Now it’s the Liverpool wrestling team’s turn to host the Section III Class AA championship meet following years of travel to other venues, including Cicero-North Syracuse and Baldwinsville.
When action starts Saturday at 10 a.m., the Warriors will look to wrest the sectional team crown from Baldwinsville and avenge its narrow Jan. 20 defeat to the Bees, and also try and put behind them what happened when it went to Central Valley Academy last Wednesday and lost, 48-16, to the Thunder.
Each side had wrestled Jan. 23 in the sectional Dual Meet, with CVA beating top seed General Brown and reaching the semifinals before a narrow defeat to Fulton. Now, the Thunder got to show the Warrriors just how good it was.
Audey Ashkar opened at 138 pounds with a 10-1 victory over David Bardo, but then CVA won the next four bouts, including two pins and a technical fall. Only Zach Curcie (152 pounds) went the full six minutes, but lost, 12-4, to Collin Treen.
Nick Thomas, wrestling at 182 pounds, edged Jacob Wheet 5-4, with Brady Depan (285 pounds) pulling out a 2-1 decision over Maximo Pena. Meanwhile, Jack Ragonese (195 pounds) lost, 7-4, to Nate Case, with Zach Eason (220 pounds) taking a 5-2 defeat to Gunar Holmberg.
Late in the meet, Christian Bradshaw, at 99 pounds, shut out Marek Bush 3-0, while Jerry Nash (132 pounds) gained a 6-1 victory over Hunter Shaut. In between those wins, though, Sean Nadeau, at 120 pounds, lost a 3-2 battle to C.J. Walz.
Meanwhile, C-NS comes into the meet off a tough battle with CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt where it led with three bouts to go, only to see that advantage disappear down the stretch of a 44-36 defeat.
Chris St. Denny (220 pounds) got the Northstars on the board, pinning Chris Pappas near the end of the second period. Christian Anoceto (285 pounds) followed by claiming a 3-2 thriller over Ramy Guindy before CBA/J-D won the next three bouts, the closest at 99 pounds, where Dario Ciciarelli lost, 15-9, to Ethan Wells.
Travis Harrington broke that string at 120 pounds, and his pin over Aaron Gucciard in 1:48 began a run where C-NS won five of six bouts. Joe Mayers (126 pounds) edged Shane Smith 3-1, with Jacob Hall (132 pounds) taking 2:46 to pin Brian Martin.
When Nick Gazzillo (145 pounds) pinned Seth Blair in 2:30 and Josh Bigford, at 152 pounds, took just 65 seconds to pin Lucas Granan, C-NS owned a 36-26 lead. But CBA/J-D rallied late, handing pins to Javier Garcia (152 pounds), Landry Rogers (160 pounds) and William Musick (170 pounds) to clinch it.
C-NS went from there to a 51-21 defeat to Mexico two nights later, where the Tigers won every bout from 99 to 145 pounds. That included a pair of close calls where Nathan Osborne (106) dropped a 12-11 decision to Jared Gates and Gazzillo lost, 6-2, to Brent Sawyer.
Of the four C-NS mat wins, three were by forfeit to Rogers (170), Musick (182) and Anoceto (285), with only Bigford getting a win on the mat, topping Gary Monroe 12-1. St. Denny was close, but lost, 5-3, to Mike Ladd.
