When the Marcellus wrestling team went to Onondaga High School for last Saturday’s OHSL Liberty/Patriot championship meet, it did so as one of the favorites – and with local bragging rights secured.
The Mustangs clashed with West Genesee last Wednesday night in Camillus, and for 13 bouts neither side was able to break away – until a late technical fall by Ben Hood helped Marcellus pull away and top the Wildcats 47-36.
They traded pins at the outset, Nick Distefano (152 pounds) finishing off Mike Linton early in the third period, WG countering with Liam Kotas (160 pounds) getting his fall over Ryan Pierce late in the first period.
At 170 pounds, the Mustangs’ Nate Lukins beat Griffin Sasso 9-2 before Cory Garvey (182 pounds) pinned Kris Guglielmo midway through the second period. Though Shayne Middleton (195 pounds) pinned Matt Kazor in 57 seconds, Marcellus answered with Kern Linder (220 pounds) getting a tough 6-3 decision over Zach Valerino.
Then WG made its big move, helped by forfeits to Patrick Ivery (99 pounds) and Jordan Cushman (106 pounds), but also including Ethan Coates, at 285 pounds, pinning Alexsandr Popov in 1:49, which gave the Wildcats a 30-18 lead, but it would not last.
Alex Czerniak (113 pounds) began the Marcellus rally with a 69-second pin over Tanner Buza, and Riley Donovan (120 pounds) followed up with a second-period fall over Charlie Tran. Then Sam Rice took his turn at 126 pounds, pinning Cole Wade in 61 seconds.
Though WG stayed alive when Brady Ryan (132 pounds) pinned Josh Widrick in 3:11, the Mustangs clinched the title when Hood, wrestling at 138 pounds, got a 15-0 technical fall over Devin Earl, since Tristan Duger (145 pounds) was claiming a forfeit.
Taking that momentum to Onondaga, Marcellus won the Liberty division portion of the OHSL meet on Saturday, earning 231.5 points to fend off Skaneateles (186 points) and, to some degree, avenging its narrow 39-36 head-to-head loss to the rival Lakers back on Dec. 2.
Seven different Mustangs reached the finals, and four of them won. Czerniak took the title at 113 when he beat Skaneateles’ Christian Daley 3-1, with Donovan surviving a tough 120-pound final to top Cazenovia’s Will Khalil 4-3.
It was just as close at 132, where Hood wrestled and edged another Skaneateles star, Joey Brillo, 4-3, in the title bout, while Lukins prevailed at 170 when he claimed a 5-2 decision over Onondaga’s Dannell Trammell.
The other finals were close, too, with Rice, at 126, taking a 3-1 defeat to Hannibal’s Zach Williams, Linder falling 4-1 to Hannibal’s Robert Gage in the final at 220 and Popov, at 285, taking a 6-1 loss to OCS’s Nathan Briggs.
Distefano, at 145, and Duger, at 138, each got third-place finishes, with Garvey fourth at 182 and Josh Widrick fourth at 132. Sean Madden (152) and Robert Pierce (160) each had sixth-place efforts.
For Jordan-Elbridge, who was seventh in the 10-team field with 79.0 points, Alex Parkolap finished third at 132, edging Widrick 6-4 in the consolation bracket final. Anthony Ortiz took fourth place at 170, with Max Bondgren (195) and Taylor Rivenburgh (285) each earning sixth-place finishes.
Marcellus is headed for Adirondack for the Section III Class B championships this Saturday, while West Genesee takes part in the Class AA sectional meet at Liverpool. Each wants to advance wrestlers to the Feb. 12 overall sectional meet at SRC Arena.
