It was already quite a good month for the Marcellus wrestling team based on the first week of December.
A head-to-head win over West Genesee was followed, for the Mustangs, by a third-place finish out of 19 teams in the Dec. 7 Andersen Tournament at Cicero-North Syracuse, with individual titles going to Colin Scherer at 99 pounds and Carl Santiarello at 106 pounds.
Following that up, Marcellus went to Homer last Wednesday night and was successful again, doing just enough to hold off the Trojans 36-33 to gain early control in the OHSL Liberty division.
Early in the meet, Trevor Widrick (182 pounds) pinned Allen Markley in 78 seconds and Zach Grolling (195 pounds) got a 10-0 shutout over Brycen Coggins.
Scherer claimed a forfeit, but Santiarello wrestled at 120 pounds and had a 20-5 technical fall over Gavin Bennett after Ethan Ciota (113 pounds) got a pin over Chancler Kiner in 90 seconds.
Late in the meet, Dylan Price (138 pounds) claimed a forfeit, but Ryan Moses (145 pounds) took a 4-1 loss to Kaiden Haynes.
The last two bouts decided matters. At 152 pounds, Tim Okhman edged David Morse 7-6, and when Quentin Weaver (160 pounds) avoided a pin in a 4-1 defeat to Jakob Denkenberger, Marcellus held on to its lead.
West Genesee, meanwhile, took on Baldwinsville in its SCAC Metro division opener, and had a late lead, only to see it get away in a 45-37 defeat to the Bees.
B’ville had jumped out 15-0 by taking the first three bouts before Gavin O’Neill (132 pounds) got the Wildcats on the board, blanking Brandon Levin 4-0.
Jake Gartner-Baca (138) pinned Everett Buckner in the third period and Nate Wade (145) pinned Jaden Prince in 1:26, and the Wildcats would win three more in a row.
Ejarian Burgin, at 152, pinned Liam Fitzgerald in 85 seconds, with Devin Earl (160) taking four fewer seconds to pin Ryan Hemund as Colin McAvan (170) handled Connor Kral 10-2.
When Cole Arnold, at 220 pounds, pinned Jacob Mitts in 59 seconds, WG held a 37-27 lead with three bouts left. But B’ville claimed all of the remaining points through two pins and a forfeit.
That same night, Jordan-Elbridge found its own success against Chittenango, the Eagles claiming nine of the first 10 bouts on the way to bashing the Bears 61-17.
At 132 pounds, Nolan Jackson opened by pinning QuentinMohamed midway through the third period, with Gauge Parker (138 pounds) taking just 59 seconds to pin Nate Mariani.
Cole Mullen, at 152 pounds, toughed out an 8-4 decision over Joe Mariani before Zach Hill’s 68-second pin over 160-pound foe Macsen Cameron and forfeits to Raiden Yale (170 pounds) and Cameron Newhook (182 pounds).
Anthony Baron, at 195 pounds, got the night’s quickest pin, finishing off Jacob Ezzo in 26 seconds before Jared Lawerence (220 pounds) had a 75-second fall over Luke Martin.
And to close out the night, Christian Mathews won an entertaining 120-pound bout over Oliver Denney 20-11 as Bryan Tanner (126 pounds) recorded a second-period pin of Gage Gifford.
Marcellus would finish third out of 11 teams in Saturday’s Dave Buck Memorial Tournament, while West Genesee would shine in the Phoenix Round Robin, getting fourth place in a 17-team field.
Wade edged Mexico’s Dean Shambo 2-1 to take the title at 132, while Earl won at 160 when he pinned Grand Island’s Brian Bielec in 54 seconds in the title bout.
Also for the Wildcats, McAvan and Cole Saxon (145) had third-place finishes, with O’Neill fourth at 126. Gartner-Baca got a sixth-place finish at 138.
J-E would go 2-3 in the Brett Dixon Memorial Tournament at Central Square, defeating Chittenango 60-24 and topping Rome Free Academy 48-24 while taking losses to the host Redhawks, plus Liverpool and East Syracuse Minoa.
