One sure sign of how successful the West Genesee wrestling team has been was its invitation to compete in last Saturday’s Section III Dual Meet at Cicero-North Syracuse.

The Wildcats were the no. 3 seed in the Division I (large school) bracket, facing no. 6 seed Indian River in the first round. And WG survived this round, edging the Warriors 43-37 by winning the last three bouts on the card.

WG trailed 37-27 going into the 152-pound bout, but then Devin Earl pinned Gabe Lynch in the third period as Victor Elias (160 pounds) pinned Jake Whitmore in the second period.

Even with that, Griffin Sasso had to win the 170-pound finale – and he did, holding off IR’s Michael Lind 6-4. Early pins by Cole Wade (182 pounds), Chandler McAvan (195 pounds) and Shawn Sakran (285 pounds) had helped the Wildcats to a 21-6, as did Nate Wade (99 pounds) edging Alex Booth 7-5 as Patrick Ivery (132 pounds) also got a pin.

In the Division I semifinal, WG faced Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA, whom it lost to 38-27 on Dec. 27.

In the rematch, J-D/CBA did not have its best wrestler, Matt Griffin, in the lineup, yet still beat the Wildcats 40-30 when Cole Wade got pinned by Jake Wright in the finale at 170.

Chandler McAvan had opened with a pin of James Richer in 3:10, but other than a forfeit to Wade, J-D/CBA claimed the next seven bouts, including close ones where Gavin O’Neill (113 pounds) lost 5-3 in overtime to David BeSeth and Colin McAvan (126 pounds) fell to Ethan Wells 5-4.

A late comeback by WG began with Brady Ryan (138 pounds) stopping Aaron Gucciardi 8-5. Then Devin Earl got past Alikhan Abdullayev 7-3, with Elias and Sasso both getting pins to cut the deficit to 34-30.

Yet Cole Wade could not get the technical fall or pin he needed, and J-D/CBA advanced to the final, where it lost, 45-35, to Fulton, who advanced to this Saturday’s inaugural State Dual Meet Championship at SRC Arena as Division I champion, with Central Valley Academy edging Camden 41-37 for the Division II title.

WG had tested itself the weekend before at the Greg Partridge Memorial Duals in Corning, where it went 3-1, defeating host Corning 57-27, handling Union-Endicott (64-14) and Owego (63-9) before a 40-30 defeat to Pittsford.

Then came last Wednesday’s match against Fayetteville-Manlius, where WG remained undefeated in the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division, handling the Hornets 49-21.

Elias and Sasso got back-to-back pins before Cole Wade blanked Sawyer Dereszynski 7-0 and McAvan beat Luke Ovadias 11-2. Randell  Ouimet lost a 4-3 overtime battle to Charlie Josephson.

Later in the match, Taetsch, Nate Wade and Ejarian Burgin (126) all took forfeits, but Calabria was tested at 120 as he got past Sam Abreham 6-4 and Earl edged Ali Salem 3-1. Ivery got a 72-second pin of Jon Scalzetti as Saxon lost, 7-6, to Justin Bedell.

Marcellus standout Cahal Donovan had an impressive showing in the Eastern States Championship held Jan. 12-13 at Sullivan County Community College, finishing third at 132 pounds.

Donovan reached the semifinals, where he lost, 13-7, to Wyoming Seminary’s Jack Davis, the eventual champion. Donovan recovered and, in the consolation bracket final, defeated Alexander’s Nick Young 5-2.

Then, as a whole, Marcellus would dominate last Wednesday’s match against rival Skaneateles, prevailing 73-12, though the Mustangs mostly benefited from the Lakers having far less than a full roster on hand.

Eight bouts were forfeited by Skaneateles, but the five that were contested all went in the Mustangs’ favor, starting at 99,, where Ethan Ciota pinned Mason Michel in 75 seconds.

Quinten Weaver (120) had a second-period fall over Boaz Arold as Donovan wrestled at 138 and outscored Joey Brillo 16-6. Before that, Jack Santariello (132) edged Christian Daley 4-3, while at 145 Riley LaFrance pinned Robert Danforth in the third period.

Jordan-Elbridge met Hannibal last Wednesday and lost, 54-28, to the Warriors, who claimed the last seven bouts of the night after the Eagles took a 28-21 lead in the first half of the match.

Josh Roberts (285) got J-E going with a three-minute pin over Anthony Crofoot before Hannibal won three in a row. Then Derek Quigley (120), with a second-period fall against Dominic Greenwood, began an Eagles spurt.

At 126, Jared Alpha pinned Caleb Raszl near the end of the first period. Marion Quigley (138) needed just 47 seconds to pin Shawn Totman as Steve Tripp (145 pounds) claimed a 10-1 win over Dan Przepiora.

As Hannibal surged later, only one of the bouts went past the first period – at 160, where J-E’s Landry LaFleur stayed close, only to take a 4-3 loss to Steve Boyer.