Just before hosting its big invitational meet at Buckley Gym, the Cazenovia wrestling team had the small matter of going to Jordan-Elbridge Thursday night, but the Lakers took care of that challenge, defeating the Eagles 47-27.
Since it knew that it had to forfeit bouts at 195, 220 and 285 pounds, the Lakers had to get points elsewhere – and did, claiming the first six bouts of the evening, starting at 132 pounds, where Will Shephard shut out Marion Quigley 12-0.
Matt McLaughlin (138 pounds) pinned Steve Tripp at the midway point of the second period, but Kevin Valentine didn’t wait that long at 145 pounds, needing just 24 seconds to pin Tyler Fietta.
The streak continued in a wild 152-pound bout where Patrick Nourse outscored Landry LaFleur 17-10. Then it was back to pins as John Frega (160 pounds) finished off Kamerin Langhorn in 95 seconds and, in a scant 14 seconds, Austin Sherman pinned 170-pound opponent Jared Mills.
Not until Chris Beare, at 182 pounds, lost a tough 11-6 bout to Anthony Baron, did the Lakers take a blemish, but it would see Stan Angus (99 pounds) beat Jessi Tripp 13-3 and Jacob Wells (106 pounds) pin Jared Alpha late in the first period before Will Khalil claimed a forfeit at 126 pounds.
Chittenango had matches on back-to-back nights, starting Wednesday against Homer where a late comeback attempt fell just short and the Bears lost, 45-40, to the Trojans.
Homer claimed each of the first six bouts, four of them forfeits plus a pin and a 152-pound showdown where Lane Quaile beat Tyler Daviau 8-4. That built up a 33-0 lead, and the Trojans would need every bit of it.
Forfeits were given to four different Bears wrestlers – Robert Shepard (160 pounds), Isaiah Prado (170 pounds), Connor Fredericks (182 pounds) and Cory Fredericks (195 pounds) before Antonio Cutrie wrestled at 220 pounds and pinned Homer’s Anthony parker in 28 seconds.
Alex VanPatten (285 pounds) lost in a second-period fall to Reno Gaffney, which made it 39-30, but then Blayde DeBlieux (99 pounds) pinned Sean Powers in 92 seconds. And though Peyton Denney (106 pounds) got four points by routing Zach Duff 13-4 and gave his side a 40-39 lead, it proved moot when the Bears had to forfeit the 113-pound finale to Nick Rice.
Then the Bears hosted APW/Pulaski on Thursday night, and again it was relatively even on the mat, but the fact that Chittenango gave up four forfeits, while accepting two, made a 12-point difference as the Rebels prevailed 42-33.
Cutrie and DeBlieux took those forfeits early in the match, and of the first seven bouts, only one was contested as Denney beat Alex Currie 11-4. Then APW/Pulaski, already with the four forfeits in hand, claimed four straight bouts, Devin Myers (138) falling to Cameron Gates 4-0 and Shepard (160) taking a 5-3 defeat to Nate Cronk.
At least the Bears won the last three bouts of the evening, starting at 170, where Connor Fredericks pinned Zack Cronk in 60 seconds. Prado, moving up to 182, pinned Mike Vincent midway through the third period before Cory Fredericks pinned Earl Wallis in 51 seconds.
