Liverpool — Once more, the neighborhood rivalry between Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse flared up, this time on the wrestling mat, where the two had their annual head-to-head match Thursday night on the Warriors’ home mat.
And it proved a success for Liverpool, who more than doubled the Northstars’ total and, by winning eight consecutive bouts, put things away early in a 56-25 victory.
Only once did C-NS lead, after the 126-pound opener, where Shane McDonald won a 7-3 decision over Ryan Blowers, but starting with Jerry Nash’s 11-1 victory over 132-pound opponent Jacob Hall, the Warriors took over.
Audey Ashkar, who became the Liverpool program’s all-time leader in mat wins during the Leo J. Sammon Tournament at Central Valley on Jan. 8, added to that win total here, pinning Nick Gazzillo in 58 seconds in their 138-pound bout before Dylan Wallace (145 pounds) blanked Anthony Desimone 8-0.
Will Ronan continued the Warriors’ roll at 152 pounds, pinning Troy Mista early in the second period before Zach Curcie (160 pounds) took 2:57 to pin Julian Zavaglia, and three more Liverpool pins would follow.
At 170 pounds, Jalen Barron finished off Landry Rogers in 64 seconds, while it took just 45 seconds for Jack Ragonese (182 pounds) to pin Will Musick. Nick Thomas ended this run at 195 pounds when he pinned Jack McDonald late in the third period.
Only at 220 pounds did C-NS begin to recover, thanks to Chris St. Denny, who handled Brad Depan 12-2 before Christian Anoceto (285 pounds) pinned Wyatt Kyle in 1:44. Also for the Northstars, Nathan Osborne (106 pounds) got a 38-second fall over Corey Okun and Travis Harrington (113 pounds) pinned Steve Pascarella in 1:08.
Even with that, though, the Warriors added to its toal at 99 pounds when Christian Bradshaw pinned Devan Flood midway through the second period, and Sean Nadeau closed out the match at 120 pounds with a fall over Zach Sweeney 10 seconds before the first period ended.
continued — Two nights (and one snowstorm) earlier, C-NS had a non-league match against visiting Cazenovia, and with a full roster and solid performances throughout the night, the Northstars rolled to a 60-19 victory over the Lakers.
Right after the opener at 285, where Anoceto lost, 1-0, to Kevin Frega, C-NS got three straight forfeits to Flood, Osborne and Jacob Montminy (113 pounds), and in the next contested bout, Harrington, moving up to 120, handled Will Shephard 12-3.
Gazzillo earned the Northstars’ next win at 138, edging Patrick Nourse 4-2, the start of five straight C-NS victories. Josh Bigford, at 160, followed forfeits to Desimone and Mista by getting a 21-6 technical fall over Dominick King.
Moving to 170, Rogers pinned Christian Winkler in 3:28. To close out the night, McDonald claimed a forfeit and St. Denny waited until the last three seconds of the second period to get his fall over Evan Duskee.
This busy week for C-NS would conclude Saturday at the Cazenovia Invitational facing, among others, the very same Lakers it did back on Tuesday. The Northstars earned 94 points, taking seventh place in the 16-team field as Indian River, with 183 points, prevailed.
Among the Northstars, Harrington got close to the title at 113, dropping a 2-1 decision to Groton’s Garrett Lockwood. St. Denny reached the finals, at 220, where he lost to Homer’s Dylan Hotchkiss in a first-period fall. Osborne beat his teammate, Montminy, 2-0, to finish third at 106 as Gazzillo was fourth at 160, while Anoceto pinned Homer’s Reno Gaffney in 2:30 for fifth place at 285. Dario Cicciarelli finished sixth at 99.
Liverpool, meanwhile, went to the large Red Devil Invitational at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, where Central Valley again was in the field. Out of 23 teams entered, the Warriors, with 93 points, claimed seventh place, with Camden climbing to the top spot by earning 167.5 points.
continued — Ashkar supplied Liverpool’s lone title, at 132, where he beat Brent Sawyer (Mexico) 15-4 and edged Ryan Zawtocki (Dolgeville) 4-3 to reach the final, where he dominated Windsor’s Nick Kennedy, finishing off a technical fall midway through the third period.
Nadeau reached the title bout at 120 before a 4-0 defeat to Galway’s Dillan Palaszewski made him settle for second place. Thomas was third at 182, pinning Warrensburg’s Cody Ewald midway through the second period of the consolation bracket final for that spot as Bradshaw was fourth at 99. Wallace and Barron each had sixth-place finishes.
C-NS is again the host for this Saturday’s Section III Dual Meet, which draws the top 16 teams from the section into a single-elimination tournament. Liverpool drew the no. 7 seed and meets no. 10 seed Holland Patent in the first round, looking to advance to a quarterfinal against General Brown or Canastota.
