SYRACUSE – Once more, the combined Jamesville-DeWitt/Christian Brothers Academy wrestling team will have representation when the state championships take place Feb. 24-25 in Albany.
It was Matt Dougherty and Ben Paul emerging as champions during Saturday’s Section III Division I meet at SRC Arena, each of them earning automatic state meet berths in the process.
Paul was just a no. 3 seed at 189 pounds, but got going in the quarterfinals with a 3-0 shutout of James Gibbons (Carthage) and an 11-4 win over Zach Overton (Central Square) in the semifinals.
Syracuse’s Trey Darmody-Latham, the top seed, awaited in the final, but Paul earned enough takedowns to claim a 10-6 decision and move to 31-5 overall this winter.
Dougherty was the no. 2 seed at 110 pounds. After a first-round bye, he beat Kevin Mossow (Cicero-North Syracuse) in a technical fall and then pinned Austin Fesinger (West Genesee) in the second period of the semifinals.
Up against top seed Adam Munz from Vernon-Verona-Sherrill in the title bout, Dougherty jumped out to a big lead and, despite a couple of scares, kept accumulating points until he beat Munz 13-4 and improved his season mark to 32-9.
Nate Finn, the no. 2 seed at 132 pounds, lost a tense 13-11 semifinal to C-NS’s Kennedy Thomas, who went on to upset top seed Logan Munn (Carthage) in the finals and earn Most Outstanding Wrestler honors as Finn routed Jordan Ransom (Central Square) 11-3 and Lucas Smith (Liverpool) 10-3 to finish third.
Mason Porter also finished third, at 145 pounds, all but sealing it when, after a semifinal loss to West Genesee’s Maxx Fesinger, he edged Brad Boyhan (Auburn) 5-4 as VVS’s Kody Foster had to forfeit the third-place bout.
At 152 pounds, Gerald Vielhauer, shut out 7-0 in the semifinals by Indian River’s Brady Lynch, won third when he edged Connor Kral (Liverpool) 1-0 and pinned Tayvon Johnson (Watertown) in the second period
Hayden Fleet made his way to fourth place at 285 pounds, dropping a close third-place bout 3-2 to Carthage’s Kamdyn Dorchester. Dominic Shiano finished sixth at 102 pounds.
Before Dougherty won at 110, Carlos Barosso won a first-round bout over East Syracuse Minoa’s Peyton Spencer 7-6, only to meet Munz in the quarterfinals and take a 7-1 defeat. Sean Cavanaugh (160 pounds) and Matt Cooney (172 pounds) both lost in the quarterfinals.
Fayetteville-Manlius had Jackson Schwab lead the way. At 215 pounds, Schwab pinned Richard Fleischmann (Central Square) in the quarterfinals but then was pinned by C-NS’s Kamdin Bembry in the semifinal round.
Recovering from this, Schwab beat J-D/CBA’s Bryce Dadey with a second-period pin and, in the consolation bracket final, pinned Indian River’s Davin Dewaine as Dadey beat Fleischmann 7-3 for fifth place.
Trent Gloo, at 132, beat Caleb Reiser (Indian River) in the opening round before Finn pinned him in the quarterfinals, but Gloo did beat West Genesee’s Dylan Radclife and eventually took sixth place.
The Hornets’ Harrrison Schwab got sixth place at 138 pounds, keyed by a 2-1 decision over Carthage’s Avry LaGasse in the consolation bracket.
Andrew Dabulewicz, at 285, won 4-1 over Troy Fonger (Central Square) before a quarterfinal loss to Syracuse’s Sean Hunt and a 7-1 defeat to Fleet. Eric Kozlowski lost his 126-pound opening-round bout to C-NS’s Drew Baker 17-7.
ESM’s best finish came from Max Wunderlich, who was sixth at 285, dropping a pair of bouts after he pinned Indian River’s Jared Cook and lost to the eventual champion, New Hartford’s Chris Belmonte, in the semifinals.
Caiden Scott lost in the quarterfinals at 118 pounds to Fulton’s Brady Niver, with Andrew LaMarche doing the same at 189 when Overton pinned him after he pinned teammate Colin Caiello in 66 seconds in the opening round. Ian Schroeder, at 215, pinned J-D/CBA’s Michael Darling before Bembry pinned him.
