As a junior, Fayetteville-Manlius wrestler Tristan Broddus reached a new pinnacle in his career when he won the 2014 Section III Division I championship at 145 pounds.
Now, as a senior, Broddus wants more – and will have a chance at it when he returns to Albany’s Times Union Center on Feb. 27-28 for his second crack at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association tournament.
This came after Broddus repeated his sectional 145-pound title last Saturday at SRC Arena, never getting a serious challenge as he improved his record to 32-1 this winter, his lone defeat coming to Mexico’s Austin Whitney at the Kenneth Haines Tournament Dec. 27 in Oswego.
From the top seed, Broddus got going by beating CBA/Jamesville-Dewitt’s Jake Wright 14-6 in the quarterfinals, after which he nearly got a technical fall against Baldwinsville’s Brian Rush in the semifinals, but still won big 20-7.
The championship bout pitted Broddus against Watertown’s Zach Hunt. It was close until the second period, when a series of takedowns and other moves gave Broddus a 9-3 cushion, and he went on to a comfortable 17-6 decision to earn a second straight sectional championship.
Three other wrestlers from CBA/J-D and East Syracuse Minoa also got to the final round, but none of them would win.
CBA/J-D’s Matt Griffin sprung an upset at 99 pounds, knocking off the top seed, New Hartford’s Lucas King, 2-0 in the semifinals, only to meet Fulton’s Joe Abelgore in the finals and never get on the board, Abelgore earning a technical fall in the third period. Griffin’s teammate, Garrett Bauer, lost in the consolation bracket.
Meanwhile, at 113 pounds, Tyler Kellison nearly matched what Griffin did, rising from a no. 4 seed to knock off top seed Joe Barber (Cicero-North Syracuse) 13-6 in the semifinals, but he, like Griffin, ran out of steam in the finals against New Hartford’s Ian McKenna, taking an 11-0 defeat.
ESM’s Sam Legro made a big push for the 160-pound title. Legro surprised the no. 3 seed, Liverpool’s Zach Khatib, 3-2, and then pinned the no. 2 seed, Central Square’s Phoenix Webb, in the third period of the semifinal.
But then Legro ran into Webb’s Redhawks teammate, Jarrett Norton, in the finals, and Norton pinned Legro in 48 seconds. Still, Legro improved to 27-8 on the season.
At 182 pounds, CBA/J-D’s Dan Knapp reached the semifinals and lost, 13-5, to West Genesee’s Dalton Elias, the top seed. As Elias went on to win, Knapp pinned Nahjir Dean (Institute of Technology Central) in the consolation bracket, and then edged Carthage’s Bryce Reed 3-1 for a third-place finish.
Jonah Cavallo won twice in the consolation bracket at 132 pounds, only to take a narrow 3-2 defeat to B’ville’s Jeremy Pond and settle for fourth place. Ethan Palmer, beaten in the 195-pound quarterfinal, rallied to pin Auburn’s Julian Bernard for a fifth-place podium finish.
Shane Smith finished sixth at 120 pounds, getting his lone win when he topped Central Square’s Mike Monica 12-6. Cole Murphy fell in the 138-pound quarterfinal, as did ESM’s Jeff Loder.
The Spartans did have Mason Hausler get to sixth place at 220 pounds, where CBA/J-D’s Nolan Barth lost in the quarterfinals, while Alex Regan wrestled at 145, where Broddus won, and lost in the first round 12-4 to Watertown’s Nick Lavin.
F-M also saw Mukhtar Qubaisy win in the first round over Indian River’s Chris Davis 9-4, but lose in the quarterfinals. Ben Nosovitch lose his opening-round bout at 106 pounds to B’ville’s Jake Naples, and Jack Kinsella did the same at 126 pounds to Fulton’s Mitchell Woodworth, the eventual champion, where CBA/J-D’s Justin Harris lost in the quarterfinals.
