Liverpool’s wrestling team had a unique opportunity during the holiday break, traveling all the way to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to compete in the Deep South Bayou Duals early this week. And the Warriors made quite an impression, prevailing in six of the eight matches against opponents all based in the South.
Starting off, Liverpool defeated Archbishop Rummel (Louisiana) 38-29, keyed by close matches where Nathaniel Knox (195 pounds) and Sean Nadeau (113 pounds) both won in overtime, and Mike Mills (145 pounds) held off Zach Bowman 5-1.
Then a 43-30 victory over Central (Alabama) followed, featuring four pins, including one from Christian Bradshaw at 106 pounds, and the Warriors edged Archbishop Rummel (Louisiana) 39-37 as Knox, in the pivotal bout, beat Tyler Troncoso 3-2.
An easier 44-16 win over Arlington (Tennessee) put Liverpool at 4-0, but then Catholic BR (Louisiana) tripped up the Warriors 37-19, claiming seven different decisions in matches that went the full six minutes.
After Holy Cross (Louisiana) topped Liverpool 43-25, the Warriors would rebound with two more wins, routing Ocean Springs (Mississippi) 71-6 and topping St. Amant (Louisiana) 41-26.
Through it all, David Carnie was a perfect 8-0 in his bouts at 285 pounds, recording five pins. Audey Ashkar also won all eight of his bouts, improving to 20-1 on the season through four pins and two technical falls.
Peter Nash, wrestling in both 132 and 138-pound bouts, joined Carnie and Ashkar with an 8-0 sweep as his record improved to 22-1 thanks to four different decisions. Knox finished with a 6-2 mark, while Mills and Nadeau both went 5-3.
This followed Cicero-North Syracuse’s appearance in the Kenneth Haines Memorial Tournament at SUNY-Oswego’s Laker Hall on Dec. 27 and 28. The Northstars, with 61 points, finished 16th in a 26-team field as Fulton (253.5 points) pulled away from Fairport (220 points) for the top spot.
Joe Barber nearly prevailed at 113. Barber pinned Matt Daigler (Guilderland) in 1:38 and routed Jacob Bell (Fairport) 16-4 before a 12-6 semifinal victory over Canton’s Ryan Brown. Then, in the finals, Barber stayed close against Mexico’s Theo Powers, though he took a 7-2 defeat.
Christopher St. Denny, who was the no. 3 seed at 285, lost his quarterfinal to Fulton’s Jared Crucitti 6-5, but he recovered to sweep his way through the consolation bracket, beating teammate Jared Hemingway 3-1, pinning Tom Zona (Fairport) in the third period and edging CBA/Jamesville-Dewitt’s Ramy Guindy 5-3 before claiming third place with a 4-1 win over Mexico’s Jason Bond.
David Ciciarelli (99 pounds) lost a tight round of 16 match to South Jefferson’s Mat Garland 6-3, with Ray Sorensen (106) faling to Marcellus’ Alex Czerniak 7-3. Cristian Anoceto and Austin Miller both lost opening-round bouts at 220 pounds.
From there, C-NS went to the Port Byron Invitational a week later, and with 183 points finished fourth in a 17-team field. Cazenovia, with 267 points, claimed the top spot.
Barber prevailed at 113, surviving a tough title bout with North Rose-Wolcott’s Zach Shove and claiming a 4-2 decision after routing Max Collier (Skaneateles) 16-6 in the semifinals.
Travis Harrington made it to the 99-pound final, only to fall to Cahal Donovan (Marcellus) 5-0, with Sorensen getting to the championship round at 106 but running into Watertown IHC’s Bennie Fielding, who pinned Sorensen in the third period.
Josh Bigford beat Tristan Duger (Marcellus) 3-1 in the consolation bracket final at 145 pounds to finish third. St. Denny finished fourth at 285, with Joe Mayers doing the same at 120 pounds and Anoceto fourth at 220.
