What was already a great start for the CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt wrestling team turned even greater last Wednesday night, when it took on traditional powerhouse Phoenix and took the Firebirds down by a 51-25 margin.
CBA/J-D arrived with all kinds of confidence in the wake of its 5-0 sweep through the Dec. 3 Morrisville-Eaton Duals. It beat host M-E 61-30, routed Walton/Delhi 67-9, handled Vernon-Verona-Sherrill 58-25 and nearly shut out Cazenovia in an 81-4 romp.
The closest match, though, saw CBA/J-D hold off East Syracuse Minoa 44-36, a match not settled until the next-to-last bout at 113 pounds, where Matt Griffin took just 38 seconds to pin the Spartans’ Donovan Marriott.
It had started at 126 pounds, when Garrett Bauer pinned Michael Cox in 3:44 and Tyler Kellison (132 pounds) took five more seconds to pin Jack Meloing. Brian Martin, at 138 pounds, got past Joe Regan 12-4 before Jonah Cavallo won a tough 145-pound match over Garren Kuney.
Jeff Loder got ESM on the board at 152 pounds with a 52-second fall over Alikhan Abdulayev, but CBA/J-D countered with wins from Brandon Milham (160 pounds), who beat Aslan Abdulla 14-8, and Zach Langdon (170 pounds), who rolled past Matt Lewis 12-1.
Then the Spartans began its main push when Darian Crossman, at 182 pounds, beat Adam Honis thanks to a disqualification, and Joe Monteleone (195 pounds) followed with a 30-second pin over Chris Pappas. Then Chris Todd (220 pounds) pinned Othman El-Hindi in 1:27 and Ameer Ladd (285 pounds) claimed a forfeit.
All of this gave ESM a 30-26 lead, but it had to forfeit at 99 pounds (to David BeSeth) and 106 pounds (to Myles Griffin) before Matt Griffin’s clinching fall, though Alex Leo did win at 120 pounds for the Spartans, pining Chris Grabda in the third period.
ESM rebounded from this to beat Onondaga last Tuesday night, and then CBA/J-D took its turn against Phoenix, coached by wrestling legend Gene Mills, and lost two of the first three bouts, with Honis getting his side on the board with a 14-0 shutout of Noah Scruton.
But starting at 220, when Pappas beat Josh Sutliffe 7-2, CBA/J-D won eight consecutive bouts. El-Hindi pinned Brandon Mironti in the third period as BeSeth got a 15-0 technical fall over Jeff Cooper and Myles Griffin pinned Jacob Cooper in 66 seconds.
Ethan Wells, taking his turn at 113, got past Mason Watkins 6-2, with Matt Griffin moving up to 120 to match his brother with his own 66-second fall over Seth Watkins. Bauer won when Toby McKeen had to default due to injury and Kellison pinned Colton Winks in the second period. Cavallo capped the night with a pin over Jesse Clark in 2:29.
While CBA/J-D basked in that big win over Phoenix, ESM had another match to deal with, traveling to West Genesee on Thursday night and taking a 57-27 defeat to the Wildcats.
Loder opened at 152 with an 80-second pin over Aminel Mbekelu, but WG took the next three bouts before Monteleone pinned Chandler McAvan in 84 seconds. Ladd also had a first-period fall in less than 90 seconds as he pinned Michael Mesa.
Of the eight remaining bouts, though, the Spartans won just two of them, a forfeit to Marriott at 113 and Melong beating Ian Blanchford 5-1.
Fayetteville-Manlius had opened Dec. 3 with a 2-3 record in the APW/Pulaski Duals, beating Institute of Technology Central 42-36 and Jordan-Elbridge 63-24 during that meet while taking defeats to Skaneateles (51-30), Liverpool (56-27) and host APW/Pulaski (43-34).
But the Hornets’ match at Mexico on Thursday night was snowed out, so it had to wait until Saturday’s Cortland Duals to resume action. F-M struggled at Cortland, unable to knock off the host Purple Tigers nor beat Vestal, Beacn, Pittsford or Fulton, who won the tournament with a 5-0 mark.
In this week’s action, CBA/J-D visits another traditional power, Mexico, before going to the North Country Invitational Friday and Saturday at Indian River. ESM competes in the Brett Dixon Memorial Duals at Central Square after a trip to Cato-Meridian on Wednesday as F-M hosts Liverpool Wednesday and then competes in the Phoenix Round Robin on the weekend.