The most successful wrestler in the history of the Cazenovia wrestling program is getting a big honor.
Lee Avery was chosen as one of six members of the Class of 2016 for the Section III Wrestling Hall of Fame, joining wrestlers Mike Catania (Cicero-North Syracuse) and Dan Lang (Baldwinsville), plus coach Joe Campo (Frankfort-Schuyler) and contributors Brad Hamer and Jack Romagnoli.
Together, they will get inducted at the sectional Hall of Fame dinner that takes place next Nov. 6 at Borio’s restaurant in Cicero.
Avery is just the second man to earn this honor from the Cazenovia program, joining 2006 inductee Rich Morse. Of the eight sectional titles won by Laker wrestlers, Avery has three of them, earned at 95 pounds in 1965 and ’66, and 103 pounds in 1967.
Turning back to the current Cazenovia team, a tough opening month would include a visit from its namesakes who had raced to the front of the Onondaga High School League Liverty division.
Skaneateles would clash with Cazenovia on Dec. 17 at Buckley Gym, and with some wrestlers still not fully healed from football, the hosts could not hold on to the early lead it built in a 54-22 defeat to that other group of Lakers.
They opened at 120 pounds, where Will Shephard dominated Christian Daley in an 11-2 victory. Zach Maxwell (126 pounds) followed by outscoring Nevan Rourke 11-9, and Will Khalil pinned his 132-pound opponent, Dan O’Connell, in 3:16.
When Paul McLaughlin, at 145 pounds, beat Matt Goetzmann 7-1, Cazenovia held a 16-6 lead, but it would not last. Skaneateles earned three pins and a forfeit in the next four bouts before Kevin Frega (195 pounds) pinned Josh O’Hara in 1:16. Then the visiting Lakers clinched it by claiming each of the last four matches, too, two of them forfeits and two of them pins.
Two days later, Cazenovia competed in the Sara Allen Memorial Duals at Groton, where it beat Marathon 54-18 and host Groton 50-19, but could not take the decisive match against Liverpool, falling to the Warriors 61-18.
Still, the meet against Liverpool had plenty of highlights, including Frega pinning Nick Thomas at 195 and Sam Deleon (126 pounds) getting a fall over Dylan Scott. Alex Curr, at 182, edged Jack Ragonese 2-0, while Evan Duskee (220 pounds) got past Zach Eason 2-1. Paul McLaughlin dropped a 3-2 decision to Dylan Wallace.
Prior to that, Cazenovia had seen Frega, Deleon, Maxwell, Christian Winkler (171 pounds), Paul McLaughlin and Patrick Nourse earn wins against Marathon, while in the Groton match Frega, Curr and Maxwell got falls and Khalil had a technical fall. Nourse won a 4-3 decision over Dione Martin.
On Wednesday night, Cazenovia lost, 48-15, to Camden. Only twice did the Lakers win a match on the mat, with Paul McLaughlin pinning John Mitchell late in the third period and Curr getting a 3-1 decision over Dan Birmingham. Maxwell took a 5-4 defeat to Colby Johnson and Frega lost, 6-2, to Brett Finch.
A busy stretch for Chittenango before the holiday break culminated with Wednesday’s home meet against Oswego – a bit ironic, since the Bears were going to SUNY-Oswego Monday and Tuesday for the Kenneth Haines Memorial Tournament.
But it began back on Dec. 16 with a 54-15 defeat to Sherburne-Earlville where Chittenango only forfeited one bout, but lost eight of the 10 contested matches to the Marauders, six of them by fall. (There were no bouts at 99 or 106).
Connor Fredericks, at 170, gained a mat victory for the Bears when he wore down Darren Knapp in a 17-2 technical fall, while Isaiah Prado (182 pounds) earned a 10-1 decision over Gerald Hicks and Mason Benedict (113 pounds) claimed a forfeit.
Two other times, the Bears got close to decisions. At 160, Tyler Daviau took a 4-3 defeat to Adam Aldrich, while at 195 pounds Cory Fredericks also lost by a single point, 3-2, to Walter Kiehn.
In the Dec. 19 Cuneen-Dunne Tournament at Walton-Delhi, the Bears finished eighth out of 14 sides with 108 points, which included Antonio Cutrie winning at 220, pinning Dylan Hotchkiss (Homer) in the last seconds of their semifinal before pinning William DePaolo (Eldred-Liberty-Sullivan West) in 1:43 in the title bout.
Connor Fredericks, at 170, pinned Patrick Burke (E-L-SW) in 59 seconds in their semifinal, but lost the final to Copenhagen’s McCaffrey Carroll 5-2. Cory Fredericks finished third at 182 when Walton’s Bailey Wood forfeited, while Abram Miles (285) pinned another Walton wrestler, Austin DeGraw, for fifth place in that weight class. Robert Shepard was sixth at 285.
When Chittenango faced Oswego on Wednesday, it handled the Buccaneers 50-12, with just 11 bouts on the card and three of them forfeited to Benedict, Prado and Alex Teeter (126).
But Connor and Cory Fredericks both earned pins, as did Cutrie, pinning Abram Miles in 2:24 and Abram Miles taking three more seconds to pin Sultan Ahmed. Eddie Houle (138) routed Jared LaSalle 12-1and Robert Shepard (160) beat Brian Lebron 13-1.