Wrestling teams from West Genesee and Jordan-Elbridge squared off against each other on Jan. 20, 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.
J-E went from there to visiting Hannibal last Tuesday night and taking a 57-27 defeat to the Warriors, unable to lead at any point in the match after Roberts and Tripp took pins in the first two bouts.
Alpha got a second-period pin over Dominic Greenwood, while Harvey and Marion Quigley took forfeits. Amid a decisive stretch where Hannibal won five of six bouts, only LaFleur broke that streak, shutting out Doug Clark 7-0. Max Bondgren, at 195 pounds, pinned Art Donahue early in the second period.
Then J-E returned to Hannibal for Saturday’s OHSL Class C/D division tournament, where it had two wrestlers get to the final round. Bondgren got there at 195 but fell to Skaneateles’ Joey McIntyre in the final as Roberts reached the title bout at 220, only to lose to McIntyre’s Lakers teammate, T.J. Greenfield.
West Genesee, before it goes to the Section III Class AA meet at Baldwinsville this Saturday, warms up on Wednesday facing Marcellus, who after its appearance in the Jan. 21 sectional Dual Meet faced Homer last Wednesday night and won the first six bouts of the night, never trailing as it rolled to a 53-24 victory over the Trojans.
A close opener at 132 saw the Mustangs’ Jack Santariello get past Gabe Cline 6-4. It proved even closer at 138, but Riley LaFrance held off Charles Lines 3-2 before Josh Widrick (145) pinned Collin Cronk early in the third period.
At 152, Nick Distefano shut out Peter Davis 4-0, preceding a bout at 160 where Robbie Seeley pinned Lane Qualie with 28 seconds left. Then Tom Kinsella claimed a forfeit at 170, as did Cory Garvey at 195 and Noah Carbone at 106.
Of Homer’s 24 points, 18 of them came from Marcellus forfeits, with the only mat victory coming when Nick Rice (113) pinned Zach Sperling. Otherwise, Kern Linder (220) pinned Anthony Parker in 90 seconds, with Alex Czerniak (120) pinning Matt McCumber in 95 seconds and Riley Donovan (126) getting a 9-2 victory over Noah Thomas.
Marcellus, like J-E, is headed for Canastota this Saturday for the sectional Class C tournament, where the host Raiders and Adirondack are among the strong sides. Only the top four finishers in each weight classes are guaranteed to advance to the Feb. 11 overall sectional meet at SRC Arena, which starting in January 2018 will host a brand-new state dual meet tournament, awarding large and small-school team state champions.
