In an exciting start to its 2016-17 season, the Liverpool wrestling team began with a close meet at East Syracuse Minoa that went back and forth before the Warriors held on late to beat the Spartans 39-37.
ESM began the meet with three consecutive victories. At 195 pounds, Joe Monteleone pinned John Sturtz, followed by Chris Todd (220 pounds) and Brendan Reed (285 pounds) each prevailing in tough decisions, Todd topping Zach Eason 8-5 and Reed edging Lochlan Fegley 8-6.
Those wins were needed, since the Warriors got forfeits at 99 pounds (to Hayley Delia) and 106 pounds (to Jeremy Ianno) before Corey Okun, at 113 pounds, got pinned by Donovan Marriott. Steve Pascarella (120 pounds) answered with an 8-3 decision over Alex Leo.
Michael Cox won at 126 pounds for the Spartans when Aiden Connor got disqualified, but pins by Jerry Nash (132 pounds) and Dylan Wallace (138 pounds) helped the Warriors regain the lead, Nash pinned Jack Melong and Wallace did the same against Joe Regan.
Still, the momentum kept shifting. The Spartans’ Garren Kuney pinned Nick Paganelli at 145 pounds before ESM’s top returning wrestler, Jeff Loder, claimed a 10-2 decision over Zach Curcie at 152 pounds to extend the Spartans’ lead to 34-27,
Three bouts remained, and Anthony Piscatelli (160 pounds) erased most of the Warriors’ deficit when he pinned Daud Abdullayev. When Josh Hemingway (170 pounds) pinned Matt Lewis, Liverpool led, 39-34.
All Will Ronan had to do in the 182-pound finale against Darian Crossman was avoid a pin or technical fall. Ronan did so, lasting all six minutes, and though Crossman claimed an 8-5 decision, the Warriors claimed the match.
Going to Saturday’s APW/Pulaski Duals, Liverpool kept on winning and swept to the team title by beating all five of its opponents, including romps over Fayetteville-Manlius, Jordan-Elbridge, Institute of Technology Central and the hosts from APW/Pulaski.
But the decisive match came when the Warriors defeated Skaneateles 48-27. It was the first time the Lakers, who went 21-0 a season ago, lost a head-to-head match since the 2014-15 season.
It helped, no doubt, that Skaneateles had to forfeit four bouts to Pascarella, Wallace (at 145), Eason and Brady Depan (285), while Liverpool surrendered just one forfeit, at 113 to J.W. Simmons. Still, the Warriors won half of the 10 contested matches, three of them pins.
Okun moved down to 106, and pinned Chris Choay in 95 seconds. Connor didn’t take as long as he moved up to 132 and took 70 seconds to pin Boaz Arold before Piscatelli pinned Josh O’Hara at the end of the first period. A wild 99-pound bout saw Hayley Delia hold off Hannah Drake 18-12, while Curcie won a tough 5-2 decision over James Leubner
Meanwhile, at Cicero-North Syracuse, Derek Bigford has made it known that, after the 2016-17 season, he is stepping down as Northstars wrestling coach following three decades at the Northstars’ helm.
During Bigford’s tenure, C-NS produced more than a dozen Section III champions, including Jeff Holmes, a second-place finisher in the 1997 state meet at 140 pounds. John Eschnfelder (third place, 1996, 177 pounds), Lou Chamoun (third place, 1997, 215 pounds) and Anthony Maiorano (sixth place, 2007, 119 pounds) also earned podium spots at the state meet.
Now, one more season for Bigford has begun, with C-NS hosting its annual Andersen Tournament on Saturday. In all, 18 teams participated, with the Northstars getting 14th place by earning 47.5 points. Baldwinsville (180 points) held off Spencerport (173.5 points) for the top spot as Lockport’s Steve Kapuscinski, the 152-pound champion, was named the meet’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Christian Anoceto made it to the semifinals at 285, only to fall to Spencerport’s Ryan Cottom in a tight 2-1 decision. Anoceto eventually finished fourth, matching Dylan Ciciarelli (99) for the best C-NS finish as Ciciarelli dropped a close 7-6 decision to another Spencerport wrestler, Seth Russo, in the consolation bracket final.
Nathan Osborne, at 120, and Jack McDonald, at 195, both claimed sixth-place finishes, McDonald only doing so after yet another one-point defeat as he fell to Auburn’s Michael Hamilton 1-0. Nick Gazzillo finished eighth at 152.
