Before hitting the holiday break, Chittenango nearly won the Cuneen Doane Tournament on Dec. 21 at Walton High School, earning 202 points to finish second in a 14-team field, just behind Homer, who prevailed with 203.5 points.
Antonio Cutrie snared Most Outstanding Wrestler honors for the Bears with his victory in the 182-pound division.
To get that honor, Cutrie pinned Mark Currie (Homer) in the quarterfinals in 1:05 and took a bit longer – 1:15, to be exact – to pin Kevin Morgans (Eldred-Fallsburg-Liberty) in the semifinals before taking just 59 seconds to finish off Chenango Valley’s Reed Grunder in the championship match.
Cutrie was one of three Chittenango champions on the day. At 132 pounds, Matt Bixby prevailed, pinning Ian Kilmer (Walton) in the third period of their quarterfinal match, and handling E-F-L’s Noah Curreri 10-1 in the semifinals to get to the title bout, where Bixby beat Whitney Point’s Trevor Glazen in a 6-1 decision.
Meanwhile, at 170 pounds Nick Harrington beat the field. After a pin of Matt Doherty (Monticello) in 55 seconds and needed a third-period fall over Joe Puccio to reach the finals, where in just 1:38 Harrington pinned Monticello’s Travis Kelly.
Two other times, the Bears lost in the championship round. Will Young (138 pounds) blanked Tyler Frear (Windsor) in a 15-0 technical fall in the semifinal but settled for second place after Whitney Point’s Nathaniel Grubman pinned him in the title bout.
At 220 pounds, Casey Placito got a 90-second semifinal pin of Homer’s Jeremiah Bush, but ran into Delhi’s Brian Ingram in the final and, like Young, suffered a championship-match fall to end up in second place.
Cooper Young (106 pounds) edged Monticello’s Patrick Owens 3-2 for third place, while Connor Fredericks (132 pounds) and Justin Cox (195 pounds) both had fourth-place efforts. Erik Ellefson was sixth at 152 pounds, a finish that Matt Theobald matched at 170 pounds.
A week later, on Dec. 27-28, Cazenovia wrestled at the Brett Dixon Memorial Duals at Central Square, winning just one of seven matches over the course of two days as Brad Lucas was named the team’s Most Outstanding Wrestler for the meet.
The Lakers’ lone win came in a 51-13 romp over West Genesee. But it lost close decisions to New Hartford (48-36) and Holland Patent (45-39) early in the meet and, after stopping the Wildcats, fell to host Central Square 46-34, followed by defeats to Cortland (54-18), Port Byron/Union Springs (58-30) and Penfield (58-21), the eventual meet champion.
Chittenango returned to action last Saturday at the Fallen Heroes (formerly Richard New) Tournament at Canastota, where it finished 10th in the 18-team field with 91 points. Camden, with 241 points, won the team title, with Fulton (195.5 points) in second place.
Young finished third at 138, dropping a close 6-5 decision to Gouverneur’s Zach Ayen in the semifinals, but gaining a forfeit over Tim Holden (Fulton) in the consolation bracket final. Placito got fourth place at 220, the Bears’ only other top-four finisher.
As that went on, Cazenovia rose to sixth place amid a 17-team field at the Port Byron Invitaitonal, earning 129.5 points as North Rose-Wolcott (187.5 points) took the top spot.
Dan Phillips won at 195, beating Nick Buhler (Port Byron) 13-3 in the semifinals before a title match where he pinned NR-W’s Skyler Tuper in just 1:22. Then Brad Lucas took the 285-pound championship, edging Alex Gonzalez (Geneva) 5-3 in the finals after a semifinal pin over Duane Diggs (Auburn) in 1:21.
Elsewhere, Will Shepherd made it to the 106-pound final, only to take a 7-1 defeat to Mynderse Academy’s Francis Leddy. Brian Silfer beat Brandon Malone (Auburn) by default to finish third at 182 pounds. Zack Maxwell finished fourth at 113 pounds, with Paul McLaughlin getting to fourth place at 132 pounds.
