The progress shown by the Fayetteville-Manlius wrestling team continues to show itself, both in tournaments and it CNY Counties League matches.
The Hornets took part in the Jan. 14 Cazenovia Invitational and tied Auburn for sixth place in a 17-team field with 82 points as Baldwinsville (197.5 points) edged Adirondack (188 points), the 2016 sectional Dual Meet champions, for the top spot.
Bryce Doane won at 170 pounds, topping Michael Lind (Watertown IHC) 10-3 and beating Daimon Shoemaker (Groton) 5-2 in the semifinals before proving impressive in a 10-4 victory over Indian River’s Jeromy Henning in the championship round.
Braden Florczyk got second place at 106 pounds, shutting out Oxford’s Brady Smith 3-0 in the semifinals before a 7-2 defeat to Cazenovia’s Jacob Wells in the title bout. Ali Salem was fourth at 145 pounds, dropping a 1-0 decision to West Genesee’s Devin Earl in the consolation bracket final, while James Ferro got fourth place at 152 pounds and Andrew Testani pinned C-NS’s Reis Spicer for fifth place at 285 pounds
Then the Hornets faced West Genesee Wednesday night and pulled out a 38-30 victory over the Wildcats, clinched when Sam Abraham earned a late pin at 113 pounds, finishing off Ejarian Burgin 29 seconds into the second period.
Justin Bedell got F-M on the board at 138 pounds by handling Cole Saxon 11-3, and Salem followed with a 95-second pin of Aminel Mbekulu. WG won the next two bouts before Doane put together a 10-3 victory over Griffin Sasso and Sam French (182 pounds) edged Jarryd Souffront 6-4.
They continued to go back and forth, Luke Ovadias winning at 220 pounds when he topped Ahmad Wady 5-2, and Testani followed with a pin of Michael Mesa at the end of the first period that put the Hornets ahead for good. Florczyk routed Vincent Calabria 14-2, and Abraham clinched it before Jon Scalzetti (126 pounds) beat Tanner Buza 6-4.
F-M would then compete Saturday in the Baldwinsville Duals, which included a 41-33 victory over Cazenovia where Zach Colon (120 pounds), Dylan Fort (160 pounds) and Justin Rodriguez (195 pounds) each earned pins. The Hornets also competed against host B’ville, Rome Free Academy, Whitesboro and Webster Schroeder.
Back on Jan. 14, East Syracuse Minoa went 3-2 at the Hannibal Duals. The Spartans beat the host Warriors 60-27 in the opening round and also topped APW/Pulaski 51-28 before beating Cortland 49-33. ESM lost to Central Square, who won the meet with a 5-0 mark, and fell to Lowell 43-34.
Then the Spartans took a 66-6 defeat to Fulton on Wednesday. Donovan Marriott prevented the shutout at 113 when he pinned Fulton’s Tyler Emeterio with 50 seconds left in their bout.
Otherwise, it was a Red Raiders sweep, with some close calls. Jeff Loder (152) lost, 2-1, to Camrin Galvin in the opening bout, with Joe Monteleone (195) taking a 6-4 defeat to Jon Parrish and Michael Cox (126) quite active in a 12-9 loss to Samuel May.
ESM went to another tournament on Saturday and went 3-1 at the Skaneateles Invitational. Only the host Lakers beat the Spartans, who turned around to top Auburn, Oneida and Cato-Meridian as Darion Crossman, wrestling at 182, earned his team’s Most Outstanding Wrestler honors.
