The terrific season put together by the Marcellus wrestling team, which is likely leading to an Onondaga High School League Liberty division regular-season title, has drawn some attention.
And no better signal of that attention was the Mustangs getting invited to last Saturday’s Section III Dual Meet at Cicero-North Syracuse, a gathering of the top 16 teams in an elimination tournament.
In the opening round, the Mustangs would face no. 5 seed Cortland, and were close midway through the match before a surge by the Purple Tigers led to a 43-21 defeat.
They opened at 220 pounds, and after Aleksandr Popov and Garrett Furnia (285 pounds) got pinned, Cahal Donovan put Marcellus on the board at 99 pounds, defeating Michael Bay 4-2 before Alex Czerniak (106 pounds) took a forfeit.
Two bouts later, Sam Rice, at 120 pounds, atoned for Riley Donovan’s 9-0 defeat to Trent Jones at 113 pounds, Rice beating Jacob Smith 3-1 before Zach Ruggles (126 pounds) got past Kiegan Brown by that same 3-1 margin.
At that moment, Marcellus trailed by just one, 16-15, but then Cortland got away with four straight wins that amounted to 15 points – two of them pins, two of them decisions as Ben Hood (132 pounds) lost to Isaiah Brookman 5-1 and Tristan Duger (138 pounds) took a 4-0 defeat to Drew Towers.
Not until 160 pounds, after pins suffered by Casey Ezzo and Nick DiStefano, did the Mustangs get back on the board, thanks to Nate Long’s tough 3-2 decision over Russell Gerhard. Kevin Morrissey (170 pounds) also won, 7-4, over Chace Bentley, but Cory Garvey (182 pounds) lost 7-0 to Dakotah Miller in the last contested bout.
Cortland went on the quarterfinals, where it lost, 42-25, to Fulton. Mexico, the no. 3 seed, took the Dual Meet title, defeating Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, Central Valley Academy and Liverpool before topping top seed Adirondack 40-31 in the championship round.
All of this followed last Wednesday’s impressive 51-15 victory over East Syracuse Minoa, which started with Nate Lukins (170 pounds) beating Darian Crossman 9-6, Morrissey stopping Chris Todd in a 21-6 technical fall and Garvey edging Joe Monteleone 4-2.
Starting with a forfeit to Cahal Donovan at 99, Marcellus won six straight bouts. Czerniak took just 33 seconds to pin Jacob Millet, with Riley Donovan beating Jacob Kingsley 11-4 and Rice pinning Dante O’Brien in 1:49.
Following that up, Ruggles got a 16-0 technical fall over Evan Stadelman in less than one period, with Hood taking longer for the same result against Colin Hooker. Late in the meet, Duger pinned Anthony Sardo in 3:42 as Long beat Sam LeGro 10-3.
Far from all this, West Genesee took on Central Square last Wednesday night, and won the first two bouts, only to get overwhelmed by the Redhawks the rest of the way in a 57-24 defeat.
Joe Malinowski won the opener at 138, shutting out Caden Rupracht 6-0, and at 145 Victor Elias pinned Garrett Radley midway through the second period.
Central Square won the next four matches, including Phoenix Webb’s 3-2 decision over Trevor Brown at 170, to take the lead before Dalton Elias (195) held off Isaac Havens 6-4.
Two bouts later, at 285, Ethan Coates pinned Jacob Eldred in 2:46, while at 106 Cole Wade earned his own second-period fall over Andy Nicholson. Still, the Redhawks pulled away by winning five of the last six bouts, including two pins, two forfeits and a majority decision.
Jordan-Elbridge wrestled last Wednesday against Skaneateles, taking a 79-6 defeat to the Lakers. Tyler Steves earned the Eagles’ lone points, at 145, when he pinned James Leubner in 2:59.
But two nights later, the Eagles held its Alumni Night during a match against Syracuse’s Institute of Technology Central to celebrate the program’s 50-year existence, and more than 75 wrestlers from seasons past, along with eight former coaches, were on hand for the occasion.
