The first day of December was also the first head-to-head competition for the Cazenovia wrestling team as it made the short trip to the Morrisville-Eaton Duals and recorded a third-place finish.
Overall, the Lakers went 2-3, but won its opener 57-23 over East Syracuse Minoa as Sam Deleon, in the first bout of the season at 160 pounds, pinned the Spartrans’ Xavier Lowery in 80 seconds.
Casey Cunnigham (170 pounds) and Will Groetz (182 pounds) followed with pins, with ESM having to forfeit in five weight classes before Gerald Viehauer, at 138 pounds, pinned Michael O’Brien in 90 seconds. The Lakers’ lone decision came at 145 pounds, with Doug Buckley getting a 9-3 win over Casey O’Donnell.
A 70-15 defeat to Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA followed, though John Frega, at 195 pounds, did pin James Richer in 60 seconds as Deleon beat Alikhan Abdullayev 11-6 after Kevin Valentine (152 pounds) got a third-period fall over Carlos Martinez.
Then Cazenovia fell to Vernon-Verona-Sherrill 46-29. Buckley’s 9-3 win over Jaden Confer and Deleon topping Alex Whooten 6-2 followed Viehauer’s 17-2 technical fall of the Red Devils’ Peter Makarchuk.
Against host Morrisville-Eaton, the Lakers pulled out a 41-33 victory by rallying to win each of the last three bouts after trailing 33-23.
Deleon began the surge by pinning the Warrriors William Egerer at the end of the first period. It took 3:56 for Cunningham to pin Riley Fogg and Groetz clinched it by finishing off Eric Warner in 1:44.
Prior to that, most of what Cazenovia earned came from forfeits, the lone exemption Buckley’s 18-0 technical fall over M-E’s Cameron Russell.
The day ended with Cazenovia taking a 51-36 loss to Walton-Delhi. Deleon finished a perfect day on the mat with a 92-second pin over Skyler Pesout as Buckley pinned Nick Lamoreaux late in the second period and Cunningham had a third-period fall over Scott Barnhart.
Cazenovia’s next competition takes place on Dec. 12, when it hosts Phoenix at Buckley Gym, before going to Groton Saturday for the Sara B. Allen Duals.
While the Lakers were wrestling at M-E, Chittenango was at the Denny Wright Memorial Duals at Homer, where it lost all four matches to the host Trojans, plus Liverpool, Beaver River and Whitney Point.
Against Homer, the Bears had a 63-21 loss, though Blayde DeBlieux, at 99 pounds, pinned Collin Stevens in 1:55, with Mark Young (126 pounds) earning an 8-2 decision over Carter Monroe.
Liverpool beat Chittenango 72-16 on the way to the dual meet title, with the Bears getting pins by Devin Myers (160) over Shane Hazelmyer and John Spencer (220 pounds) over Hamier Williams-Borges. DeBlieux won 14-3 over Matt Spoto.
