Jeremy Pond wasn’t patient. Mike Spicer had to be quite patient. But they both ended up in the same spot – atop the awards podium as Section III Division I wrestling champions.
By doing so, the Baldwinsville seniors will get to conclude their high school mat careers at Albany’s Times Union Center on Feb. 24-25 as part of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.
Pond and Spicer led a parade of 10 Bees wrestlers to the podium Saturday at SRC Arena as it finished third in the Division I (large school) team standings with 177.5 points. Fulton won with 241 points and Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA (190.50 points) gaining second places.
Wrestling at 138 pounds, Pond got an early break when, in the quarterfinals, his opponent, Josh Hedrington (Rome Free Academy), took an in jury default. Then, in the semifinals, Pond’s aggression created a 57-second pin over New Hartford’s Dan Tauroney.
Now, in the finals, Pond faced Indian River’s Ethan Ruttan, who had risen from a no. 6 seed to reach this point. But with the score 2-1 late in the first period, Pond put Ruttan’s shoulders on the mat, and the pin, at one minute, 55 seconds, produced a sectional title as Pond’s record improved to 40-4.
Spicer, like Pond, was a top seed at 285 pounds. After pinning Chumba Reed (East Syracuse Minoa) early in the second period of their quarterfinal, Spicer endured a tough semifinal with Indian River’s Dylan Ashwood, but used a late takedown to pull clear and prevail 3-0.
The final, against Fulton’s Jared Crucitti, was a rematch of a Nov. 30 bout Spicer had pulled out 3-2. Here, Crucitti’s second-period escape put him up, 1-0, but in the third period Spicer produced a reversal for two points and held on from there to prevail 2-1 and move to 33-5, also booking a trip to Albany.
In addition to that victory, Spicer picked up another big honor when he was awarded the Hawke-Pettinelli scholarship from the Syracuse Wrestling Officials Association.
Four other Bees reached the championship round. none getting closer than David Rush did at 145 pounds.
After a pin of Tyler Ruhmel (New Hartford) in 62 seconds and edging Nick Noel (Fulton) 4-2 in the semifinals, Rush faced J-D/CBA’s Jonah Cavallo in the final and was tied, 2-2, before allowing a late takedown that proved too much to overcome in a 4-3 defeat, just Rush’s fifth defeat of the season against 39 wins.
B’ville’s Jacob Cavallo contended at 113 pounds, pinning Tyler Emeterio (Fulton) and Jeff Robinson (Whitesboro) to reach the finals, but didn’t get on the board in that title bout, taking a 6-0 defeat to Cicero-North Syracuse’s Nathan Osborne.
Moving to 120 pounds, Zach Hahn pinned Riley Green (Carthage) and survived a 7-6 semifinal over Central Square’s Peyton Rupracht, only to get overwhelmed by Fulton’s Wyatt Willis in a 12-0 finals loss.
Meanwhile, Thor Sutphen, wrestling at 195 pounds, pinned C-NS’s Jeremiah Butler in 36 seconds and made the finals when Indian River’s Chris Davis had to default. Sutphen then ran into Central Square’s Isaac Havens in the title bout and could not score a point against Havens in a 9-0 defeat.
Dan Fawwaz reached the semifinals at 182 pounds, but dropped a 9-7 decision to J-D/CBA’s Adam Honis. However, Sutphen recovered to beat Darian Crossman (ESM) 7-2 and blank Nahjir Dean (Institute of Technology Central) 7-0 to finish third.
Jake Naples took a pair of one-point defeats at 126 pounds, falling 1-0 in the semifinals to the eventual champion, Indian River’s Stefan Colbert, and then a 3-2 defeat to J-D/CBA’s Tyler Kellison in the consolation bracket final, so Naples finished fourth. Tyler Schardt was sixth at 113 behind Jacob Cavallo, with Tyler Patrick sixth at 132 pounds.
