Wrestling teams from West Genesee and Jordan-Elbridge squared off against each other last Friday night, and with the larger roster, the Wildcats would prevail, claiming a 52-25 victory over the Eagles.
It was J-E getting off to the quick start at 106 pounds when Jared Alpha pinned Vince Calabria late in the first period, followed by a 113-pound classic where Derek Quigley edged Jordan Cushman 12-11.
WG answered with Ejarian Burgin’s 70-second pin over Zach Harvey at 120 pounds and a forfeit to Tanner Buza (126 pounds) before the Eagles’ Marion Quigley, at 132 pounds, beat Ian Blachford 12-3.
Brady Ryan (138 pounds) and Cole Saxon (145 pounds) got back-to-back second-period pins for the Wildcats – Ryan over Steve Tripp, Saxon over Tyler Fietta – but again J-E countered as Landry Lafleur (152 pounds) pinned Aminel Mbekelu in 70 seconds and Jared Mills (160 pounds) claimed a forfeit.
That gave the Eagles a 25-24 lead, but it would not win another bout, forced to forfeit twice to Griffin Sasso (170 pounds) and Ahmad Wady (220 pounds) while also weeing WG win the other four bouts on the mat.
Jarryd Souffront, at 182 pounds, got an 18-2 technical fall over Ryan Rivenburgh as Nate Wade (99 pounds) got his own technical fall, 15-0, over Jessi Tripp. It was much closer at 285 pounds, where Michael Mesa edged Josh Roberts 4-3, and at 195 pounds, where Chandler McAvan topped Max Bondgren 6-2.
A week earlier, WG picked up 51 points to finish tied for 13th out of 17 sides in the Jan. 14 Cazenovia Invitational. No Wildcats wrestler reached the finals, but Victor Elias (160) edged Adirondack’s Ben Gerling 1-0 in the consolation bracket final to get third place.
Devin Earl (145) matched Elias with his own 1-0 win over Fayetteville-Manlius standout Ali Salem to also get third place. Wady (220) beat Oswego’s Brian Lebron 6-1 for fifth place as Sasso was injured in his last bout against Onondaga’s Dan Trammell and settled for sixth place.
Back in CNY Counties League action last Wednesday night, WG lost, 38-30, to Fayetteville-Manlius in a back-and-forth battle that started at 132 when Ryan pinned the Hornets’ Ben Christopher in 71 seconds.
F-M took the next two bouts before Earl, moving up to 152, beat James Ferro 5-1 and Elias pinned Dylan Fort early in the third period. The Hornets then claimed four of the next five bouts, the lone exception coming at 195 when McAvan shut out Charles Josephson 7-0.
And though Wade claimed a forfeit at 99, F-M clinched the win by claiming three of the last four bouts, interrupted by Patrick Ivery (120 pounds) pinning Zach Colon early in the third period.
Three close decisions went against WG, starting at 182 when Souffront took a 6-4 defeat to Sam French. Wady lost to Luke Ovadias 5-2, with Buza dropping the finale to Jon Scalzetti 6-4.
J-E returned to action last Wednesday night, defeating Lyons 57-24. The Eagles got 36 points from forfeits as Rivenburgh, Bondgren, Mills, Harvey, Tripp and Derek Quigley won without having to take the mat.
In the contested bouts, J-E found success when Marion Quigley, at 132, pinned Payton Gallop in 1:53. Two bouts later, at 145, Fietta pinned Charles Sequin in the second period as LaFleur got a 17-1 technical fall over Isaiah Gonyou.
