Two bouts remained for the Marcellus wrestling team in Thursday night’s meet against Cazenovia, and the task was clear – win both of them, or get beat. Just as it did a week earlier against those other Lakers from Skaneateles, the Mustangs came through down the stretch, getting clutch performances from eighth-grader Cahal Donovan and sophomore Alex Czerniak to pull out a 32-30 victory over the Lakers. It was 30-24 in Cazenovia’s favor following a late surge where the Lakers won three straight bouts – two pins, plus a forfeit, amounting to 18 points that erased the 22-12 lead Marcellus had built through claiming seven matches out of eight, six of them decisions. Now the two lightest weight classes remained. At 99 pounds, Donovan worked over Cazenovia’s Jacob Wells for five minutes, 50 seconds, earning a 16-0 technical fall to cut the Lakers’ lead to one, 30-29, with only Czerniak left at 106 pounds to face Sam Deleon. Having seen his teammates constantly grind out wins during the night, Czerniak did the same, keeping Deleon off the scoreboard and posting a 4-0 victory to give team honors to Marcellus. Much earlier, the Mustangs trailed, 6-0, when Sam Rice, at 126 pounds, got his team on the board with his own 4-0 shutout, this one over Joe McLaughlin. Ben Hood (132 pounds) doubled up Zach Maxwell in an active 14-7 match, with Zach Ruggles (138 pounds) earning his team’s lone pin of the night, earning a 60-second fall over Connor Reidl. Two bouts later, at 160 pounds, Dan Tierney put away Alex Nannery 8-1. Nate Long (170 pounds) topped Alex Curr in yet another 4-0 shutout as Kevin Morrissey (182 pounds) handled John Nannery 5-1, setting up the final drama. At least there was some excitement here, which wasn’t the case at West Genesee, where the Wildcats were overwhelmed in a 66-9 defeat to Liverpool. In a meet postponed 24 hours by winter snows, the Wildcats never warmed up, only winning two bouts. Cole Wade, at 106, pinned Alex Jorgenson in 2:37, with Dalton Elias winning a tough 182-pound decision over Jack Ragonese 4-1. Otherwise, the Warriors swept the table, earning eight pins, but also taking the close ones. WG’s Pete Zhobolov (195) lost, 3-1, to Nate Knox, while Yvan Kouakou (152) had an 8-6 defeat to Anthony Richardson. Liam Kotas wrestled well at 145, but still lost to Zach Khatib 11-8, with Odae Badwan (138) falling to Peter Nash 10-6. WG went to Saturday’s Cortland Duals and went 2-3, with Elias garnering Most Outstanding Wrestler honors for his side. The Wildcats beat Whitesboro 58-18 and edged Canandaigua 43-41, but lost to host Cortland 63-19 and also fell to Wayne (47-21) and Vestal (57-31) by day’s end.