CENTRAL NEW YORK – Off to a strong start this winter, the Jamesville-DeWitt/Christian Brothers Academy wrestling team was looking to keep it up as they went deeper into December.
And a key moment in the Rams’ climb was Wednesday’s match against its neighbors from Fayetteville-Manlius, who kept pace for a while, yet was unable to catch up, the Hornets taking a 34-27 defeat.
In the opening bout at 138 pounds, F-M’s Eric Kozlowski pinned John Lemondes in 36 seconds. J-D/CBA countered with Mason Porter (145 pounds) pinning Trent Gloo and, in what proved to be a pivotal 152-pound clash, Chris Grosso did just enough to earn a 7-6 decision over Tyler Delaney.
Harrison Schwab (160 pounds) and Jackson Schwab (285 pounds) both won for the Hornets, Harrison beating Logan Oppedisano 10-3 and Jackson getting a 37-second pin over Hayden Fleet. In between, Bryce Dadey (215 pounds) claimed a forfeit, Michael Darling (170 pounds) pinned Sam Herber and Sean Cavanaugh (190 pounds) beat Evan Froio 8-3.
It was Max Griffin, at 124 pounds, clinching it for the the Rams as he beat Grahamm Dauksza 12-4. At 108 pounds, the Hornets’ Joe Rafuse eded Askasha Nunnally 8-6 before Sam Reikes (116 pounds) won 11-9 over Carlos Barroso and Taden Minichillo (131 pounds) pinned Tom Cooney in 55 seconds.
Before this, F-M had its own strong showing on Dec. 9 at the Phoenix Round Robin, finishing fourth out of 18 teams with 125 points, not far from New Hartford’s third-place 136.5 and behind two Section V schools, Palmyra-Macedon and Rush-Henrietta.
Gloo (145) and Jackson Schwab both made it to the championship round, yet either of them was able to win, Gloo pinned by Pal-Mac’s Steve Schulz in the closing seconds and Schwab pinned by New Hartford’s Chris Belmonte.
Reikes did pin APW/Pulaski’s Aidan Lagowski in 81 seconds for third place at 116, while Kozlowski, moving down to 131 pounds, won his consolation bracket final by pinning New Hartford’s Caden Beecher late in the first period. Harrison Schwab was fourth at 152, with Froio sixth at 170.
East Syracuse Minoa dropped a 48-18 decision to Chittenango on Dec. 9, though it did see Charles English (170) pin Norman Coomer late in the third period and Peyton Spencer, at 124, pin Kamryn Coomrod in 85 seconds.
