CENTRAL NEW YORK – A peak moment for the West Genesee wrestling team came on Jan. 20 when it hosted the Wildcat Duals and swept all four of its opponets to finish on top.
The Wildcats started out by blanking Rome Free Academy 75-0. Then it defeated Chittenango 52-18, handled Pennsylvania’s Lackawanna Trail 57-11 and closed it out by beating Syracuse City 58-18.
Along the way, seven different WG wrestlers earned perfect 4-0 marks – Max Alexander (116 pounds), Omar Almlaiti (285 pounds), Jackson Austin (108 pounds), Austin Fesinger (124 pounds), Maxx Fesinger (160 pounds), Cole Willis (101 pounds) and Logan Willis, who alternated between 131 and 138 pounds.
Then, in Friday’s match against East Syracuse Minoa, the Wildcats shut out the Spartans 78-0 and, by doing so, gave head coach Brian McAvan his 100th career victory.
Just six bouts were contested, all of them ending in pins. Almlaiti, Alexander, Bryson Baron (138 pounds), Ali Abumustafa (145 pounds), Maxx Fesinger and Jacob Severson (170 pounds) got them, the quickest an 80-second pin by Severson over Owen Roche.
Back on Jan. 20, Jordan-Elbridge went to the Albany suburbs for the King Bison Invitational at Shaker, where in a 24-team field the Eagles notched 73.5 points for ninth place.
Jack Lamson, improving to 28-0 on the season, was victorious at 170 pounds, pinning Christian Burke (Canajoharie-Fort Plain) in the semifinals before a title bout where he held off Gouverneur’s Drew Gates 6-4.
Liam Mantell managed fifth place at 116 pounds when he pinned Newburgh Free Academy’s Jordan Busby in the second period. Lucas Witter got sixth place at 124 pounds, a finish Henry Smith (160 pounds) and Noah White (215 pounds) equaled.
A 45-22 head-to-head defeat to Fayetteville-Manlius followed last Wednesday night, J-E only getting two wins on the mat. Connor Fraher had one of them, at 124, nearly getting a technical fall on Graham Dauszka in a 16-2 decision as Logan Merriam (138) won a wild one in overtime, his takedown beating Luis Rivera 18-16.
J-E, on Saturday, serves as hosts for the Onondaga High School League tournament, favored along with Marcellus, who in last Wednesday’s match with Southern Hills prevailed by a score of 36-21.
Southern Hills won more bouts on the mat – five of them, compared to the Mustangs’ four – but had to forfeit in each of the three lightest weight classes along with a 170-pound bout to Chris Doshna.
Four other bouts were hard-fought decisions in the Mustangs’ favor. At 124, Jack Burton battled past Ray Carr 3-1, with Hollis Child (131) following up with an 8-7 decision over Blake Wilcox.
Colin Scherer went all six minutes at 145 pounds to blank Logan Sheriff 7-0 as Trevor Rankin, at 152 pounds, won 6-2 over Louis Bennett. Other close bouts had Anthony Decapio (160 pounds) taking a 2-0 loss to Owen Moltion, Gable LaFleur (285) falling to Carson Edwards 3-1 and Jayden Abbott, at 190 pounds, losing in overtime to David Frazee.
J-E wrestled on Thursday night and beat APW/Pulaski 44-27, sweeping each of the five lightest weight classes after Jack Lamson pinned Micah Hawn in 78 seconds and Drake Allen (190) claimed a forfeit.
Mason Tanner also got a forfeit at 101 before Ben Lamson, at 108 pounds, beat Aidan Logowski 6-2. Mantell took 91 seconds to pin Hunter Willson, while Witter blanked Trenton Koch in a 17-0 technical fall and Fraher, moving up to 131 pounds, got a 90-second fall over Ariana Poel.
