Fresh off making an impressive run to the semifinals of the Section III Dual Meet on Jan. 21, the CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt wrestling team still had enough time to pick up local bragging rights before the post-season got underway.
It was CBA/J-D going to Fayetteville-Manlius last Tuesday night, and the Hornets actually led midway through the match before the visitors won the last six bouts of the night to prevail by a 45-22 margin.
F-M got off to the quick start at 145 pounds when Ali Salem nearly got a technical fall, but Alikhan Abdullayev hung in there and Salem only got four points out of a 10-0 decision. James Ferro prevailed at 152 pounds when CBA/J-D’s Tyriq Block got disqualified.
Jake Wright, at 160 pounds, got CBA./J-D on the board with a second-period fall over Dylan Fort. More would follow as Adam Honis, at 182 pounds, pinned Nick Kuzmetsov in 90 seconds and Christ Pappas (195 pounds) pinned Jordan Rodriguez in the middle of the third period.
The Hornets rebounded by claiming the next two bouts. Luke Ovadias, at 220 pounds, pinned Laith Abdel-Aziz midway through the second period, with Andrew Testani (285 pounds) following up by getting an 8-2 decision over Mingus Betsey.
Starting at 106 pounds, though, CBA/J-D took over, Myles Griffin needing just 21 seconds to pin F-M’s Braden Florczyk before Ethan Wells, at 113 pounds, survived a tough battle with Sam Abreham to win 3-1.
In 56 seconds, Matt Griffin pinned 120-pound opponent Zach Colon, with Tyler Kellison (126 pounds) taking a technical fall after stopping Jon Scalzetti 17-2. at 132 pounds, Garrett Bauer blanked Ben Christopher 10-0, with Brian Martin (138 pounds) pulling out the finale as a single escape pushed Martin past Justin Bedell 1-0.
Both sides wrestled again on Friday, CBA/J-D pounding Oswego 71-9 as F-M lost two matches, 54-28 to Whitesboro and 55-15 to Mexico.
Much of the points for CBA/J-D against the Buccaneers came through forfeits – eight in all, amounting to 48 points. Still, Honis opened with an 18-3 technical fall over Logan Sheets and Betsey pinned Sultan Ahmed in 60 seconds. James Coon wrestled at 120, beating Seth Perrin 6-3 as Cavallo pinned Jasiah Rios and Wright won a 7-5 classic over Oswego’s top wrestler, Stephen Demong.
Scalzetti put the Hornets on the board against the Warriors with a second-period fall over Shayne Gray. Salem pinned Peter Conti in 3:18, with Fort routing Ben Thibault 14-2 and Bryce Doane (170 pounds) getting a 60-second fall over Noah Brown. Three forfeits gave Whitesboro 18 points in between Testani’s first-period pin over Robert Scofield.
Against Mexico, F-M saw Colon beat Jacob Chrisman 11-6 early in the bout, but then went quiet until Salem pinned Skylar Raymond in 47 seconds. Fort beat Dylan Mannise 12-5 and Doane beat Jaden Allen 8-6, but the Tigers claimed the rest of the bouts.
When it returned to action last Thursday night, East Syracuse Minoa built up just enough of a margin in the middle weight classes to turn back the Maroons 39-38.
It helped, too, that the Spartans carried a full roster, while Auburn had to forfeit at 126 pounds to Michael Cox and 152 pounds to Jeff Loder. Still, mat wins were required, and ESM got five of them to counter the Maroons’ seven.
Joe Monteleone, wrestling at 195, pinned Rory Allen in 28 seconds. That was one of two pins for the Spartans, Donovan Marriott earning the other at 113 pounds when he finished off Jamyr Grimes early in the second period.
Getting close to a pin, Joe Regan (138 pounds) settled for a 21-6 technical fall against Eric Anseth, while Justin Smith (120 pounds) beat Ryan Bochenek 13-5 and Darian Crossman prevailed at 182 pounds when Jared Haviland had to default due to injury.
ESM now could rest and prepare for this Saturday’s Section III Class A tournament at Carthage, CBA/J-D would go up against Adirondack Wednesday before joining F-M in a trip to Baldwinsville for the sectional Class AA meet.
Top finishers advanced to the Feb. 11 sectional finals at SRC Arena, which in January 2018 will host the New York State Public High School Athletic Association’s first wrestling team championships, with large-school and small-school state team titles to be awarded on an official basis for the first time.
