SYRACUSE – Nearly perfect this season, Jamesville-DeWitt/Christian Brothers Academy wrestler Bryce Dadey continued to roll through the opposition in last Saturday’s Section III Division I state qualifier at SRC Arena.
Three more victories in the 215-pound division moved Dadey’s record to 37-1 as he will go after bigger honors starting Feb. 28 in Albany when the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships get underway.
From his top seed, Dadey first got past Watertown’s Aiden Verdi 12-3 before he pinned West Genesee’s Elijah Apps in the waning seconds of the second period of the semifinal. Another pin followed in the title bout, Dadey needing just 84 seconds to pin Central Square’s Angelo Turo.
Dadey’s teammate, Dominic Schiano, made it to the finals at 124 pounds. As the top seed Schiano rolled past Andre Newman (Carthage) and Caden Beecher (New Hartford) but, in the finals, fell 12-4 to Cicero-North Syracuse’s Kaden Kalfass, who beat each of the top three seeds to prevail.
Mykola Fabian earned fifth place at 285 pounds when he beat Syracuse’s Teddy Toe in a 16-0 technical fall. Tom LaValle made it to sixth place at 116 pounds.
Biruk Royal (101 pounds), Max Griffin (131 pounds) lost in the quarterfinals, with Nick Gormel (108 pounds), Zion Garelick (131), Kai Vien (145 pounds), Braeden Hennessey (170 pounds) and Enes Damakaci (195 pounds) beaten in the opening round.
Fayetteville-Manlius was also in the sectional Division I meet, seeing Caleb Haase finish third at 215 behind Dadey as he beat Fulton’s Micah Collins 1-0 in the consolation bracket final.
The Hornets also got a trio of fourth-place finishes from Eric Kozlowski at 131 pounds, Joe Rafuse at 124 and Tyler Delaney at 160 pounds. Harrison Schwab’s pin of Nathan Countryman (Carthage) gave him fifth place at 170 pounds. Zach Henderson, at 152 pounds, took a quarterfinal defeat, while Elliot Olech took a first-round defeat at 108.
A day later at SRC Arena it was the girls Section III championships, with J-D/CBA seeing Abigail Benziger reach the finals at 126 pounds in the best finish of any local wrestler.
Benzinger shut out Sophia Canales (Fulton) 10-0 in the quarterfinals and by that same margin blanked Baldwinsville’s Haylee Robinson in the semifinals. Only in the title bout was Bezinger stopped in yet another 10-0 match, falling to West Genesee’s Riley Butler.
F-M had more team points – 35.5, to J-D/CBA’s 33.0 – with Lacey Teaken finishing fourth at 126 when she lost the consolation bracket final to Robinson. The Rams’ Joye Lai earned fourth place at 94 pounds.
