Both the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse wrestling teams would make pushes at claiming individual titles during last Saturday’s Section III Class AA championships at Baldwinsville, but would not get there.
From a team standpoint, the Warriors had 144 points, leaving them in fourth place. B’ville, on its home mats, won with 212.5 points, while Central Square was second with 194.5 points and CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt (183.5 points) finished third. The Northstars finished eighth with 98 points.
Leading Liverpool, Jerry Nash nearly won the 132-pound title. Nash pinned Devon Flower (Central Square) in 69 seconds and took just 51 seconds to pin Brady Ryan (West Genesee) before the final, where B’ville’s Tyler Patrick managed to hold off Nash in a 4-3 decision.
Moving to 170 pounds, the Warriors’ Will Ronan handled Chris Alberti (Central Square) 9-1 in the quarterfinals and got his own 4-3 win over CBA/J-D’s Zach Langdon in the semifinals, only to fall in the title bout to Fayetteville-Manlius star Bryce Doane 10-4.
Dylan Wallace contended at 138 pounds, pinning C-NS’s Jeff St. Denny in the second period and handling Rome Free Academy’s Josh Hedrington 14-4 in the early rounds, only to run into B’ville’s Jeremy Pond in the finals and overcome by Pond in a 22-7 technical fall.
Just one C-NS wrestler reached the championship round – Nathan Osborne, at 113 pounds. With a bye straight into the semifinals, Osborne used it to pin Liverpool’s Jacob Ianno in 80 seconds, but in the final another B’ville star, Jacob Cavallo, limited Osborne to a single escape point and prevailed 4-1. Ianno eventually finished sixth.
Four different Northstars had third-place efforts. Dario Ciciarelli did so at 99 pounds, rebounding from a semifinal defeat to rout Nate Wade (West Genesee) 13-4 for that third spot, while Jacob Hall, also wrestling at 138, lost to Pond in the semifinals, only to gain two wins in the consolation bracket, capped by a 7-4 win over Hedrington.
At 152 pounds, C-NS’s Nick Gazzillo fell to Central Square’s Phoenix Webb in the semifinals before a consolation bracket title gained in a third-period pin over F-M’s James Ferro. And at 220 pounds, Christian Anoceto lost in the quarterfinals before three consolation-bracket wins, including a third-place match where Anoceto beat RFA’s Chris Whitman 5-1.
Liverpool saw Steve Pascarella earn third place at 113. A tense semifinal saw Cavallo get tested by Pascarella, but prevail 4-2. Shaking off that disappointment, Pascarella ultimately claimed third place with a 3-0 shutout of B’ville’s Tyler Schardt.
Reaching the 120-pound semifinals, the Warriors’ Jeremy Tran ran into the Bees’ Zach Hahn and lost in a first-period fall. Hahn went on to win, but Tran got to third place in an effort capped by a consolation bracket final where he pinned WG’s Ejarian Burgin early in the second period.
Brady Depan settled for fourth place at 285 pounds when he lost, 1-0, to RFA’s Spencer Pisaneschi in the consolation bracket final, while Zach Curcie was fourth at 145 pounds. At 106 pounds, Jeremy Ianno beat B’ville’s Cole Accordino 13-4 for fifth place, while Mohammed Zahran finished fifth at 170 when Central Square’s Chris Alberti had to forfeit.
A fifth-place duel at 195 pounds saw C-NS’s Jeremiah Butler beat Liverpool’s John Sturtz 4-1. Three other Northstars – (Zach Sweeney (126 pounds), Anthony DeSimone (145) and Jack McDonald (182 pounds) – finished sixth, as did Liverpool’s Zach Eason (220 pounds) and Nick Paganelli (152).
All of these wrestlers, with their top-six finishes, earned berths in this Saturday’s sectional Division I (large school) championships at SRC Arena that start at 10 a.m. Only the winners in each of the 15 weight classes are guaranteed berths in the Feb. 24-25 state tournament at Albany’s Times Union Center.
