Add Dalton Elias to the list of wrestlers from West Genesee that have won Section III championships.
Elias defended his top seed and went all the way to the 182-pound Division I (large schools) championship Saturday at SRC Arena, earning a berth in the Feb. 27-28 New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships at Albany’s Times Union Center.
At 30-4 going into the sectional meet, Elias wanted to grab the first title for the Wildcats since Connor Grome won back-to-back titles in 2012 and ’13, and also hoped to atone for a semifinal defeat in this same event a year ago.
In the quarterfinals, Elias pinned Mukthar Qubaisy (Fayetteville-Manlius) in less than 90 seconds, leading to a semifinal against Dan Knapp (CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt), who he beat in the sectional Class A final a week earlier. And Elias won here, too, in an impressive 13-5 decision.
This led to the final, where Elias faced Central Square’s Isaac Havens. For a long while, Havens hung in there, only trailing 5-4 in the third period, but Elias used a pair of takedowns in the final minute to get away, claim a 9-5 decision and win the sectional crown.
Elsewhere for the Wildcats, Cole Wade, at 106 pounds, took fourth place, beating Nick Noel (Fulton) 5-2 before New Hartford’s Kalen McKenna pinned him on the way to the sectional title. Wade beat Andy Nicholson (Central Square) 4-0 in the consolation bracket.
Shayne Middleton lost in the quarterfinals at 170 pounds to Liverpool’s Jalen Barron in a narrow 4-3 decision, but beat Naujalic Walker (Institute of Technology Central) in the consolation bracket and finished sixth.
Yvan Kouakou (152 pounds) lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual champion, Central Square’s Blake Engebretson, while Liam Kotas (160 pounds) took his own quarterfinal defeat to New Hartford’s Kyle Kuty in a 6-4 decision. Ethan Coates (285 pounds) lost to Liverpool’s David Carnie, also in the quarterfinals.
Marcellus, who finished 16th out of 35 Division II (small schools) teams at its sectional meet, earned five spots on the podium, three of them fourth-place finishes.
Cahal Donovan, after losing his 99-pound semifinal to Cody Fields (General Brown) in a close 6-3 decision, went to the consolation bracket, where he beat Beau Burke (Morrisville-Eaton) 4-2, but lost the third-place match to Jon Charles (Central Valley Academy) 10-2. Fields went on to win.
At 132 pounds, Ben Hood overcame his 5-0 quarterfinal loss to Phoenix’s Brad Dietz by beating Dolgeville’s Daniel Fox 4-2 in overtime and edging Skaneateles’ Josh Brillo 1-0 to reach the consolation bracket final, where he ran into Lowville’s Connor Steria and lost, 11-0, but still took fourth place.
Finally, Nate Long, at 160 pound, was helped by a first-round bye as he beat Doug Simmons (Canastota) 3-1 before Holland Patent’s Alex Herringshaw pinned Long in the semifinals on his way to the sectional title. Long beat Jacob Olmstead (South Lewis) 5-1 to get to the third-place match, but got pinned there by General Brown’s Kyle O’Connor.
Zach Ruggles, after a close 5-3 quarterfinal defeat to Morrisville-Eaton’s Zach Burke in the 126-pound division, would beat Wyatt Dees (General Brown) 5-0 before a 1-0 defeat to Noah Handy (Dolgeville) left him short of the consolation bracket final. But Ruggles finished strong, beating Austin Parker (Port Byron/Union Springs) with a second-period pin for a fifth-place medal.
Kevin Morrissey’s exciting 10-9 win over Cato-Meridian’s Chris Wein followed a quarterfinal to 2014 state champion Trevor Allard (Mexico) and assured that Morrissey would finish sixth at 170 pounds.
Alex Czerniak (106 pounds) lost in the first round to Mexico’s Austin O’Reilly, who ended up in second place. Sam Rice (120 pounds) fell to Copenhagen’s Dempsey Carroll in a third-period pin.
