Wrestling teams from Cazenovia and Chittenango would both go north, to South Jefferson High School, to compete in last Saturday’s Section III Class B championship meet.
With 72 points, the Bears finished seventh out of 11 sides, while the Lakers finished with 59 points. Both of them trailed Central Valley Academy, the reigning sectional Dual Meet champions, who prevailed with 237.5 points and earned five individual titles.
Much of Chittenango’s point total sprang from the victories earned by Connor Fredericks at 170 pounds and Antonio Cutrie at 220 pounds.
Fredericks had a bye straight into the semifinals at 170, where he shut out Camden’s Michael Bristol 7-0. Then, in the final against Mexico’s Jaden Allen, Fredericks moved out in front and stayed there, prevailing in an 8-3 decision.
As for Cutrie, he too had a bye until the semifinals at 220. Once he took to the mat, though, Cutrie proved tough to stop as he pinned Cortland’s Brandon McClendon early in the second period to set up a final with Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s Trai Collins, which only lasted 89 seconds before Cutrie pinned Collins.
Elsewhere for the Bears, Cory Fredericks reached the semifinals at 195 pounds, but lost to Mexico’s Brandon Gracey and eventually settled for fourth place. Isaiah Prado lost in the 182-pound quarterfinal, but recovered to finish fifth, pinning Camden’s John Mitchell in 2:05 for that spot.
Cazenovia’s Will Khalil, wrestling at 126 pounds, had his team’s best finish. In the semifinals, Khalil beat Austin Reed (Mexico) 5-2, leading to a final against CVA star C.J. Walz, who beat Khalil with a third-period technical fall.
Jacob Wells made it to the 106-pound semifinals, only to run into CVA’s Jon Charles, who prevailed on his way to the title in that weight class. Wells eventually finished fourth as Mexico’s Dean Shambo beat him in the consolation bracket final.
Will Shephard, like Khalil, wrestled at 126. Beaten 5-2 by Phoenix’s Toby McKeen in that round, he recovered by eventually beating Homer’s Noah Thomas 11-1 to gain fifth place. Matt McLaughlin finished sixth at 138 pounds after a 6-2 defeat to Josh Mayden (Camden), while Patrick Nourse got sixth palce at 145 pounds.
Top-four finishers, including Khalil, Wells, Cutrie and the Fredericks brothers, each advanced to this Saturday’s sectional Division II (small school) championships at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena, where berths in the Feb. 24-25 state tournament in Albany are on the line.
Chittenango had taken part in the Jan. 28 Red Devil Duals at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, where the Bears went 2-3, earning victories over Institute of Technology Central (59-18) and Fonda-Fultonville (36-24), but taking losses to Canajoharie-Fort Plain and West Genesee by equal 54-33 margins, plus a 48-21 loss to Odessa-Montour.
