Wrestling teams from Marcellus and West Genesee went to two different venues for Saturday’s Section III class championships, finding varying measures of success.
Competing in the Class B sectional meet at Mexico, Marcellus earned 104 points, putting them in eighth in a tough 12-team field where Phoenix (203.5 points) edged Central Valley Academy (197.5 points) for the top spot.
Eight different Mustangs reached the awards podium, but none of them won.
Zach Ruggles got close at 126 pounds, blanking two Cortland wrestlers, Ian George (7-0) and Kiegan Brown (1-0), and then claiming a 10-9 classic over top seed Austin Vanderhoof (Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) in the semifinals, all of which wore out Ruggles before a final where CVA’s Tanner Cook pinned him in the first period.
Kevin Morrissey, wrestling at 170 pounds, won three close decisions – 10-6 over Austin Kellogg (South Jefferson), 9-7 over Alex Curr (Cazenovia) and 8-6 over Chad Finch (Camden) – to get to the finals, where Mexico’s Trevor Allard, the 2014 state champion at 160 pounds, would pin him, leaving Morrissey in second place.
Nate Long, who lost, 10-9, to VVS’s Sean Galla in the 160-pound quarterfinal, recovered with three straight victories, including a pin over Camden’s Dillon Hickey and an 8-5 decision over Hickey’s teammate, J.P. Musschio, before winning a rematch with Galla 10-3 for third place.
Sam Rice ran into Mexico star Hunter Howland in the 120-pound semifinals and took a 10-2 defeat, eventually reaching the consolation bracket final, where he lost, 3-0, to Phoenix’s Hunter Dolbear, leaving Rice to settle for fourth place.
Ben Hood matched Rice’s fourth-place finish, at 132 pounds, losing in the quarterfinals, but then winning twice in the consolation bracket before a 9-3 defeat to VVS’s Bryce Cipollone in the third-place bout.
Cahal Donovan, at 99 pounds, lost in the semifinals and eventually beat Mexico’s Dean Shambo in a 6-0 shutout for fifth place. Riley Donovan took a defeat in the 113-pound quarterfinal before recovering to beat Cazenovia’s Will Shephard 8-4 for fifth place.
Alex Czerniak made his way to sixth place at 106 pounds. Corey Garvey, at 182 pounds, lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Jacob Woolson (Mexico). Nick Distefano lost his opening-round match at 138 pounds, as did Tristan Duger at 145 pounds.
Meanwhile, in the Class AA sectional tournament at Baldwinsville, West Genesee picked up 123.5 points to finish fifth in the nine-team field. Liverpool edged the hosts from B’ville by a single point, 239-238, to claim the sectional title.
Dalton Elias gave the Wildcats its big highlight by winning at 182. Elias pinned Mike Hamilton (Auburn) and shut out B’ville’s Jake Wicks 12-0 in the semifinals to reach a title bout against CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt’s Dan Knapp, and Elias controlled the final, beating Knapp 9-2.
Yvan Kouakou, wrestling at 152, got a technical fall over Bryce Doane (Fayetteville-Manlius) and edged Rome Free Academy’s Brendan Kilpatrick 5-4 to reach the finals, only to run into B’ville star Connor Ross and take a first-period fall.
Liam Kotas won his semifinal at 160 pounds over B’ville’s Thor Sutphen, 14-9, setting up a final against Liverpool’s Zach Khatib, who pulled out a 4-2 decision.
It was also close at 170 pounds, where WG’s Shayne Middleton pinned Anthony Carella (Cicero-North Syracuse) in 1:37 to reach the championship round, where Middleton ran into Liverpool’s Jalen Barron and lost an active bout by an 11-7 margin.
Cole Wade was third at 106, pinning CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt’s Aaron Gucciardi in the consolation bracket final with 20 seconds left in their bout.
At 285, Ethan Coates, in the consolation bracket, beat teammate Zach Valerino 3-1 and then pinned C-NS’s Jared Hemingway for third place, while Valerino beat CBA/J-D’s Ramy Guindy 8-4 to finish fift. Mike Lynton was sixth at 132, while Victor Elias (145) lost his quarterfinal to the eventual champion, F-M’s Tristan Broddus.
Many of these wrestlers will go to SRC Arena on Saturday for the Section III championships, looking for berths in the Feb. 27-28 state meet in Albany. Bouts start at 10 a.m.
