The occasion of a local rivalry was plenty of reason for the Liverpool wrestling team to stay focused in between important tournaments.
Having gone all the way to the Section III Dual Meet semifinal on Jan. 24 before falling to eventual champion Mexico, the Warriors went back to Cicero-North Syracuse last Wednesday for its regular-season finale, this time for a head-to-head match with the Northstars that Liverpool easily won by a 66-21 margin.
Just one of the first seven bouts was contested, at 170 pounds, where C-NS’s Anthony Carella pinned Jalen Barron. But the Northstars had to forfeit the other six bouts.
Thus, Peter Nash (145 pounds), Anthony Richardson (152 pounds), Zach Khatib (160 pounds), Jack Ragonese (182 pounds), Nathaniel Knox (195 pounds) and Alan Cary (220 pounds) earned 36 points between them without taking the mat.
Action resumed at 285 pounds, where David Carnie pinned Jared Hemingway. Then C-NS had its best stretch, as David Cicciarelli (99 pounds) pinned Christian Bradshaw, Ray Sorensen (106 pounds) did the same to Corey Okun and Joe Barber (120 pounds) won a tough 10-5 match over Sean Nadeau.
With a short-handed roster, C-NS had to forfeit three more bouts to Audey Ashkar (126 pounds), Anthony Ianno (132 pounds) and Devin Delia (138 pounds), but Liverpool’s Peter Nash did wrestle at 145 pounds, and pinned Nick Gazzillo to close out the night.
Liverpool, due to all the forfeits in the C-NS match, had most of its top wrestlers get two full weeks of rest before they sought to claim the Section III Class AA championship this Saturday at Baker High School in Baldwinsville. The Warriors finished third, and C-NS second, behind B’ville a year ago. Top finishers advance to the Feb. 14 overall sectional meet at SRC Arena.
