CENTRAL NEW YORK – After a winter of delay and a spring of matches held on outdoors mats, area high school wrestling teams have finally made it back to their usual surroundings.
One head-to-head match last Thursday night pitted Fayetteville-Manlius against East Syracuse Minoa, and it was the Hornets finishing on top, getting a 44-30 victory over the Spartans.
All five bouts from 110 to 138 pounds went in F-M’s favor, with just one of them a forfeit to Trent Gloo at 132 pounds.
Charlie Caputo, wrestling at 126 pounds, took just 30 seconds to pin Jack Paddock, with Harrison Schwab (119 pounds) getting a 90-second fall over Caiden Scott and Paul Cange (138) pinning Brenden Zweisler in 1:45.
Sam Reikes, at 110, outlasted Karlo Verogne 14-7 as the Hornets secured its victory with two other pins and a technical fall by Luke Richter (172 pounds) 19-4 over Ryan Lillo. At 152 pounds, Kyle Sykes finished off John Aloi in 60 seconds, with Jackson Schwab (215 pounds) taking 3:30 to pin Ian Schroeder.
Aside from a forfeit to Peyton Spencer at 102 pounds, each of ESM’s other wins were through pins, including Dylan Johnston getting a 60-second fall of his own against 160-pound opponent Nicolai Pavlov.
At 145 pounds, Jason Johnson earned his pin over Joe Sullivan in 2:45. Max Wunderlich (285 pounds) needed just 90 seconds to pin Kyle Iannicello as Colin Zweisler, at 189 pounds, pinned Max Leyhane in 1:42.
A night earlier, ESM started against its neighbors from Chittenango, and did just enough, through pins and forfeits, to edge the Bears 36-35.
In the second match at 145, Charlie English got the Spartans on the board with a last-second pin over Martez Webb before forfeits to Aloi at 152 and Luke Gibson at 160 pounds.
Wunderlich got another forfeit, but ESM also won twice on the mat to hang on. Schroeder took just 65 seconds to pin Luke Martin as Verogne pinned Mason Ferstler late in the second period.
Jamesville-DeWitt/Christian Brothers Academy went to last Saturday’s Morrisville-Eaton Duals and came within a single point of earning the title.
Having defeated host M-E and ESM (who would go 0-5), J-D/CBA also topped Cazenovia 58-6 and Whitesboro 51-15, setting up a showdown with Vernon-Verona-Sherrill for the top spot.
The Red Devils prevailed 34-33, building a 34-21 edge and then hanging on because J-D/CBA’s Chris Grasso (126) and Nathan Finn (132) were only able to earn three-point decisions before William BeSeth’s closing pin at 138.
Otherwise, Mason Porter opened at 145 with a 13-2 romp over Kody Foster, with Ben Paul (215) getting a pin and Hayden Fleet, at 285, getting a 13-second pin over Blake Brown as Jordyn Hill earned a pin a 110.
That same day, F-M picked up 43 points to finish 17th out of 21 teams at the Bill Andersen Memorial Tournament at Cicero-North Syracuse.
