Even with the great start it had enjoyed, the CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt wrestling team knew that the path to the top of the OHSL Freedom division ran right through Fulton.

So when the two sides met last Wednesday night, much was at stake, and CBA/J-D traded blows most of the way before a late surge, plus a pair of forfeits, allowed the Red Raiders to prevail by a 37-25 margin.

They started at 138 pounds, with Brian Martin falling to Adam DeMauro 11-5, but Jonah Cavallo (145 pounds) got CBA/J-D on the board with a 5-2 decision over Nick Noel.

Those trades continued through the next four bouts, CBA/J-D twice answering Red Raiders wins as Jake Wright, at 160 pounds, pinned Jeshua Lopez midway through the second period and Adam Honis won at 182 pounds when Fulton’s Andrew Yablonski got disqualified.

In between them, though, Zach Langdon (170 pounds) took a close 5-4 defeat to Dylan DeMauro, so CBA’s lead stood at 15-10, which quickly vanished with a pair of forfeits to Samuel Jones (220 pounds) and Jared Crucitti (285 pounds).

Again, CBA/J-D recovered, with Myles Griffin, at 99 pounds, handling Sam Waldron 10-1 before Matt Griffin (106 pounds) won a tough 5-0 match over Tom Hughes to tie things up, 22-22, with four bouts left.

Fulton took the lead for good in a tough 113-pound bout where CBA/J-D’s Ethan Wells lost, 6-4, to Cole French. Andru Walts (120 pounds) pinned James Coon in 57 seconds and Wyatt Willis clinched it for the Red Raiders at 126 pounds with a close 4-2 decision over Tyler Kellison. Garrett Bauer (132 pounds) did close with a 4-1 win over Cuinn Burlingham.

Now it was on to the Fallen Heroes Tournament held Saturday at Canastota, where CBA/J-D had a strong showing and earned 233.5 points, finishing second behind the host Canastota Raiders, who prevailed with 250 points.

Myles Griffin shared Most Outstanding Wrestler honors with Newark Valley’s Gianno Silba, the 145-pound champion, having claimed the title at 99 when he defeated Honeoye Falls-Lima’s Anthony Noto in a tough 5-2 final.

Not to be outdone, Matt Griffin won at 106 by pinning Cato-Meridian’s Hunter White in 94 seconds. Kellison was triumphant at 126 after a tough 8-6 victory over Canastota’s Coby Stevens in the finals, and Bauer won at 132 when he claimed his title bout 5-2 over Ogdensburg’s Cordell David.

Wright reached the finals at 160, only to take a 5-2 defeat to Canastota’s Ben Marshall. Langdon, in the title bout at 170, got pinned by Chittenango’s Conner Fredericks and settled for second place.

Three times, CBA/J-D got to the consolation bracket finals and won them all. Wells did so at 106, pinning Adam Carlton (Ogdensburg) for third place as Kelvin Huynh (126) beat Carlton’s teammate, Zach Roberts, in yet another 5-2 decision.

Chris Pappas (195 pounds) pinned Canastota’s Brandon Otis in 92 seconds to finish third as James Coon got fifth place at 120 pounds with a 58-second pin over Cooperstown’s Tyler Velasco and Martin pinned Velasco’s teammate, Isaiah Johnson, for fifth place at 138. David Beseth (99), Wyatt Lavigne (145), Brandon Milham (152) and Iaith AbdelAziz (220) each had sixth-place efforts.

Meanwhile, Fayetteville-Manlius made a trip to Baldwinsville last Wednesday night and took a 55-14 defeat to the Bees, who maintained the top spot in the CNY Counties League standings.

After dropping the first two bouts, the Hornets saw Jon Scalzetti put his team on the board in a thriller at 126, outscoring B’ville’s Bailey Austin 18-17. Bryce Doane prevailed at 170 with a 21-6 technical fall over Dennis Kral as Charlie Josephson (195) shut out Gunnar Hunt 3-0 and Andrew Testani (285) won a 5-2 decision over Billy Loadwick.

The Hornets went from there to Saturday’s Central Square Duals, where it went 1-4, beating Lansing 57-24, but taking defeats to Penfield) (69-15), the hosts from Central Square (54-31), South Jefferson-Sandy Creek (54-27) and Indian River (59-18).  Doane was named his team’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.

East Syracuse Minoa made a successful 2017 debut on this same night, hosting Oswego and pulling away to defeat the Buccaneers 52-23.

Oswego actually won the first two bouts, including Brian Lebron (220) edging the Spartans’ Chris Todd 6-3, but ESM grabbed the lead for good when Ameer Ladd (285), Alex Leo (106) and Donovan Marriott (113) each claimed forfeits.

Not until 126 did the Spartans claim a mat victory, courtesy of Michael Cox, who pinned Jacob Vickery in less than 90 seconds. Four more mat victories would follow after a forfeit to Jack Meloling at 132.

Joe Regan, wrestling at 138, pinned Juan Melendez near the midway point of the second period. Garren Kurney (145) would get his fall over Jasiah Ross one seconds before the first period ended as Jeff Loder (152) handled Cody Vincent 13-5. Darian Crossman ended the match at 182 with a second-period pin over Aaron LaTulip.