CENTRAL NEW YORK – Area high school wrestling operated on something like a part-time basis during the 2020-21 school year, with no Section III or state competition and few matches taking place in indoor settings.
Now a full-time schedule is back, for now, and two area sides, Marcellus and West Genesee, would open against each other last Wednesday night in Camillus, with the Mustangs prevailing 45-21.
Marcellus claimed five of the first six bouts, opening at 145 pounds with Chris Doshna pinning the Wildcats’ Jack Wade in the final seconds as Dan Okhman (152 pounds) won a 7-6 thriller over Dylan Pitonza and Adam Barbosa, at 160 pounds, pinning Sam Snyder in the second period.
It took Colin McAvan (172 pounds) pinning Jayden Loguidice in 1:55 to get WG on the board before Ryder Donahue (189 pounds) got Marcellus a 3-2 win over Jacob Stevenson and Jonas Kazor (215 pounds) pinned Omar Almlaiti in 4:47.
Yet another close decision went in the Wildcats’ favor at 285 pounds, Mo Abdel edging Josiah McCheyne 10-8, but the Wildcats’ other points came from forfeits.
Meanwhile, Marcellus won three more times on the mat. Carl Santiarello, at 118 pounds, outlasted Logan Willis 14-10, while Colin Scherer (126 pounds) pinned Anthony Orendorf in 52 seconds and Alex Lostracco (132 pounds) got a second-period fall over Elliott Petrie.
Both sides then went to Saturday’s Bill Andersen Memorial Tournament at Cicero-North Syracuse, where Marcellus had the best local finish in the 21-team field, earning 116.5 points to only trail Fairport (Section V) and Falconer (Section VI). West Genesee was 11th with 70 points.
Donovan Fraher won at 110 pounds for the Mustangs, pinning Canton’s Tyson Schirmer in the final in 3:25, with Scherer taking the title at 126 when he beat Amsterdam’s Carlos Mantalvo 6-2. Santariello reached the finals at 118, but had to forfeit to Homer’s Talan Hubbard
While this was going on, Jordan-Elbridge made quite an opening impression by sweeping all five of its foes during the APW/Pulaski Duals.
The Eagles handled Mexico 54-15 in the opener and then beat Syracuse City 54-21. Going from there, J-E routed host APW/Pulaski 57-15, got a 60-18 win over Moravia and closed with a 60-9 romp over Oswego.
Jack Smith pinned all five of his opponents at 145, including a 17-second fall over Oswego’s John Delconte. Dylan Nolan went 5-0 at 110, as did Tyler Chilson at 102 pounds, Jack Lamson at 132 and Chris Martinez at 152.
Isaac Svitavsky won all five of his bouts at 160, with Angelo Turo (170). Nolan Jackson (126) had a 4-1 effort, matched by Henry Smith (138). Raiden Yale took three of his five bouts at 215 pounds.
