CENTRAL NEW YORK – Resting and practicing since its Dec. 4 appearance in the Andersen Tournament at Cicero-North Syracuse, the Marcellus wrestling team saw that break prolonged.
A meet with Cazeznovia set for last Wednesday night was postponed and rescheduled for Jan. 20, much closer to the end of the regular season.
So the Mustangs would not wrestle again until it faced Mexico two days before Christmas – and as it waited, Jordan-Elbridge and West Genesee proved quite active.
In fact, the Eagles and Wildcats were both in the Phoenix Round Robin on Dec. 11, part of a 20-team field. And J-E made its way to seventh place with 119.5 points, well clear of the Wildcats’ 12th-place total of 80 points.
Jack Lamson gave J-E a victory at 132 pounds, pinning Baldwinsville’s Keagan Hayes in the semifinal before a title bout where he nearly blanked Grand Island’s Miles Coughlin in a 9-1 decision.
Four different Eagles – Nolan Jackson (126 pounds), Jack Smith (145 pounds), Jon Everhart (160 pounds) and Angelo Turo (172 pounds) – each had fifth-place efforts, with Turo edging Liverpool’s Connor Kral 4-2 and Smith getting a tough 3-2 win over Sackets Harbor’s Kayleb Martin.
On WG’s side, Colin McAvan was third at 160 pounds, pinning Phoenix’s Ethan Bruno in the consolation bracket final as Maxx Fesinger was fourth at 138 pounds. Logan Willis earned fifth place at 118 by routing Phoenix’s Caleb Jolly 14-2.
Competing again two nights later against East Syracuse Minoa, WG trailed with five bouts to go, but by claiming the last four contested matches, it was able to beat the Spartans 39-30.
At 102, Austin Feisinger’s 69-second pin over Peyton Spencer began a surge continued at 118 when Willis pinned Karlo Vergne in the second period.
But it wasn’t until Matt Murdock, at 145, outscored Jason Johnson 14-10 that the Wildcats went in front for good, and it still needed Sam Snyder, at 152, to win in the finale – which he did, pinning John Aloi in 74 seconds.
