This time around, competing at home was just what the West Genesee wrestling team required to produce something special – namely, a Section III Class AA championship.
Hosting the sectional AA meet again on Saturday, the Wildcats put seven of its wrestlers into the finals and won five of them, a difference-maker as, with 185 points, it dethroned reigning champion Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA (177.5 points).
Better yet for WG, it easily outperformed regular-season SCAC Metro division champion Cicero-North Syracuse, who settled for fourth place with 136.5 points as Liverpool (154 points) took third.
It all started with Nate Wade, who dominated at 120 pounds all the way to the championship round, where he blanked Liverpool’s Jacob Ianno, earning a 17-0 technical fall.
Up at 145 pounds, Chandler McAvan had a harder semifinal (13-5 over Liverpool’s Dom Ianno) than he did in the title bout, where he pinned Fayetteville-Manlius’ Justin Bedell in just 28 seconds.
Devin Earl earned the title at 160 pounds when Auburn’s Liam McLoughlin had to take an injury default, but Cole Wade wrestled all the way through at 220 pounds and won a tense 6-4 title bout over C-NS’s Troyan Jones.
Finally, at 285 pounds, Chandler McAvan emerged as the champion, pinning Syracuse’s Josiah Carnegie in 36 seconds in the semifinals and, in the next rounds, taking 88 seconds to pin Carnegie’s teammate, Carveion Wright.
Two other WG wrestlers got to the finals, with Brady Ryan getting close to the 138-pound title before a 7-3 defeat to Liverpool’s Steve Pascarella as Ejarian Burgin, at 132 pounds, was pinned in the second period by Auburn’s Luca Pirozzolo.
Jackson Taestch, at 113 pounds, earned third place, defeating Baldwinsville’s Max Naples 11-1 in the consolation bracket final, while Mike Sarakos was fourth at 170 pounds. Gavin O’Neil got a 17-1 technical fall over J-D/CBA’s Luis Martinez for fifth place at 120 behind Nate Wade as Joe Conmy was sixth at 182 pounds.
For Marcellus and Jordan-Elbridge, the sectional Class C tournament meant a trip to General Brown, where the Mustangs expected to get close to, or match, its OHSL Liberty/Patriot tournament victory from the week before.
And the Mustangs did finish third, with 169 points, just behind runner-up Adirondack (171 points) as host General Brown won with 212 points and J-E, with 69 points, finished ninth.
Cahal Donovan roared to the title at 145 for the Mustangs, going up against J-E’s Marion Quigley in the semifinals and getting a 20-3 technical fall before beating Canastota’s Nick Rouse 12-4 in the title bout. Quigley finished fourth.
Five other Mustangs got to the finals. Carl Santiarello nearly won at 106 pounds, pinning Andrew Truillo (Canastota) in the second period of the semifinal and, in the title bout, going to overtime with General Brown’s Jared Hoard before Hoard beat him 11-9.
Ryan Moses, at 120, beat Canasota’s Evan Austerman 6-2 to get to the finals, only to get pinned by Adirondack’s Chris Webster, so Moses settled for second place to match Santiarello.
Moving to 160, Trevor Widrick edged Matt Tanner (Adirondack) 4-3 in his semifinal, only to get pinned by GB’s Matt McManaman in the finals. Rob Seeley, at 170, pinned Isaac Lyndaker (Lowville) in his semifinal before a pin by Hannibal’s Zach Williams.
Ethan Ciota was fourth at 106 and Riley LaFrance got fourth place at 152, while Wilvon McKee was fourth at 285. Gavin Ciota was sixth at 99 pounds and Brady Schram was sixth at 132.
J-E had Bryan Tannefinish third at 99, beating Port Byron’s Henry Smith 7-4 in the consolation bracket final, while Landry LaFleur beat Ryan Reed (Lowville) 6-2 for third place at 182.
Also for the Eagles, Jared Lawrence beat Port Byron’s Mitch Tanner 4-1 to finish third at 220. Anthony Baron took fourth place at 195, while Derek Quigley got sixth place at 138 and Cole Mullen was sixth at 152.
