ALBANY – A strong season for Jamesville-DeWitt/Christian Brothers Academy wrestling concluded when Bryce Dadey used a perfect run through the consolation bracket to claim a third-place finish during this weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships in Albany.
As the Section III champion at 215 pounds, Dadey took a 37-1 record to MVP Arena where he settled in as the no. 10 seed and proceeded to get off to a great start.
Against Johnson City’s Kenyon Davidson, Dadey quickly seized control and then pinned Davidson 27 seconds into the second period to advance to the quarterfinal round.
Here Chris Leggett, the no. 2 seed from Newburgh Free Academy, would pile up points against Dadey, only stopping when he reached a technical fall at 18-0 near the midway point of the second period.
Now the best Dadey could do was a third-place finish – and he went out and earned it.
To start his run in the consolation bracket Dadey faced Marcus Burgos (Albany CBA) and, going all six minutes, was able to prevail 7-2 over Burgos.
Zachary Caldwell (St. Francis) was the next opponent. Guaranteed sixth place at worst if he won here, Dadey only surrendered a point when Caldwell made a single escape, nearly matching the Burgos margin with a 5-1 decision.
An even closer battle followed with Canandaigua’s Mason Depew, but once again Dadey emerged on top, the 4-2 victory putting him in the consolation bracket final, which turned out to be a rematch with Leggett.
Unlike their first encounter, Dadey stayed out of Leggett’s reach throughout the six minutes of regulation. The only point on either side came from an escape, so it was 1-1 going to overtime when Dadey executed a long-awaited takedown to win it 4-1.
Thus Dadey finished his senior season at 42-2 and recorded the best finish of any Section III wrestler outside of the 285-pound final where New Hartford’s John BelMonte and Carthage’s Kamdyn Dorchester.
