What the Baldwinsville wrestling team recalimed one year ago, claiming the Section III Class AA championship, was maintained on Saturday – and it didn’t have to leave home this time.
In fact, the Bees’ championship, earned Saturday at the Baker High School gymnasium, was the team’s fifth sectional title in six years, and unlike some of those sectional meets, it was done by a comfortable cushion.
B’ville finished with 212.5 points, while Central Square finished second with 194.5 points and CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt was third with 183.5 points. Six different Bees won in their respective weight classes, and three more reached the finals.
Jacob Cavallo prevailed at 113 pounds, beating teammate Tyler Schardt before edging Liverpool’s Steve Pascarella 4-2 and then, in the finals, topped Cicero-North Syracuse’s Nathan Osborne 6-1.
As the top seed at 120 pounds, Zach Hahn pinned his semifinal opponent, Charlie Tran (Liverpool), late in the first period before a title bout where he rolled to a 13-1 win over Central Square’s Peyton Rupracht.
At 132 pounds, Tyler Patrick pinned Wally Wright (Rome Free Academy) and beat the top seed, CBA/J-D’s Garrett Bauer, 8-2, to reach the title bout, where Patrick earned a close 4-3 decision over Liverpool’s Jerry Nash.
In an impressive run to the 138-pound championship, Jeremy Pond earned pins over Casey Brennan (Central Square) and Jacob Hall (C-NS), the latter in 41 seconds, leading to a final where he ran over Liverpool’s Dylan Wallace in a 22-7 technical fall.
David Rush was victorious at 145 pounds, pinning Nick Ackley (Central Square) and routing Anthony DeSimone (C-NS) 16-2 before wrestling top-seeded CBA/J-D star Jonah Cavallo and pinning him at the end of the first period.
Rounding out the championship sextet, Mike Spicer drove to the 285-pound title with a 53-second pin over Reis Spicer (C-NS) and a tough 2-0 semifinal win over Brady Depan (Liverpool) before a title bout against Andrew Testanti (Fayetteville-Manlius) that Spicer won with a second-period fall.
Jake Naples finished second at 126 pounds, winning his semifinal 7-0 over Andy Nicholson (Central Square), but overwhelmed by CBA/J-D’s Tyler Kellison in the finals as Kellison claimed a technical fall.
Thor Sutphen pinned C-NS’s Jeremiah Butler to reach the 195-pound final, but lost, 7-2, to Central Square’s Jeremy Havens. Dan Fawwaz won his 182-pound semifinal over Adam Honis (CBA/J-D) 5-1, only to fall in the title bout to Havens’ Redhawks teammate, Max Emond, who got a 96-second pin.
Schardt, following his defeat to Cavallo, rebounded to finish fourth at 113, while Gunner Hunt was fourth at 195 behind Sutphen as he lost to West Genesee’s Chandler McAvan after narrow wins over Butler (3-2) and CBA/J-D’s Chris Pappas (9-7). Cole Accordino finished sixth at 106 pounds, with Dom Sposato gaining sixth place at 160 pounds.
Each of these wrestlers will make their way to SRC Arena this Saturday for the sectional Division I (large school) championships. Only the winners in each weight class are guaranteed berths in the Feb. 24-25 state championships at Albany’s Times Union Center.