In reality, the Baldwinsville wrestling team’s post-season push began on Jan. 21 when, instead of competing in the Section III Dual Meet, it hosted its own Dual Meet and swept through five different opponents to finish on top.
The Bees had its most difficult match at the outset, against Webster Schroeder, but pulled it out 36-27 by claiming every bout from 126 to 152 pounds. That included John Eustice (145 pounds) edging Will Parker 2-1 and Tyler Patrick (132 pounds) blanking Preston Yengo 5-0.
Jacob Cavallo (113 pounds), on his way to Most Outstanding Wrestler honors, had his own 4-0 shutout over Charlie Alessi, with David Rush (152 pounds) and Thor Sutphen (195 pounds) earning pins, Sutphen taking just 71 seconds to finish off Joey Cannarozzo and earn the clinching points.
Dom Sposato, at 285 pounds, got his own 2-1 win over Josh Bertman as Dan Fawwaz (182 pounds), Jeremy Pond (138 pounds) and Jake Naples (126 pounds) won four-point majority decisions.
B’ville got better from there, beating Rome Free Academy 53-27 with six pins from Naples, Fawwaz, Patrick, Rush, Cole Accordino (106 pounds) and Gunnar Hunt (195 pounds), and followed by routing Whitesboro 63-4.
Against CNY Counties League rival Fayetteville-Manlius, the Bees won 63-17, with falls from Patrick, Pond, Rush, Sutphen, Mike Spicer (285) and Zach Hahn (120 pounds), and B’ville completed the sweep by handling Cazenovia 66-21, with Fawwaz, Eustice and Tyler Schardt (120 pounds) getting falls.
With all this behind them, B’ville hosted Canastota Wednesday night, the Raiders having just made the semifinals of the sectional Dual Meet before falling to eventual champion Central Valley Academy.
This didn’t mean much to the Bees, who handled the Raiders 51-31 by leading from start to finish. After a forfeit at 106 to Accordino, Schadt won at 113 by pinning Jason Schermherorn late in the second period, and Cavallo followed up with a tough 5-3 win over Colby Bixby.
Hahn lost, 3-2, to Colby Stevens, but from that point forward Canastota only won twice more on the mat, the other points coming from forfeits. B’ville had more than enough to counter those measures.
Rush, at 145, pinned Marshall Bruggeman 48 seconds into the third period of their bout. Dom Sposato wrestled at 160 pounds, pinning Chris Cafarela with 21 seconds left in their bout. Fawwaz pinned Brandon Otts in 46 seconds as Sutphen got his fall over Mike Leibl near the end of the second period and Spicer pinned Nate Saunders in the second period.
B’ville would now get a full week and a half to prepare for the Feb. 4 sectional Class AA championships, which it will host at the Baker High School Gym. Top finishers at that meet advance to the Feb. 11 sectional Division I (large school) meet at SRC Arena.
