Seven consecutive victories to open the meet, six of them pins, propelled the Marcellus wrestling team to a 78-6 rout over the combined APW/Pulaski side on Wednesday night.
They started at 126 pounds, where Nick Distefano pinned Devin Mullin in 1:35, and it continued with Tristan Duger (132 pounds) got a fall over Nate Cronk in 4:36.
At 138 pounds, Mike Heron finished off Kelton Lewis in 2:41, and Dan Tierney (145 pounds) worked quicker, pinning Josh Mason in 1:22 before Nate Long’s pin over 152-pound opponent Jon Shelley at the end of the second period.
The pin streak got interrupted at 160 pounds, but Kevin Morrissey had an 18-3 technical fall over Ed Walls before Cory Garvey, at 170 pounds, took 1:53 to pin Cody Lambert.
Just three more matches were contested, and Marcellus won two of them, also with pins. John Dunn, at 285 pounds, pinned Jacob Friot in 27 seconds, with Riley Donovan (99 pounds) getting his fall over Lindsay Rollson in 1:33. Alex Czerniak (106 pounds), Ben Hood (113 pounds) and Zach Ruggles (120 pounds) claimed forfeits.
As this went on, West Genesee went to Oswego, where the need to forfeit four different matches would prove costly in a narrow 43-42 defeat to the Buccaneers.
The Wildcats didn’t win a bout on the mat until the sixth match, at 120 pounds, where Mike Linton pinned Matt Bates early in the third period. By that point, Oswego had claimed three forfeits and WG just one, to Marcello Barbuto at 99 pounds.
But then Tyler Heggelke (126 pounds) and Jake Jones (132 pounds) won with forfeits, leading to the decisive action late in the meet, where each side won three times.
At 145 pounds, Yvan Kouakou pinned Tom Allen in 4:50, with Shayne Middleton (160 pounds) taking just 32 seconds to finish off Tim Boyczuk. Dalton Elias (182 pounds) also earned a fall, over Zack Caruson in 3:09.
As this went on, though, the Bucs also won three bouts, the closest of them Jordan Perchway’s 9-2 decision over 138-pound opponent Odae Badwan. And though WG led 42-36 with one match left, it had to forfeit at 195 pounds, and the criterium point went to the Bucs because it won eight of 15 bouts.
WG would compete again Saturday, in the Cazenovia Invitational, and rise all the way to a tie with Herkimer for sixth place in the 16-team field, earning 90 points. Baldwinsville (172.5 points) edged Cicero-North Syracuse by half a point for the team title.
Heggelke’s 3-2 decision over Homer’s Colin Baker put him in the 126-pound final against Port Byron’s Andrew Taber, but in another close bout Taber beat Heggelke 5-4 for the title. Badwan’s late pin of Austin Coleman (Oswego) meant a berth in the 132-pound title match, but he also lost as Onondaga’s Tyler Field pinned him early in the first period.
Mike Linton finished fourth at 120, with Peter Zhobolov taking fourth place at 170 pounds and Zach Winterton gaining sixth place at 145 pounds. Zach Valerino rose to fifth place at 285 pounds.
Marcellus, meanwhile, finished ninth among 21 teams in the Central New York Tournament at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, with 78.5 points, as Mexico (182.5 points) and Central Valley Academy (171.5 points) took the top two spots.
Three Mustang wrestlers got to finals – and Hood won, at 113, edging VVS’s Austin Vanderhoof 5-3 in the semifinals and, in the championship round, doing the same to stop Mexico’s Hunter Howland in an 8-4 decision.
Ruggles beat Central Valley’s David Bardo 8-5 and reached the 126-pound final before falling to Whitesboro’s Jeff Maraffa 5-2, while Dunn beat Warrensburg’s Damian Prosser 14-7 and made it to the title bout at 220, where another Whitesboro wrestler, Tyler Hudson, beat him 7-2. Morrissey, at 160 pounds, finished sixth.
