As it geared up to take part in this Saturday’s Section III Division II Dual Meet, the Marcellus wrestling team continued to sweep past all of its OHSL Liberty division foes.
Up against Mexico last Wednesday night, the Mustangs matched the Tigers’ point total on the mat and, benefiting from a pair of forfeits, prevailed by a score of 39-27.
Even the early losses were fine efforts on the part of Marcellus, with Dylan Hood (195 pounds) and Wilvon McKee (220 pounds) both tough in their defeats – Hood falling to Austin Miller 5-3, McKee losing to Jacob O’Reilly 3-0.
Then Kyle Brown, at 285 pounds, got the Mustangs on the board, blanking Jacob Becker 4-0 before Colin Scherer (99 pounds) pinned Ryan Gates early in the third period.
Yet even with the forfeits to Carl Santiarello at 106 pounds and Gavin Ciota at 113 pounds, Marcellus needed to close strong, and did so by winning four of the last six bouts.
Dylan Price, at 138 pounds, took just 53 seconds to pin Patrick Johnson, while Tim Okhman claimed a 9-5 decision over 152-pound opponent Tom Gessner.
At 160 pounds, Aiden Sistak was pushed to overtime by Harley Wakeman, but got a takedown to win 6-4 and clinch the team match before Zach Grolling, at 182 pounds, used his own OT takedown to win 8-4 over Skylar Raymond.
Competing again two nights later against Port Byron, the Mustangs routed the Panthers 74-6, a match that included seven forfeits but also plenty of mat victories.
Ethan Ciota, at 126 pounds, got a pin over Ronald Jones in 2:33, with Quinten Weaver (152 pounds) earning a pin over Chris Martinez midway through the third period as Zach Grolling (182 pounds) pinned Gillespei Hunter in the final seconds.
Other bouts were much closer, including McKee getting past Mitchell Tanner 4-1 and Ryan Moses (138 pounds) topping Gabe Newton 5-2. Scherer beat Henry Smith 8-1 and Price had a 15-0 technical fall over Isaac Svitavsky.
West Genesee and Jordan-Elbridge had both taken part in the Jan. 11 Cazenovia Invitational, where the Wildcats finished seventh with 87.5 points in a 23-team field.
Nate Wade won at 132 pounds, running past Spencer Van Etten’s Dukinson Ousmane 14-2 in the semifinals and then jumping all over Greene-Oxford’s Brady Smith in the finals, winning with an 18-3 technical fall.
The Eagles got a victory, too, from Jared Lawrence at 220. In the semifinals, Lawrence edged Hannibal’s Anthony Crofoot 3-2 and proved just as tough in the final when he held off Cazenovia’s John Frega 2-1.
WG also had Colin McAvan reach the finals at 160 before a 12-3 defeat to Fayetteville-Manlius’ Alex Dauksza, while Pete Dwinell was fifth at 195 and Gavin O’Neill sixth at 126 pounds. J-E’s Bryan Tanner (113) and Cameron Newhook (182 pounds) each had sixth-place finishes.
It got a lot tougher for the Wildcats last Wednesday night as it hosted Liverpool and could only get wins in three of the 15 bouts during a 67-10 loss to the Warriors.
Nate Wade, moving up to 138, fought off Jonah Gellar 12-7, this after Gellar won in that weight class at Cazenovia, while McAvan beat Chris Ianno 10-3 and O’Neill claimed an 11-3 win over Mohammod Yousuf.
Liverpool claimed every other bout, from a duel at 99 where Jack Wade lost 5-0 to Lucas Smith to 132, where Jackson Taetsch fell to Jerimiah Paulson 9-1.
That same night, Jordan-Elbridge faced Hannibal, and fell 66-21 to that group of Warriors, which won each of the last seven bouts on the card.
Prior to that, Lawrence had won a rematch with Crofoot 6-2, with Tanner pinning Ben Alton in 34 seconds. Christian Mathews, at 120, pinned Dominic Greenwood in 95 seconds as Madyn LaFleur claimed a forfeit at 99.
