CENTRAL NEW YORK – From now on, each of the area’s three high school wrestling teams understood the importance of each meet, with Jordan-Elbridge at the forefront due to its participation in the Division II Section III Dual Meet.
The Eagles were in the top half of the bracket as the no. 5 seed. In its quarterfinal match against no. 4 seed APW/Pulaski, J-E had little trouble finishing on top, prevailing 51-24.
This led to a semifinal against top seed and defending champion Central Valley Academy, which saw the Eagles jump out to a big early lead, only to have the Thunder rally and prevail 39-33.
Each of the first four bouts were J-E pins. Mason Tanner (101 pounds) took just 14 seconds to pin Jackson Scott as Ben Lamson (108 pounds) pinned Josh Tubia late in the third period, Liam Mantell (116 pounds) pinned Matt Osley in the second period and Connor Fraher, at 124 pounds, finished off Collin Grems in just 31 seconds.
CVA then took four of the next five bouts, the lone exception 145 pounds, where Dylan Nolan blanked Aden Mead 4-0. A pivotal 170-pound bout saw Henry Smith get close, but lose, 5-3, to Nikolai Penree.
That tied it, 27-27, leading to 190 pounds, where Jack Lamson pinned Jacob Blovat in 46 seconds, meaning all J-E had to do was win one of the last two bouts.
Instead, in a combined 91 seconds, Ethan Youngs (215 pounds) and Noah White (285 pounds) got pinned – Youngs by Sal Fresco, White by Jeremy McRedmond.
Marcellus competed last weekend in the Eastern States Championship at Sullivan Community College, unable to score a top-six finish in an elite field.
But the Mustangs returned to league action Tuesday and ripped Cazenovia 54-14, getting consecutive pins from Chris Doshna (170 pounds), Elliott Barbosa (190) and Gabe LaFleur (215) to go out in front for good.
Then Marcellus won every bout from 108 to 152, two of them forfeits, the others pins by Jake Burton (108) and Dallas Wlson (138 pounds) to go with close decisions where Jack Burton (124) edged Cullen Arnold 6-5 and Trevor Rankin (145 pounds) won 6-4 over Gabriel Sanchez.
West Genesee would find success when it went to the Southern Tier Memorial Tournament in Elmira and picked up 78 points, putting the Wildcats 11th in an event with 32 teams on hand.
Logan Willis, at 131, and Maxx Fesinger, at 160 pounds, both reached the finals, and went all six minutes in their title bouts. Willis lost to Jayden Duncanson (Tioga) 5-1 and Fesinger had a 15-4 defeat to Tioga’s Ousmane Duncanson. Cole Willis finished sixth at 101.
WG followed this up last Wednesday with an impressive effort at Liverpool, winning every single bout from 131 to 190 pounds on the way to handling the Warriors 51-18.
The streak included five straight pins from Ali Abumustafa (145 pounds), Dylan Radcliffe (152 pounds), Maxx Fesinger (160) Jacob Severson (170 pounds) and Elijah Apps (195 pounds), with Radcliffe taking 59 seconds to finish off Ryan Heneka and Severson pinning Steve Hamilton in 69 seconds.
Closer bouts included a 10-7 decision by Logan Willis over Samir Amiri at 138 and Jackson Austin, at 108 pounds, needing an overtime takedown to beat Gavin Mihalitsas 9-7. Austi
It was West Genesee also taking part in the inaugural girls wrestling Section III Invitational at Fulton Monday afternoon, seeing Riley Butler reach the championship around at 126 pounds.
Wrestling in the semifinals, Butler beat Lexi Doxstader (Holland Patent) 10-3, but in the championship round ran into Lowville’s Payten Tuttle, who won with a second-period fall. Still, Butler was able to earn a spot in next weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association Invitational at SRC Arena.
