Now the heavy part of the season starts for the area’s trio of high school wrestling teams, with Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA finding particular success on the first Saturday of 2020.
All that the Rams did was rise to the top spot of the Fallen Heroes Tournament at Canastota High School, earning 197 points to top a 13-team field as Batavia was second with 178 points.
East Syracuse Minoa was ninth with 78 points, but saw Alex Leo earn the 138 pounds, pinning Gavin Schmidt (Batavia) in the semifinals before a 5-0 shutout of Adirondack’s Ray Hennessey in the title bout.
J-D/CBA won despite having just one individual champion – Tyriq Block, who went to the top at 182 pounds by edging Hannibal’s Ethan Scanlon 3-1 after a semifinal pin of Canastota’s Cole Deking.
Three other Rams got to the finals, with Shoh Alibekov (152 pounds) narrowly beaten 5-4 by Batavia’s Kaden Marucci as Enver Bulatov was second at 160 pounds and Ethan Wells the runner-up at 126 pounds.
Matt Dougherty’s 5-0 shutout of Baldwinsville’s Jarred McMonagle put him third at 99 pounds, while five others – Jackson Thomas (106 pounds), Jacob Carlsen (120 pounds), Hythm Abdel-Aziz (160 pounds), Jayden Hemingway (170 pounds) and Muaweyah El-Hindi (195 pounds) – had second-place finishes.
Nathan Finn finished fifth at 106 pounds, with Garrett Williams fifth at 126 pounds as William BeSeth gained sixth place at 113 pounds.
On ESM’s side, Andrew Crone reached the final at 195 before falling to Whitesboro’s Jeff Cubino. Nick Modlewski had the Spartans’ lone other podium finish, getting sixth at 152 pounds.
Back on Dec. 27, Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA was part of the large field in the Windsor Christmas Tournament, finishing 21st in a 33-team field with 43 points as Mount Sinai (151.5 points) grabbed the top spot.
Enver Bulatov secured fifth place at 160 when he beat Norwich’s Dakota Powers with a pin in 2:49, but he was the Rams’ lone top-six finisher.
ESM ventured on Dec. 27 and 28 ventured to SUNY-Oswego for the Kenneth Haines Memorial Tournament and finished ninth out of 24 teams with 80.5 points.
At 160, Aslan Abdulla worked his way to the semifinals and beat Camden’s Tyler Pelton 13-9, leading to a final against Fultons’ Camrin Galvin, who topped Abdulla in a 21-6 technical fall.
Ali Abdulla got fourth place at 170, while Crone pinned Fulton’s Ben Demars in 53 seconds for fifth place at 195. Modlewski reached the 152-pound semifinal before Fulton’s Cuinn Burlingham beat him.
Fayetteville-Manlius resumed its season last Thursday against Mexico, and could only win a handful of bouts in a 72-18 defeat to the Tigers.
Alex Dauksza, at 160, pinned Skylar Raymond in the second period, with Sawyer Dereszynski (170) following up by pinning Ethan Lillie in just 38 seconds.
Abdulrahman Abouelamayem climed a forfeit at 113 pounds, but Mexico won the rest of the bouts, armed with a full slate of wrestlers as it earned eight pins and five forfeits.
Two days later, in the Leo J. Sammon Memorial Tournament at Central Valley Academy, the Hornets finished 10th in a 15-team field with 52.5 points, with host CVA, the state’s top-ranked Division II team, winning team honors.
Individually, Dereszynski beaet Eladio Montalvo (Amsterdam) 5-3 for third place at 170, with Liam Malgieri third at 285 after topping Amsterdam’s Shakeim Ramsey 6-1.
