Though most of the area’s wrestling teams were already into their holiday breaks on Dec. 23, Cazenovia and Chittenango were not, still with matches to take care of before they could rest.
The Lakers hosted Cicero-North Syracuse at Buckley Gym and lost, 63-21, to the Northstars, while the Bears had a much closer call against Sherburne-Earlville, but still fell to the Marauders 39-36.
No bout between Chittenango and S-E was contested below 145 pounds. Each side claimed three forfeits, with Peyton Denney (99 pounds), Blayde DeBlieux (106 pounds) and Devin Myers (138 pounds) prevailing for the Bears without having to take the mat.
Those eight contested bouts were split, too. Chittenango had Antonio Cutrie, at 220 pounds, pin Colby Splavin in 38 seconds, with Connor Fredericks (182 pounds) needing just 80 secodns to pin Caleb Hill.
Robert Shepard (160 pounds) and Cory Fredericks (195 pounds) won, too, but they could only get three points from decisions as Shepard blanked Hunter Zbychiewski 6-0 and Fredericks handled Tanner Campbell 10-4.
S-E, meanwhile, had three of its mat victories come from falls. The only exception was a pivotal 170-pound bout where the Bears’ Isaiah Prado was close, but lost, 7-6, to Ethan Eldred, when any decision for Prado would have given Chittenango the team match.
Cazenovia could not get as close against C-NS, only having to forfeit two of 15 bouts, but having the Northstars build a 33-0 lead, only getting close at 106 when Stan Angus lost, 6-2, to Dan Sweeney.
That ended the C-NS string as Jacob Wells, at 113 pounds, pinned Eric Salenski midway through the third period. Two C-NS pins followed before Will Shephard, at 132 pounds, required 75 seconds to pin Shane MacDonald. In one fewer seconds, Will Khalil (138 pounds) pinned Jeff. St. Denny and, at 145, Matt McLaughlin earned an 8-4 decision over Jacob Hall.
From there, the Lakers would rest until a Jan. 4 meet at Port Byron. Chittenango would compete Tuesday and Wednesday in the Kenneth Haines Memorial Tournament at SUNY-Oswego.
