Joey Brillo and T.J. Greenfield are two of the most successful wrestlers in the history of the Skaneateles program.
So it only figured that this dynamic Lakers duo would both emerge triumphant at last Saturday’s Section III Class C championship meet, held at Hannibal High School.
Competing at 138 pounds, Brillo improved to 32-4 on the season and 186-39 overall in his career. Brillo pinned Connor Griffith (Adirondack) in 96 seconds in the quarterfinals and got a 15-0 technical fall over Jordan-Elbridge’s Marion Quigley in the semifinals.
The final wasn’t too close, either, as Brillo nearly replicated his technical fall against Quigley while keeping Canastota’s Colby Bixby off the board in a 13-0 shutout.
As for Greenfield, he entered the tournament with a 30-4 mark this winter, and took just 66 seconds to pin Anthony Crofoot (Hannibal) in the quarterfinal round prior to a 29-second fall over Holland Patent’s Joe Gotte in the semifinals.
Like Brillo, Greenfield would face a wrestler from Canastota in the finals, but Mike Leibl didn’t last past the first period as, in 96 seconds, Greenfield pinned him for the title.
This followed the Jan. 27 OHSL Class C-D tournament where Greenfield, on his way to the title, pinned all five of his opponents, capped by an 87-second fall over Onondaga’s Nathan Pitre in the finals. In doing so, Greenfield passed 100 career victories.
Christian Daley lost in the 132-pound semifinal to Adirondack’s Keagan Case, but recovered for a third-place finish as he edged Marcellus’ Jack Santariello 1-0 in the consolation bracket final to improve his season mark to 29-9.
Dylan O’Hara also wrestled at 220 for the Lakers, but lost in the quarterfinals to Gotte before he could get a shot at Greenfield.
Brillo, Greenfield and Daley will all be part of this Saturday’s sectional Division II (small school) championships at SRC Arena, which start at 10 a.m. Only the winners in each of the 15 weight classes are guaranteed spots in the Feb. 23-24 state meet in Albany.
