What the Liverpool wrestling team ultimately wanted out of last Saturday’s Section III Division I champioships at SRC Arena was to add to the honors it had already picked up this winter.
And while that didn’t happen, the Warriors, with a long string of podium finishes, still took third place with 127 points, best among the Class AA side as Class A’s Fulton (258.5) and Indian River (182.5) pulled away.
Just one Liverpool wrestler got all the way to the championship round. At 195 pounds, Hamier Williams-Borges, as the no. 3 seed, beat Shane Goutermout (Fulton) 9-3 in the quarterfinals and pulled off a third-period pin over Whitesboro’s Jeff Cubino in the semifinals.
So it all rode on Williams-Borges trying to knock off the top seed, Carthage’s Fambo Azah, in the finals. But Azah nearly pinned Williams-Borges in the first period and never got caught, ultimately earning a 5-2 decision.
After he dropped his 126-pound semifinal to Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA’s Ethan Wells in a narrow 3-2 decision, Jacob Ianno recovered to finish third, winning the consolation bracket final 3-1 over Fulton’s Walter Crofoot.
Freshman Jonah Geller did the same at 132 pounds, having lost his semifinal to eventual champion Luca Pirozzolo (Auburn) but then sweeping his consolation bracket matches, topping Wally Wright (Rome Free Academy) 6-2 for third.
J.J. Paulson finished fourth at 132 pounds, while J.J. Guindy earned fifth place at 285 pounds when he pinned J-D/CBA’s Nikoli Sims in 1:43.
Jeremy Ianno, after a semifinal defeat at 120 pounds, rebounded to finish fifth when he shut out Baldiwnsville’s Max Naples 7-0. Dom Ianno was fifth at 145 pounds as Rocco Degiormo earned sixth place at 113 pounds, with Chris Ianno sixth at 152 pounds.
At 106 pounds, Hayley Delia won her first-round bout over Cicero-North Syracuse’s Kevin Mossow 4-2 in overtime before a quarterfinal defeat to the eventual champion Fulton’s Dominick Hofmann.
Jeremy Valerio took a quarterfinal defeat at 160 pounds, while Lucas Smith (99 pounds) lost in the opening round, as did Gianpaul Cooper at 170 pounds, Naz Kelly at 182 pounds and Jake Ronan at 220 pounds.
C-NS got its best finish from Adam Rush at 220. Beaten in the quarterfinals, Rush swept three consolation bracket bouts, capped by a tough 5-4 win over Oswego’s Alfonso Alonso in the third-place contest.
At 99, Anthony Ciciarelli was the no. 2 seed, but lost in the quarterfinals to Central Square’s Wyatt Rupracht 8-6. At 113 pounds, Dan Sweeney lost in the quarterfinals and Harrison Portorsnok took an opening-round defeat.
Adam Brown finished sixth at 145 when he lost 3-0 to Dom Ianno. Gaetano Julian fell in the quarterfinals at 132 to Paulson, while Dylan Firenze took a quarterfinal defeat at 152. Dom Racht (126) and Zach Overton (160) both lost in the first round, as did Kamdin Bembry at 195 and Brady Ramos at 285.
