The last day of November saw the first mat action for the West Genesee wrestling team in the 2016-17 season.
Hosting Central Square last Wednesday night, the Wildcats had to wait through eight bouts before finally getting on the board, and while it did recover a bit, WG still lost, 55-21, to the Redhawks.
They opened at 220 pounds, where the Wildcats’ Ahmad Wady was competitive in a 7-3 defeat to Jordan Pone. And that was the closest of the eight straight wins for Central Square, two of them forfeits.
Patrick Ivery (120 pounds), Tanner Buza (126 pounds) and Ian Blachford (132 pounds) each lasted the full six minutes, with Ivery having the closet call, a 10-0 loss to Peyton Rupracht.
Finally, at 138 pounds, WG’s Brady Ryan got his team on the board, pulling out a 12-6 decision over Casey Brennan. Devin Earl followed up at 145 pounds by pinning Nick Ackley in 83 seconds.
And two more pins would follow in the late going to boost the Wildcats’ point total. Victor Elias, at 160 pounds, needed just 73 seconds to finish off Caden Rupracht, with Griffin Sasso following up at 170 pounds with a pin over Matt Lewis near the end of the second period.
Jordan-Elbridge opened its season a night later, against East Syracuse Minoa, and took a 60-27 defeat to the Spartans, the Eagles unable to gain a point in any bout from 170 pounds upward, ESM claiming all of them by pins.
However, J-E earned two pins of its own. Landry LaFleur, at 160 pounds, took 51 seconds to finish off Daud Abdullayev, while Marion Quigley (138 pounds) had his own first-period fall over Joe Regan. Alex Parkolap, at 145 pounds, edged past Garren Kuney 7-6, while Jessi Tripp (99 pounds) and Jared Alpha (106 pounds) claimed forfeits.
It was on Saturday that Marcellus wrestled for the first time this winter, competing in the “More Than a Game” Duals at Chittenango that raised money for Upstate-Golisano Children’s Hospital.
The Mustangs went 4-1, starting out with a 53-27 win over the host Chittenango Bears where Josh Widrick (138 pounds) opened with a second-period pin over Alex Teeter, with Casey Ezzo (152 pounds) edging Barrett Hoyt 7-5 and Robbie Seeley (160 pounds) getting a 16-1 technical fall over Tyle rDaviau.
Later, Corey Garvey, at 195 pounds, edged Cory Fredericks 7-5, with Noah Carbone (106 pounds) taking just 73 second s to pin Peyton Denney. Otherwise, a series of forfeits helped Marcellus pull away.
From there, the Mustangs went on to top Homer 49-24, rout Whitney Point 68-3 and handle Galway 58-13, leading to the finals against Newark Valley (Section IV), the match proving quite close until the Cardinals, at the wire, edged Marcellus 39-36. Riley Donovan, at 126 pounds, was named the Mustangs’ Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Meanwhile, West Genesee was in the Blue Devils Duals at Cato-Meridian, and finished second in that tournament, with Earl as his team’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. J-E took part it the APW/Pulaski Duals before meeting the Wildcats early this week.
