JORDAN – Another strong season for the Marcellus wrestling team reached its culmination last Saturday when it earned the Onondaga High School League tournament championship at Jordan-Elbridge.
Not only did the Mustangs finish first in the team standings, its long-time head coach, Todd Donovan, was named the league’s Coach of the Year and Colin Scherer, the champion at 138 pounds, earned American division Wrestler of the Year honors and celebrated with three pins in three bouts that each lasted less than a minute. with three pins in three bouts that each lasted less than a minute.
Marcellus picked up 179.5 points overall, well clear of the second-place total of 145.5 from Southern Hills as J-E, with 138.5 points, settled for third place.
Scherer began his run in the quarterfinals by pinning Southern Hills’ Trevor Moreno in 21 seconds. Then, in the semifinals, he needed just 26 seconds to pin APW/Pulaski’s Brodie Martin, setting up a final with Phoenix’s Jayden Thomas, where in 51 seconds Scherer ended it, improving his season record to 29-2.
The Mustangs’ other title came from Jack Burton at 124 pounds, but this was much closer, Burton having to win three close decisions starting with an 8-3 quarterfinal over Quentin Thomas (Phoenix) and a tense 4-3 semifinal over Ray Carr (Southern Hills).
Now it was Burton against J-E’s Connor Fraher, the top seed, in the title bout. Having blanked Jackson Marks (Cortland) 13-0 in the semifinals, Fraher, with a 22-6 record, was favored, but Burton battled through six minutes and, by the same 4-3 margin that he beat Carr, got to the top of the awards podium.
Five other Marcellus wrestlers reached finals – Dallas Wilson at 131 pounds, Trevor Rankin at 145 pounds, Chris Dosha at 170 pounds, Jayden Abbott at 190 pounds and Caleb Posecznick at 215 pounds. All lost their title bouts, but Rankin got close against Southern Hills’ Logan Sheriff, taking a 5-4 defeat.
A trio of Mustangs finished third, Blaine Haney doing so at 101 pounds by pinning Logan Zimmer (APW/Pulaski) and Jake Burton (108 pounds) with a pin over his teammate, Knoll McCoy. Anthony DeCapio pinned Cash Homer (Southern Hills) for third place at 152 pounds and Elliott Barbosa was fifth at 190.
J-E had five individual champions, including OHSL Liberty National division Wrestler of the Year Jack Lamson, who at 170 beat Doshna 12-1 in the final to remain undefeated in 33 bouts this winter right after Henry Smith, at 160 pounds, blanked Cortland’s Wyatt Tinker 6-0 to finish on top. Lamson was named the
Sweeping the three lightest weight classes, the Eagles saw Mason Tanner, at 101 pounds, pin Cazenovia’s Gryphon Foster in the second period of their title bout, just what Liam Mantell did at 116 pounds over Chittenango’s Trevor McDonald. At 108, Ben Lamson claimed the championship by topping APW/Pulaski’s Aidan Lagowski 6-1.
Fraher was J-E’s only other finalist and Tyler Chilson the lone third-place finisher, at 116, pinning teammate Ryan Gibbs. Drake Allen got fourth place at 170 as Chipper Grinnell, also at 116, beat Marcellus’ Kurtis Gardner for fifth place and Logan Merriam was fifth at 138, with Noah White sixth at 215.
Marcellus went from here to prevailing 43-24 over West Genesee in Wednesday night’s regular-season finale for both sides.
They opened at 160, the Wildcats’ Maxx Fesinger getting a technical fall over DeCapio before three straight wins by the Mustangs as Abbott edged Elijah Apps 3-2 in between pins by Doshna over Jacob Severson and Barbosa over Santino Sanford at 215 pounds.
At 285, WG’s Omar Almlaiti blanked Posecznick 3-0, but the next three bouts belonged to Marcellus as Haney routed Cole Willis 13-3, Jake Burton pinned Jackson Austin in 68 seconds and McCoy got a third-period fall over Max Alexander.
Austin Fesinger (124), Logan Willis (131) and Dylan Radcliffe (152) all would win late for the Wildcats, but the Mustangs still put it away with Scherer pinning Ali Abumustafa in 72 seconds and Hollis Child, at 138 pounds, pinning Bryson Baron.
