Just one mat win short of a key OHSL Liberty division victory, the Cazenovia wrestling team could not quite find it in last Thursday night’s visit to Marcellus, where it took a 32-30 defeat to the Mustangs.
Having gone 2-3 at the Morrisville-Eaton Duals on Dec. 6, the Lakers returned to league action against a Marcellus side who had gone 4-1 at the Chittenango Duals.
Each of the first four bouts, starting at 113 pounds, went the full six minutes. Will Khallil took the opener, 11-4, over Riley Donovan, while Will Shepard did not give up a point in his 6-0 shutout over 120-pound opponent Mark Santiorello.
Marcellus countered by winning the next three matches, including Sam Rice (126 pounds) holding off Joe McLaughlin 4-0, before Billy Heselden, at 145 pounds, got the Lakers’ first pin of the night, taking 3:20 to finish off Tristan Duger.
Four more decisions followed, each of them claimed by Marcellus to build up a 22-12 lead. In the closest of them, Alex Curr (170 pounds) fell 4-0 to Nate Long and Jon Nannery, following up at 182 pounds, took a 5-1 defeat to Kevin Morrissey.
With a late surge, Cazenovia seized the lead. Brian Silfer, at 195 pounds, got it going when he pinned Cory Garvey in 2:43, and after Kevin Frega (220 pounds) claimed a forfeit, Hayden Polhamus earned a 92-second fall over 285-pound opponent Aleksandr Popov.
So with two bouts to go, the Lakers led, 30-24, but it never got on the board again. At 99 pounds, Jacob Wells got overwhelmed by the Mustangs’ Cahal Donovan in a technical fall, leading to a 106-pound finale where Sam Deleon went all six minutes with Alex Czerniak, but never got on the board in a 4-0 defeat.
As for Chittenango, it also lost on Thursday, taking a 46-30 defeat to visiting Skaneateles as it could not win any of the bouts from 99 to 138 pounds – seven in all, three of them forfeits.
When matches were contested, the Bears got a 33-second pin from Ben Nicholas (170) against Francis Lombardi and Antonio Cutrie (195 pounds) pinning Joey McIntyre in 1:45.
Will Young claimed a forfeit at 160, as did Justin Cox at 220, but Matt Bixby wrestled at 145 and held off Mike Goetzmann 3-2, while Connor Fredericks (152 pounds) needed an overtime takedown to work past Andrew Newton 8-6. Brian Coe (182) lost, 6-1 to Pat Greenfield, with Wyatt Blanding (138) taking a 6-0 loss to Maverick Janes.
Moving to Saturday’s Herkimer Invitational, the Bears had a strong sixth-place finish in an 18-team field, earning 89 points as Phoenix, with 192.5 points, pulled away from runner-up Vernon-Verona-Sherrill (170 points) for the top spot.
No Chittenango wrestler made it to the finals, but Cutrie, at 182 pounds, secured third place when he pinned CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt’s Dan Knapp late in the second period of their consolation bracket final. Cox also was third, at 220, with a fall over Poland’s Nick Powers in 1:21, while Young, moving down to 152 pounds, got fourth place.
At home on Wednesday night, Chittenango meets the combined APW/Pulaski side. Then it competes in Saturday’s Cuneen-Doane Tournament at Walton and, on Dec. 23, visits Jordan-Elbridge.
Cazenovia returns to action Thursday night and take its own shot at Skaneateles, opening a busy six-day road stretch that includes Saturday’s Groton Holiday Duals and a Dec. 23 trip to Fayetteville-Manlius.
