamvelique Pettiford (Institute of Technology Central) Carnie earned a pin midway through the third period.
One other Warrior wrestler, Darren Breen, made the finals at 152 pounds, edging Tristan Broddus (Fayetteville-Manlius) 3-2 as part of a 4-0 round-robin effort that included a 5-1 decision over Mattituck’s Tanner Zagarino. In the finals, Breen lost to B’ville’s Chad McArdell, who would share Most Outstanding Wrestler honors with F-M’s Paddy Quinlan, the 138-pound champion.
Zach Curcie got a 3-1 mark at 132 pounds, just missing a finals spot, with Ron Wilson 2-1 at 220 pounds. Anthony Ianno went 2-2 at 126 pounds, while Brian Carr was 1-2 at 145 pounds, with Jalon Barron 1-3 at 160 pounds and Lou Ragonese 1-3 at 182 pounds. Sean Nadeau did not win a match at 106 pounds.
Liverpool headed back to the mats again last Friday and Saturday at SUNY-Oswego, competing in the Kenneth Haines Memorial Tournament alongside Cicero-North Syracuse.
And the Warriors would do quite well, rising to fifth place in the 24-team field with 147 points, while the Northstars, with 120 points, finished 10th. Fairport (215.5 points) edged Newark Valley (214 points) and Fulton (207 points) for top team honors.
Two Liverpool wrestlers nearly won their weight classes. Ashkar made it to the 113-pound final, only to take a tough 3-2 defeat to Victor’s Mike Venosa, and Wilson met the same fate at 220 pounds, falling to Oswego’s Jacob Rodriguez by that exact same 3-2 margin in their title bout.
Four other Warriors – Nash (120), Ianno (126), Breen (152) and David Carnie (285) – would have fourth-place finishes, Nash falling 1-0 to Fairport’s Chris Barker in his consolation bracket final as Breen fell to Jay Kisselstein (Mexico) 6-5, Ianno got a 3-1 defeat to Joey Bush (Gouverneur) and Carnie lost, 5-1, to Camden’s Ian Radell. Williamson was sixth at 195 pounds.
As for C-NS, Joe Copani got third place at 138, defeating Fulton’s Tim Holden 5-3 in the consolation bracket final as, at 170, Jerrett Norton pinned Hannibal’s Derek Hilton in 3:54 for his own third-place finish. Joe Barber (99) and Sam Ruiz (160) had fourth-place efforts, but none of the Northstars made it to the championship round.
