In the most important four-day stretch of its season, the Baldwinsville wrestling team would try to attain the CNY Counties League regular-season title and then go up against the top-seeded team in the area during the Section III Dual Meet at Cicero-North Syracuse.
The Bees and Liverpool squared off Wednesday night at the Baker High School gym, A large crowd, along with the Bees’ well-renowned pep band, added to the atmosphere, and B’ville, with a well-timed heavyweight sweep and a clinching pin from Kevin Lewis, rallied to beat the Warriors 37-28.
They started at 132 pounds, trading victories in each of the first eight bouts – Liverpool getting one, B’ville answering. Jeremy Pond (138 pounds) got the Bees on the board, topping Jerry Nash 6-2, while David Rush (152 pounds) got a 9-3 decision over Zach Curcie. Tyler Patrick (132) and Tom Fuzia (145) took losses to, respectively, Dylan Wallace and Audey Ashkar.
A close 160-pound bout saw Spencer Woods fall to Will Ronan 5-4, but Thor Sutphen (170 pounds) beat Jack Ragonese 8-3, keeping the Bees within range until, trailing 15-9 in the wake of John Petrelli’s 3-1 overtime defeat to Jalen Barron, it streaked in front with three straight wins.
At 195 pounds, Dan Wicks earned the first pin for either team that night, finishing off Nick Thomas in 61 seconds. Then, at 220 pounds, Alex Bowen handled Zach Eason 12-4, with Mike Spicer (285 pounds) getting his own first-period fall over Brady Dean in 1:49 to extend the Bees’ lead to 25-15.
That didn’t last, either, since B’ville had to forfeit at 99 pounds and Jacob Cavallo (106 pounds) lost, 8-0, to Christian Bradshaw. Even when Zach Hahn (113 pounds) earned a third-period fall over Steve Pascarella, it wasn’t over, because Jake Naples (120 pounds) took a 1-0 overtime defeat to Sean Nadeau.
Thus, it was up to Lewis, in the 126-pound finale, to make sure of the league title with any sort of victory over Ryan Blowers. Quickly, Lewis took control, and 20 seconds into the second period he flipped Blowers for the clinching pin.
Now it was on to the sectional Dual Meet. Originally, B’ville had a no. 11 seed, but point adjustments plunged it all the way to a no. 16 seed – and to a first-round match against top seed General Brown, who had prevailed 42-31 over the Bees at the Lions’ dual meet on Dec. 12.
Here, the results were nearly similar, but B’ville lost again, this one a 38-24 decision where the issue was in doubt until the last two bouts.
They opened at 138, where Pond lost, 5-2, to Scott Bluto before John Eustice (145 pounds) countered with a 7-2 win over Ricci Natali. Rush claimed a forfeit and B’ville went in front, 9-3, only to give it up when Alex Candee (160) got pinned and Sutphen took a 4-0 defeat to Connor Snow.
Answering again, the Bees saw Petrelli edge Gavin Kovalik 4-1 and Bowen, at 195, beat Jacob Joanette 9-4, giving the Bees a 15-12 advantage, which lasted only until Dan Wicks (220) lost an 11-8 classic to Riccardo Dawkins and it had to forfeit at 285.
Trailing 21-15, B’ville got even again when Cavallo pinned Corey O”Connor late in the first period, but it would only win one of the last four bouts, when Naples beat Justin Murray 9-3. Hahn dropped a 10-7 battle to Matt McMananan and Lewis also was close in a 2-0 defeat to Cody Fields.
General Brown went on to lose in the quarterfinals to Central Valley Academy. Adirondack, the no. 2 seed, ended up with the Dual Meet title the first in program history, with the Wildcats ironically going through Liverpool 41-27 in the quarterfinals before topping Camden 54-24 in the semifinals and edging Fulton 35-32 in the championship round.
Meanwhile, B’ville wrestles just one more regular-season match, at Canastota on Wednesday, before getting ready for the post-season that commences Feb. 5 at Liverpool, when the Section III Class AA meet is held.
