SYRACUSE – When all is settled a large contingent of area high school wrestlers will find themselves in Albany on Feb. 28 and March 1 for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.
But only three of them earned automatic berths from last Saturday’s sectional state qualifier at SRC Arena, one each from sectional Class AA champion West Genesee, sectional Class C champion Marcellus and Jordan-Elbridge.
The Wildcats’ Maxx Fesinger was the Division I champion at 170 pounds. Fesinger did not waste much time, pinning Nate Countryman (Carthage) in 53 seconds and Harrison Schwab (Fayetteville-Manlius) in 30 seconds to get to the finals.
Then, in just 92 seconds, Fesinger produced a fall against his own teammate Jack Wade, who had decisions over John Dibrango (Whitesboro) and Jack Converse (Watertown) to reach the title bout.
Doshna gave the Mustangs a victory at 215 pounds in Division II. A pin of Dan Stoffolano (Herkimer) and 17-1 technical fall over Mount Markham’s Kadyn Derby got Doshna to the finals and then he pinned Southern Hills’ David Frazee 30 seconds into the third period for title.
At 108 pounds in Division II Tanner was the no. 2 seed for the Eagles. He pinned Arlo Brouillette (Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) in just 17 seconds, pinned Luke Ackerman (APW/Pulaski/Sandy Creek) in the second period of the semifinals and then dominated his final with the the top seed, Holland Patent’s Andrew Juliano, winning 8-0.
In the team portion of the sectional Division I meet West Genesee emerged victorious by a slim margin, its 146 points just enough to hold off the 145.5 from Cicero-North Syracuse as Carthage was third with 136 points.
Logan Willis was the only other WG wrestler to reach the finals, doing so at 145 pounds as he shut out Central Square’s Jordan Ransom 8-0 in the semifinals and then, in a tense title bout against Carthage’s Ryan Munn, got close, but settled for a 10-8 defeat and was later granted an at-large bid to the state tournament.
Cole Willis, who lost in the 108-pound quarterfinal 5-4 to Carson Brown (Watertown), recovered to finish third by getting payback against Brown, pinning him in 3:47. Austin Fesinger did the same at 131 pounds with a quarterfinal loss to C-NS’s Javone Dawkins but ultimately winning his consolation bracket final 5-0 over F-M’s Eric Kozlowski.
At 190 pounds Raul Colon, beaten in the semifinals by Ryan Brown (Syracuse), beat Whitesboro’s Noah Long 15-4 for third place. Ali Abumustafa beat Gayge Amrhein (Whitesboro) in a technical fall for fifth place at 152 pounds, which Elijah Apps matched at 215 pounds edging Carthage’s Zach Pettitt 7-6. Aiden Wright finished sixth at 101 pounds.
Moving to Division II, Marcellus could not quite equal its sectional Class C team title, Sherburne-Earlville this time finishing in front thanks to its total of 121 points to the Mustangs’ second-place 115.5. J-E was 10th with 67.5 points.
The Mustangs’ Jake Burton recovered from a quarterfinal loss at 116 and edged Vinny Henrickson (Central Valley Academy) 11-9 to claim third place, one spot ahead of Jack Burton, who finished fourth at 138 pounds. At 215, Caleb Posecznick backed up Doshna’s win when he pinned Homer’s Owen Burhans to finish fifht.
Elliott Barbosa got fifth at 190 pinning Gary Dupont (APW/Pulaski/Sandy Creek), while Trevor Rankin, wrestling at 160, claimed sixth place. Brayden Borst (101 pounds) and Blaine Haney (124) lost in the quarterfinals, while Knoll McCoy (108), Dallas Wilson (145), Anthony Decapio (152), Jayden Abbott (170) and Travis Stack (285 pounds) all lost in the first round.
J-E saw Liam Mantell make his way to third place at 124 pounds by beating his Eagles teammate, in a 12-8 decision. Tyler Chilson (116), Logan Merriam (145) and Adam Delcostello (152) took opening-round defeats, with Glen Sanchez (170) eliminated in the quarterfinals.
When at-large bids were handed out for the state tournament, Mantell and Jake Burton both earned them, so they will join Doshna, Logan Willis and Maxx Fesinger heading for Albany.
One more win for West Genesee came on Sunday in the girls wrestling sectional championships at SRC Arena where Riley Butler swept her way to the 126-pound championship.
Butler only dropped points once in three bouts, an 8-2 semifinal win over F-M’s Lacey Teaken. Before that she shut out S-E’s Gabriella Naylor 11-0 and, after the semifinal, dominated Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA’s Abigail Benzinger in another 10-0 technical fall.
Out of 23 teams, WG finished eighth with 79 points, helped by Layla Meany pinning Syracuse’s Keynajah Cummings for third place at 152 pounds. Adaline DeCapio made her way to fourth place at 114 pounds.
