Again, the Liverpool wrestling team has earned the right to go to Cicero-North Syracuse on Jan. 21 and compete in the Section III Dual Meet, only now it will get paired up in a Division I (large school) bracket, rather than have 16 teams get randomly seeded.
The Warriors go there having won twice the previous week, including last Wednesday night’s trip to West Genesee, where it only dropped three of the 15 bouts and whipped the Wildcats 57-11.
A spark came in the 145-pound opener, where Zach Curcie edged Devin Earl 6-4. Nick Paganelli (152 pounds) followed up by pinning Aminiel Mbeklu in 86 seconds, and though WG won two of the next three bouts, Will Ronan (170 pounds) interrupted by pinning Jarryd Souffront late in the second period.
John Sturtz, wrestling at 195 pounds, began another Liverpool streak when he pinned Sangu Mbekelu in 91 seconds. After Zach Eason (220 pounds) beat Ahmad Wady 7-2, Brady Depan got a 30-second pin over 285-pound opponent Randell Ouimet before Jeremy Ianno (99 pounds) lost, 13-12, to Nate Wade.
And Liverpool won six straight bouts to close out the evening, starting at 106 pounds with Corey Okun edging Vince Calabria 2-0. Jacob Ianno (113 pounds) pinned Ejarian Burgin in the second period as Steve Pascarella (120 pounds) nearly got a technical fall in a 14-0 shutout over Patrick Ivery.
Aiden Connor did not dominate like Pascarella did, but the 126-pound wrestler beat Eugene belov 7-2 before a pair of closing pins. Jerry Nash (132 pounds) finished off Brady Ryan in the waning seconds of the first period as Dylan Wallace (138 pounds) waited until the second period to pin Ian Blachford.
Two days before the West Genesee match, Liverpool visited New Hartford and, by having a full roster on hand, pulled away to defeat the Spartans 66-13.
Pascarella opened at 120 by claiming an 8-4 decision over Billy Winn. New Hartford claimed the next four bouts, including a 138-pound headliner where Ian McKenna beat Nash 4-0, but was shut out from that point forward.
Wallace, with his narrow 7-6 decision over Dan Tauroney at 145 started the streak, and five consecutive pins followed by Curcie, Josh Hemingway (160 pounds), Mohammed Zahran (170 pounds), Ronan (182 pounds) and Sturtz (195). New Hartford did not even contest the last five bouts on the card, meaning that Eason, Depan, Okun, Jeremy Ianno and Jacob Ianno (113 pounds) all claimed forfeits.
As for C-NS, it returned to the mat last Wednesday night, hosting Fayetteville-Manlius, and wins in five of the first six bouts made a difference as the Northstars pulled away for a 54-22 victory over the Hornets.
A tough opening match at 152 saw Anthony Desimone use a single escape to beat James Ferro 1-0. Nick Gazzillo followed at 160 by pinning Nick Kouznetsov late in the first period.
Another winning string began at 182 when Jack McDonald pinned Sam French in the last moments of the second period. Jeremiah Butler, at 195, needed just 78 seconds to finish off Charlie Josephson as Christian Anoceto (220) earned a second-period fall over Luke Ovidas.
In between forfeits to Dan Sweeney (99) and Jacob Montminy (113), Dario Ciciarelli, wrestling at 106, pulled out a 9-8 thriller over Braden Florczyk. Nathan Osborne got a second-period pin over 120-pound opponent Zach Colon as Jacob Hall (138) needed just 28 seconds to pin Ben Christopher. Shane McDonald (126) lost to Jon Scalzetti 8-4 as Zach Sweeney (132) had a 10-5 defeat to Justin Bedell.
