Anything less than the top spot in the standings would not satisfy the Marcellus wrestling team as, along with Jordan-Elbridge, it took part in last Saturday’s Onondaga High School League Liberty/Patriot tournament at Homer.
And the Mustangs did prevail, earning 302.45 points as Homer was second with 240 points. J-E settled for eighth place, earning 47.5 points.
Marcellus won seven of the 15 weight classes, led by Dylan Price, named the meet’s Most Outstanding Wrestler after he beat teammate Quinten Weaver in a 19-2 technical fall for the 138-pound title.
Ethan Ciota swept all of his matches at 113 pounds, including the final, a 61-second pin over J-E’s Bryan Tanner. Carl Santiarello was victorious at 106 pounds when he beat Hannibal’s Jack Lamson 12-5, with Gavin Ciota sixth as Colin Scherer blanked Port Byron’s Henry Smith 7-0 for the victory at 99 pounds.
At 132 pounds, Ryan Moses won when he got past Homer’s Kadien Haynes in a 3-1 decision. Kyle Brown won at 285 pounds when he edged Phoenix’s Keaten Renfrew by that same 3-1 margin, while Dylan Hood claimed the title at 195 pounds over Homer’s Tavyn Malchak 5-1.
Wilvon McKee beat Mitchell Tanner (Port Byron) 2-1 for third place at 220 pounds, with Zach Grolling third at 170 pounds after he won 4-2 over Homer’s Blair Wakula.
Aiden Stasik was third at 160 pounds, topping Cazenovia’ Alex Rodriguez 2-1 for that finish, and at 113 pounds Devon Beal blanked Hannibal’s Ben Alton2-0 for third place.
Paul Okhman was fourth at 170 pounds matched by Eric Radionov (99) and Nate Farino (195 pounds), while Adam Barbosa got sixth place at 126 pounds.
J-E had Cameron Newhook reach the finals at 182 pounds before a 12-3 loss to Hannibal’s Ethan Scanlon. Jared Lawrence got close to the title at 220, only to fall 2-1 to Homer’s Sam Sorenson.
Before all this, J-E claimed a 42-37 match over Port Byron last Wednesday in large part because the Panthers had to forfeit five weight classes. Still, at 126 Christian Mathews took just 66 seconds to pin Ronald Jones before Newhook got a pin over Gillespei Hunter in 57 seconds.
West Genesee got a tournament victory of its own on Jan. 25 when it swept the field in the Red Devil Duals at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill.
The closest match was the first one, a 42-41 battle with Canajoharie-Fort Plain where it took Cole Arnold’s 51-second pin of Dustin Moyer at 220 to prevent a C-FP comeback. Before that, Nate Wade (138) and Cole Saxon (152 pounds) earned pins and Colin McAvan (160 pounds) earned a technical fall
A 60-21 romp over Oneida followed, with pins from Wade, Saxon, Dylan Pitonza (120) and Jake Gartner-Baca (138).
The Wildcats then beat host VVS 45-36, a key blow Jack Wade (106 pounds) defeating Trey Wickham 7-6 after pins by McAvan, Wade, Gartner-Baca and Jackson Taetsch at 132.
Handling Chittenango 66-18, WG had Preston Elia (182) join Taetsch, Saxon and Arnold with pins. Finally, the Wildcats beat Odessa-Montour 66-21, with Wade, Saxon, Gartner-Baca, Taetsch, Anthony Orendorf (113) and Gavin O’Neill (126) gaining pins.
All of this did not carry over into last Monday’s head-to-head match against Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA, the Rams defeating the Wildcats 63-17.
Solvay’s Tyriq Block, who wrestles with J-D/CBA, pinned Elia as WG lost all seven bouts in the lighter weight classes. Wade pinned Luis Martinez in 52 seconds, with McAvan getting a 17-0 technical fall over Leonardo Tallarico and Arnold getting his own 52-second fall over Nikoli Sims.
Then WG wrestled again on Wednesday and went right back to the win column, topping Fayetteville-Manlius 51-27.
O’Neill’s 58-second pin of Cooper Dereszynski highlighted an effort where Taetsch, Saxon and Arnold also earned pins. Pitonza held off Kyle Sykes 8-5 as Wade, Orendorf and Peter Dwinell (195) got forfeits.
Yet another match on Thursday had WG edging North Rose-Wolcott 42-39, needing pins from McAvan, Saxon, O’Neill and Dwinell.
