An 11-4 record through mid-January for the Marcellus wrestling team led to an invitation to Saturday’s Section III Dual Meet at Cicero-North Syracuse High School. Under a new tournament format, the Mustangs were the no. 6 seed in the 10-team small school division (called Division II) and took on no. 3 seed Canastota in the first round.
The Raiders proved too good, prevailing 54-27, but that was largely due to a series of late bouts Marcellus had to forfeit. In fact, through nine bouts, the two sides were tied, 24-24, which spoke to the Mustangs’ quality.
Each side got an opening forfeit, and a pin put Canastota up 12-6 before Alex Czerniak (120 pounds) showed up to pin Colby Bixby in 56 seconds. Riley Donovan, at 126 pounds, got the Mustangs a brief lead when he beat Colby Stevens 7-3.
Two more Canastota pins followed, but Marcellus pulled back even Josh Widrick, at 145 pounds, blanked Dalton Domencione 6-0 and Nick Distefano (152 pounds) earned a second-period fall over Dakota Diable.
The next 30 points all went in the Raiders’ favor, three bouts by forfeit and the other two pins. Kern Linder salvaged one more victory for Marcellus at 220 pounds when he claimed a 1-0 decision over Nate Saunders.
In a consolation-round bout, Marcellus lost, 54-29, to South Jefferson-Sandy Creek, even though it claimed five of the six contested bouts because it had to forfeit in eight different weight classes.
Czerniak got a pin of Levi Darling in 94 seconds, as did Riley LaFrance (138 pounds) over James Rogers as Donovan gained a 16-1 technical fall over Dustin Rogers. DiStefano beat Robert Krone7-1 as Noah Carbone (113 pounds) edged Marshall Manchester 8-5.
Canastota, meanwhile, rallied past Camden 40-39 to advance to the Division II final, where top seed Central Valley Academy routed the Raiders 59-14. The Thunder went on to drub Division I champion Fulton 50-15 to earn the sectional Dual Meet title.
Long before all this, Marcellus got some more tournament experience on Jan. 14 when it nearly won the Dan Wickham Classic at Unatego, earning 192.5 points to finish second in a 17-team field behind Longwood, who won with 218 points.
Czerniak earned the title at 120, routing Noah Lowe (Unatego) 14-4 and beating Drew Wideman (Berne-Knox-Westerlo) with an injury default to reach the finals, where he held on for a 5-3 decision over Hoosick Falls’ Aiden Scott.
Meanwhile, at 126, Donovan went from an 80-second pin over Sidney’s Dan Calkins to a final where he beat Longwood’s Ryan Pitre 5-1. Linder’s victory at 220 came after a second-period fall over Devon Fitzpatrick (Hoosick Falls) in the semifinals and a title bout where a single escape meant getting past Longwoods’ Midjery Paul by a 1-0 margin.
Noah Carbone beat Hoosick Falls’ Zoe Gress 9-3 to reach the finals at 106, but lost to Gress’s teammate, Gabe Fisher, in a second-period fall to settle for second place.
Distefano was third at 145, routing Rondout Valley’s Hayden Baker 12- in the consolation bracket final. Jack Santariello (132 pounds) beat Morgan Sholtis (Saranac) 3-1 for fifth place, while Widrick stopped Lucas Gardner (Marathon) 7-2 for his own fifth-place finish and Robbie Seeley (152 pounds) earned fifth place by shutting out Clarke’s Sean Russell 4-0.
Following this, Marcellus faced Cortland last Wednesday night, and it turned into a closely-fought match that the Mustangs needed to see through to the penultimate bout before subduing the Purple Tigers 39-37.
Linder got his team going with a 41-second pin over Brandon McClendon before Cory Garvey (285 pounds) pinned George Wherry late in the first period. A key bout at 106 saw Carbone pull out an 8-6 decision over Kayden Haynes.
Donovan stayed in good form, pinning Andrew Sawyer in 76 seconds two bouts after Zach Sperling (113 pounds) lost, 7-4, to Gildon Case. With five bouts left, Marcellus clung to a 27-25 lead.
Widrick, moving up to 145, pinned Cayden Boyer in 2:49, but more was needed. Seeley, at 160, earned a 6-2 decision over Brandon Batsford and, one bout later, Tom Kinsella clinched the team win at 170 pounds when he fought past Devin Marks 5-4.
