ONONDAGA COUNTY – Having earned the Section III Class AA and Division I titles a season ago, the Cicero-North Syracuse boys wrestling team is already learning the difficulty of pulling this off again.
With many new faces in the lineup the Northstars opened its 2024-25 season Wednesday night against Baldwinsville, where it led for portions of the meet but struggled late in a 38-34 loss to the Bees.
C-NS won three of the first five bouts, starting at 138 pounds when Javone Dawkins pinned Scottie Warner in the second period before Sean Aldrich (152 pounds) got a pin over Jacob Bennett near the end of the first period and a forfeit went to Kennedy Thomas at 160 pounds.
Kaydin Welch (215 pounds) and Michael Pease (285 pounds) each earned their own second-period falls – Welch over Connor Daughton, Pease over Ed Primrose – and with that C-NS led 30-22.
However, B’ville took the next three bouts with two technical falls and a forfeit, clinching it before the 124-pound finale where Anthony Lisi beat Coleman Bouthillier 12-4.
In the girls wrestling meet between C-NS and B’ville the Northstars lost 40-23, the Bees getting pins in five straight bouts from 114 to 138 pounds to account for most of its points.
Shea Ellsworth had one of the Northstars’ three wins on the mat, a 10-0 technical fall over Addyson Kral at 107 pounds. Later in the meet Chloe Tice got her own 10-0 shutout beating Riley Meyer after Aniyah Burton, at 185 pounds, pinned Iliyana Malinova. Forfeits went to Elise English at 145 pounds and Molly Daniels at 152 pounds.
As this went on Liverpool had its own struggles in its season opener against Fayetteville-Manlius, the Legends topped 40-23 by the Hornets.
F-M jumped out 13-0 before Samir Amiri (152 pounds) put Liverpool on the board with a 17-1 technical fall over Zach Henderson. At 160 pounds, Will Cowan pinned Tyler Delaney in the waning seconds, while Mateo Gonzales (190 pounds) earned his pin over Jacob Pavlov near the end of the second period.
A close bout at 285 had David Blue Moore fall 3-1 to Caleb Haase, and F-M won the two other contested bouts in between a forfeit to Aiden Adams-Bovenzi at 116 pounds.
