Just up the road – at SRC Arena, to be specific – wrestlers from Marcellus and West Genesee took to the mats in pursuit of Section III championships on Saturday, only finding a small amount of success.
In Division II (small schools), the Mustangs had a large contingent, with Ben Hood the top qualifier as the no. 6 seed at 132 pounds. And Hood would make it to the podium, edging Mason Warner (Morrisville-Eaton) 5-4 and surviving a 7-5 overtime quarterfinal with Ryan Zawtocki (Dolgeville) to make it to the semifinals.
Hood lost that semifinal to Herkimer’s T.J. Phillpotts 5-3 and fell to Hunter Shaut (Central Valley Academy) 10-2 in the consolation bracket, but earned fifth place when his last opponent, Cortland’s Kiegan Brown, had to default due to injury.
Alex Czerniak was the no. 7 seed at 113 pounds, with a 29-8 record going into the meet, and got his 30th win over Greg Hawuczyk (Port Byron) with a second-period pin before a quarterfinal loss to Mexico’s Austin O’Reilly and a 4-3 defeat to Adirondack’s Sean Banks
Riley Donovan, at 120 pounds, carried a 33-5 record into the sectional tournament, and while he added to the win total by edging Beau Burke (Morrisville-Eaton) 1-0, he lost in the quarterfinals to CVA’s C.J. Walz and then lost to Adirondack’s Brandon Gaylord.
At 126 pounds, Sam Rice lost, 16-4, to Phoenix’s Zach Carlson
Nick Distefano wrestled at 145 pounds, running into South Jefferson’s Holden Pelton and taking a 6-2 defeat. Kern Linder made it to the sectional meet at 220 pounds, only to take a first-period defeat to Chittenango’s Antonio Cutrie. Corey Garvey (160 pounds) had a similar result, falling to Mexico’s Brandon Gracey in a second-period pin.
West Genesee would see Liam Kotas contend as the no. 4 seed at 160 pounds. Entering the meet with a 24-7 record, Kotas beat East Syracuse Minoa’s Alex Regan 16-9, but lost in the semifinal to Watertown’s Desean Williams 7-1 as Williams went on to win the title.
Mike Linton, as the no. 5 seed at 145, started with a second-period technical fall over ESM’s Eric Randazzo, but lost in the quarterfinals to Rome FreeAcademy’s Spencer Newman. A win in the consolation bracket over Matt Sandvill (Carthage) 13-2 was followed by a defeat to Baldwinsville’s David Rush and a defeat to Whitesbor’s Aiden Nimey that left Linton in sixth place.
Zach Valerino also got sixth place at 220 pounds, losing to Mike Spicer (Baldwinsville) 7-3, but then pinning Tyler Seoane (Central Square) in 3:14 and putting up lots of points against Oswego’s Zac Caruso in a 21-13 battle and a 6-4 defeat to Cicero-North Syracuse’s Chris St. Denny.
Cole Wade appeared at 126 pounds for the Wildcats, taking a second-period defeat to RFA’s Wally Wright. Meanwhile, Patrick Ivery, at 99 pounds, lost to the eventual runner-up, Indian River’s Colin Patterson, who finished second.
Griffin Sasso and Kris Guglielmo both wrestled at 170 pounds, with Sasso overwhelmed by eventual champion Sonny McPherson. Randall Ouimet, at 195 pounds, took a 41-second defeat to Baldwinsville’s Alex Bowen, also an eventual champion.
