A high point of the season for the Cazenovia wrestling team is when it hosts its annual invitational meet in January.
So it was again when the Lakers welcomed a large field of 18 teams to Buckley Gym last Saturday at the tail end of its busiest stretch of the season.
This followed Cazenovia’s 2020 debut in the Jan. 4 Port Byron Mid-Winter Classic, which featured a victory for the Lakers’ John Frega at 220 pounds.
Frega pinned Matthew Fox (South Jefferson/Sandy Creek) and Noah Wazinski (North Rose-Wolcott) to reach the finals and, once there, claimed an 8-2 decision over Port Byron’s Mitchell Tanner.
Overall, Cazenovia finished sixth in the 15-team field with 95 points as Shaun Zampetti took third place at 99 pounds, beating Henry Smith (Port Byron) 2-1 in the consolation bracket final.
Luke Rodriguez was fourth at 106 pounds, with Kevin Valentine fourth at 170 pounds and Carter Polhamus sixth at 285 pounds. Matt Knutsen finished sixth at 126 pounds, with Lucca Ferreira sixth at 132 pounds.
Two more meets followed early last week, starting on Tuesday with Cazenovia taking on APW/Pulaski and rolling to a 59-12 victory.
Alex Rodriguez, at 160 pounds, began a string of four consecutive pins when he finished off Matt Bristol in 57 seconds.
Valentine pinned Konner Corbett in 3:25, with Patrick Livingston (182 pounds) pinning Jaiden Harrington in 84 seconds and Blaze Dannon (195 pounds) getting his pin over Mike Kinney in 2:33.
Reilly Hanson’s third-period fall over 285-pound opponent Damien West preceded Zampetti’s technical fall over Ronnie Dupont as Frega, Ferreira, Luke Rodriguez and Jedrek Olkowski claimed forfeits.
From there, Cazenovia hosted Jordan-Elbridge Thursday night and won again, taking 11 of the first 12 bouts on the card to rout the Eagles 56-16.
Pins were earned by Zampetti, Olkowski, Alex Rodriguez and Carter Polhamus (285), with Olkowski’s fall over Gauge Parker taking just 49 seconds.
Brad Gagnon (145 pounds) got past Caspian Phillips 8-5 as Frega blanked Jared Lawrence 5-0, with Valentine shutting out Cameron Newhook 8-0 and Ferreira handling Cameron Prior 13-2.
Back on Jan. 4, Chittenango took part in the Fallen Heroes Tournament at Canastota, finishing 12th with 40 points. John Spencer, at 285, pinned Phoenix’s Keaton Renfrow to finish third for the Bears’ best finish after he lost a 1-0 semifinal to Copenhagen’s Josh Freeman.
Taking on Homer Wednesday night, the Bears were able to get two mat victories during a 72-15 defeat to the Trojans.
Andrew Bailey won at 145 pounds, pinning David Morse late in the second period, followed by Joe Mariani (152 pounds) using an overtime takedown to beat Jakob Denkenberger 7-5. Ethan Ferguson claimed a forfeit at 285.
