Though it had to hold most of its competitions away from home this winter, the Liverpool wrestling team turned this into an opportunity to demonstrate that it could succeed anywhere.
The Warriors clinched the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division regular-season title last Monday night when it traveled to Baldwinsville and dominated the Bees, prevailing by a score of 59-15.
What made this win so unique for the Warriors was that it won the first seven bouts on the card, and then swept the last five.
It began at 152 pounds with Dom Ianno pinning Ryan Hemund midway through the second period and continued with Chris Ianno (160 pounds) holding off Connor Kral 7-2.
Three of the next four bouts were forfeits to Jeremy Valerio (170 pounds), Hamier Williams-Borges (195 pounds) and Jake Ronan (220 pounds), but Naz Kelly wrestled at 182 pounds and beat Fred Pickard 11-5.
After J.J. Guindy, at 285 pounds, pinned Korban Haney early in the third period, B’ville won the next three bouts, though Rocco Degiormo wrestled well at 113 pounds in a 14-9 loss to Aidan Cali.
Once Jeremy Ianno, at 120 pounds, used an overtime takedown to beat Mason Clark 8-6, the Warriors didn’t lose again, Jacob Ianno following up at 126 pounds with a 9-1 win over Max Naples.
Jeremiah Paulson (132 pounds) got a third-period pin over Brandon Levin and Jonah Gellar, at 138 pounds, handled Jaden Prince 13-3 as Paul Marquis (145 pounds) claimed a forfeit.
With that league title secure, Liverpool had a unique meet against New Hartford 24 hours later, with Zogg Middle School serving as the venue for the Warriors’ lone “home” meet of the winter.
This served as Senior Night to honor the current Liverpool wrestlers and a chance to welcome back alumni, too, and the Warriors celebrated by defeating the Spartans 69-15 with pins earned by Isaiah Cordova (145) along with Jacob Ianno, Dom Ianno and Chris Ianno.
At Cazenovia on Thursday, it was more of the same, the Warriors handling the Lakers 61-12. Pins were earned by Degiormo, Cordova, Jeremy Ianno and Dom Ianno.
There were some close bouts, too, whether it was Williams-Borges topping John Frega 4-1 or Guindy claiming a 2-0 decision over Carter Polhamus. Gellar beat Lucca Ferreira 9-2 and Chris Ianno handled Alex Rodriguez 13-3.
Cicero-North Syracuse had its own meet against Baldwinsville last Wednesday night, and by claiming the first seven bouts on the card, the Northstars built an insurmountable advantage and earned a 54-27 win over the Bees.
Dan Sweeney got it going at 113 with an 8-4 win over Clark, followed at 120 by Harrison Portorsnok fighting into overtime to edge Naples 2-0.
In between forfeits to Dominick Racht (126) and John Sherbourne (145), Gaetano Julian (132) and Vincent Ciciarelli (138) both earned pins – Julian over Prince, Ciciarelli over Levin.
Adam Brown’s pin of Ryan Hemund at 152 completed the run, and though Dylan Firenze (160) lost 7-3 to Connor Kral, Adam Rush (220) pinned Jacob Mitts, with forfeits going to Zach Overton (170) and Kamdin Bembry (195).
And it all leads C-NS and Liverpool to this Saturday’s Section III Class AA championships, held at Auburn, which get underway at 10 a.m.
