In a key early-season showdown in the CNY Counties League, the Liverpool wrestling team could not quite keep up with visiting Baldwinsville last Wednesday night, taking a 43-30 defeat to the Bees.
This followed the Warriors edging the Bees by half a point, 153,5 to 153.0, in the Dec. 17 Phoenix Round Robin. Zach Eason was Liverpool’s lone champion, at 220 pounds, shutting out West Genesee’s Ahmad Wady 7-0 in the finals.
Four other Warriors – Corey Okun (106 pounds), Jerry Nash (132 pounds), Dylan Wallace (138 pounds) and Will Ronan (170 pounds) – reached the finals, but did not win. Nash had a 3-0 defeat to Phoenix’s Ryan Dolbear, with Ronan falling to Fayetteville-Manlius’ Bryce Doane 6-3 and Wallace fell 8-3 to B’ville’s Jeremy Pond.
Steve Pascarella was third at 113 pounds, pinning Port Byron’s Gabe Newton early in the third period of the consolation bracket final. Zach Curcie (145 pounds), Mohammed Zahran (170 pounds) and John Sturtz (182 pounds) each finished fourth in Phoenix, with Aiden Connor beating Evan Burns for fifth place at 126 pounds and Nick Paganelli (152 pounds) edging F-M’s Dylan Fort 6-5 for his own fifth-place finish.
Meanwhile, Cicero-North Syracuse was at West Genesee, and while it did well in the lightest and heaviest weight classes, the Northstars dropped every bout from 132 to 170 pounds, which made the difference in a 39-36 defeat to the Wildcats.
Of those seven bouts from 132 to 170 that WG won, only one of them was close, a 132-pound battle where C-NS’s Shane McDonald yielded a single escape, and that made the difference in a 1-0 defeat to WG’s Ian Blachford.
Otherwise, Vito Melfi (138), Anthony DeSimone (152 ) and Nick Gazzillo (160 pounds) suffered losses in lopsided decisions, while Jacob Hall (145) and Robert Salvett (170) were pinned.
C-NS did have some strong moments, though, including Nathan Osborne needing just 39 seconds to pin 120-pound opponent Patrick Ivery before Zach Sweeney, at 126, pinned Tanner Buza near the end of the second period.
Three other Northstars earned pins in the higher weight classes. Christian Anoceto, at 285 pounds, needed just 77 seconds to finish off Michael Mesa, with Julian Zavaglia (182) pinned Jarryd Souffant 46 seconds into the second period and Jeremiah Butler (220) needing 3:06 to pin Ahmad Wady.
The reason why it was so close was because C-NS got six full points from its six wins, requiring WG to win nine times for its 39 points. Close decisions hurt the Northstars, for the most part, as Dario Ciciarelli (99 pounds) fell to Nate Wade 4-3, with Jack McDonald (195 pounds) getting a 3-0 defeat to Chandler McAvan.
