The calendar’s turn to February meant that it was time for wrestling teams from Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool to seek out post-season glory.
Already with the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division regular-season title in hand after beating the Warriors on Jan. 24, the Northstars were among the favorites for last Saturday’s Section III Class AA championships.
Yet it was Liverpool finishing ahead of C-NS in the final standings, 154 points to 136.5. Both were topped by host West Genesee, whose 185 points edged defending champion Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA (177.5) for the top spot.
What helped propel Liverpool ahead was winning in a pair of weight classes. At 113 pounds, Jeremy Ianno made it to a final against C-NS’s Brian Besanson, and it was Ianno prevailing by a 9-3 margin.
Steve Pascarella, at 138 pounds, didn’t have to worry about a C-NS challenger. Instead, he pinned Jordan Elliot (Rome Free Academy) in 61 seconds to reach the final, and then topped West Genesee’s Brady Ryan 7-3 for the title.
Five different times, C-NS wrestlers reached the championship round, but didn’t win any of them, despite every final coming down to the wire.
In the 106-pound title, Dan Sweeney was one takedown from the victory, but fell 4-3 to J-D/CBA’s David BeSeth. Nate Osborne, at 126 pounds, getting close to knocking off J-D/CBA favorite Tyler Kellison, only to take a 7-5 defeat.
It was the same at 152 pounds, Anthony Desimone contending throughout his title bout with RFA’s Marc Darcangelo, but unable to get on the board as he took a 2-0 loss.
Finally, at 220 pounds, Troyan Jones was up against WG’s Cole Wade. More points were found here than in other finals, but Jones still lost, 6-4, to Wade.
Having reached the finals at 120 pounds, Liverpool’s Jacob Ianno ran into WG’s Nate Wade and took a 17-0 technical fall. At 126 pounds, Jonah Gellar beat RFA’s Wally Wright 12-3 for third place, with Anthony Piscatelli (160 pounds) winning his consolation bracket final by pinning Alex Dauksza (Fayetteville-Manlius) in 2:47.
Jeremiah Poulsen was fourth for the Warriors at 132 pounds, with Ron Cyr (220) and Hamier Williams-Borges (285) also fourth. Chris Ianno (152) beat Ryan Bochenek (Auburn) for fifth place as Dom Ianno (145 pounds) was sixth.
C-NS, meanwhile, had Adam Brown pin RFA’s Jordan Elliott for third place at 138, but had no else reach consolation bracket finals. Harrison Portorsnok (106) beat Liverpool’s Rocco Degiormo 5-0 for fifth at 106 pounds, with Jacob Montminy (132) and Robert Salvett (170) also fifth as sixth-place finishes went to Adam Rush (195 pounds) and Dan Livesay (99 pounds).
Before all this, C-NS rolled past Oswego 77-6 last Tuesday night, benefiting from eight forfeits by the Buccaneers amounting to 48 points, but also winning plenty on the mat, too.
Brown pinned Seth Perrin in 3:14, with Desimone requiring six more than seconds than Brown to get his pin over Jesse Young.
Salvett (pinned Mason Cass with 30 seconds left in their bout as Rush got a third-period fall over Alfonso Alonso. At 12, Dominick Racht beat Darwin Warner 13-8 as Matt Walker, at 195, required an overtime takedown to beat Sebastian Foti 10-8.
Now C-NS and Liverpool wrestlers get ready for Saturday’s sectional Division I (large school) championships at SRC Arena, which start at 10 a.m. Winners advance to the Feb. 22-23 state championships in Albany.
