With back-to-back regular-season league titles and an OHSL Class C/D title in its possession, the Skaneateles wrestling team continued to display how much it has grown with its fourth-place finish in Saturday’s Section III Class C championship meet at Canastota High School.
J.W. Simmons and Joey McIntyre each claimed individual honors as the Lakers finished with 141.5 points. Host Canastota won with 198 points, while Adirondack (169 points) edged General Brown (166.5 points) for second place.
Simmons, who passed the 100-win mark earlier this season, was victorious at 106 pounds. He had a bye straight into the semifinals, where in just 79 seconds he pinned Jordan-Elbridge’s Jared Alpha, setting up a title bout with Marcellus’ Noah Carbone that only lasted 92 seconds before Simmons pinned him, too.
Meanwhile, McIntyre started his path to the 195-pound championship with a 10-second pin over Hannibal’s Hayden Pepper. Pinning Corey Garvey (Marcellus) in the semifinals required 70 seconds before McIntyre wrestled General Brown’s Gavin Kovalik in the finals and, going all six minutes, won a 7-2 decision.
In all, Skaneateles had eight wrestlers finish in the top four, all of them advancing to this Saturday’s sectional Division II (small school) championships at SRC Arena, which starts at 10 a.m.
Joey Brillo was in contention at 132 pounds. pinning Marion Quigley (J-E) in the second period before a 10-1 semifinal romp over Adirondack’s Remington O’Hara. The final btween Brillo and Morrisville-Eaton’s Beau Burke was a tense, close battle, but Burke edged Brillo 4-3.
Three other Lakers prevailed in their respective consolation brackets. Pat Greenfield did so at 170 pounds, getting a second-period technical fall over Garrett Evans (Holland Patent) after a 5-2 semifinal loss to Lowville’s Brent Millard.
At 182 pounds, Ian Frackelton had a 25-second pin over Hannibal’s Art Donahue but lost in the semifinals to Patrick Koelmel (General Brown) 4-2. Frackelton recovered and, against Canastota’s Andy Marshall in the third-place bout, pulled out a 6-5 decision.
Aiming for the title at 220 pounds, T.J. Greenfield pinned Derek Farr (Lowville) but got pinned by General Brown’s Luke Rogers in the semifinals before moving to the consolation bracket and, with a 6-3 victory over Canastota’s Mike Liebl, finishing in third place.
Christian Daley finished fourth at 126 pounds, unable to keep up with Canastota’s Colby Stevens in a 6-2 defeat in the consolation bracket final. In that same round, Matt Goetzmann lost, 6-0, to Morrisville-Eaton’s Mason Warner, and also claimed fourth place.
Wrestling at 152 pounds, the Lakers’ Josh O’Hara beat Sean Madden (Marcellus) 4-1, but all that meant was a quarterfinal date with Holland Patent’s two-time state champion, Hunter Richard, an owner of more than 250 career wins. Richard pinned O’Hara in just 31 seconds.
