OXFORD – Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton/Harpursville had 14 kids place among the top six, and its strong second day led it to the team title at the 52nd Annual Clyde Cole Wrestling Tournament.
The Bears, Norwich, and Unatego all crowned three champions with Norwich winding up 17 ½ points shy of B-G/A H to wind up second.
“This tournament isn’t what counts the most, but we’d rather win it than lose if we had to choose,” said Bears 18-year coach Brandon MacNaught. “It was an excellent start, and I don’t think people realize how young we are. We only have two seniors, so this was good to build some momentum.”
Norwich, coming off a Class B team championship a season ago, nearly picked up where it left off. Multiple-time champions, Tristan Rifanburg and Frankie Garcia, easily repeated as title winners, but it was seventh-grader Eli Rodriguez who maybe gave a glimpse of Norwich’s future taking the 99-pound title in his first varsity action.
Undersized in even the smallest division. Rodriguez won 13-10 barnburner over Oxford’s Cole Rice in what was likely the most exciting bout of the 15-match finals.
Rodriguez had the early takedown, but Rice seized command with a reversal and a relentless armbar that had Rodriguez fighting off his back.
Each wrestler fired salvo after salvo with Rodriguez’s superiority on his feet – and takedowns – becoming the difference in the final period.
“Eli is a very quality kid, but his size is our concern,” said Norwich coach Terry Hagenbuch. “He’s technical enough to wrestle with the bigger kids, and that will be a plus for us.”
As for Rodriguez’s ability to fend off a possible pin: “That, you can’t coach,” Hagenbuch said. “He’s got that (fight) in him.”
The Bears’ two-time defending state tournament participant, Chris Cirigliano, won a hard-fought 3-0 decision over Norwich’s Dalen “Gunny” Geislinger. Cirigliano’s first-period takedown and riding skills over the last period secured the win at 113 pounds.
Cirigliano’s win piggy-backed teammate Cody Ferrara’s 106-pound title win, 5-0. Later on, B-G/A/H sophomore Austin Carr (160) scored an upset win knocking off number one seed Anthony Dinallo in the finals, 5-4. Carr picked up a takedown midway through the final period to unlock a 3-3 tie. “Carr has come a long way, and I don’t think, at times, he realizes how good he is,” MacNaught said.
The home faithful at Oxford went home happy when Garyn Huntley won a rematch of the 2013 220-pound finals over Alex Avolio of Unadilla Valley.
Huntley proved the better wrestler on his feet with three big takedowns en route to a 7-3 victory over the top-seeded Avolio.
“Garyn is a kid who wrestles all summer, and we talked about sticking to our game plan and wrestling with composure,” said Oxford head coach Craig Tefft. “He’s a young kid making progress, but we still have a long way to go.”
Rifanburg was clinical and efficient in his pin of Shenendehowa’s Ryan Betts at 145 pounds. Rifanburg, a two-time state champion, scored an early takedown, padded his lead with back points, and eventually pinned the Shen wrestler in 3:13.
Garcia was taken the distance at 152 pounds, but his neutral game led to multiple takedowns of the Bears’ Madison Hoover in a 10-3 title win. Garcia, too, is a returning state champion, and that duo remains the bedrock for the up-and-coming Purple Tornado.
“We know what we have with Tristan and Frankie, “Hagenbuch said. “We want to get better as a team, and from top to bottom I was pretty pleased. I was okay with (BGAH) winning the title. The winner of the race doesn’t come at the start of the season. Right now, our conditioning and technique is probably a little bit ahead of last year, and last year turned out pretty good.”
Oxford finished in the middle of the pack using an abbreviated lineup, and had a strong second day to work its way up the standings.
“A lot of young kids were thrown into the mix, and we did well,” Tefft said. “The Clyde Cole is our biggest tournament, and we showed a lot of heart wrestling back.”
Team scores: Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton/Harpursville 220, Norwich 202.5. Shenendehowa 183.5, Queensbury 142, Unatego 141.5, Oxford 140.5, Carthage 118.5, Averill Park 110, Unadilla Valley 90.5, Groton 90.5, Sidney 87.5, Sherburne-Earlville 64, Otselic Valley 22.
FINALS
99: Eli Rodriguez (Nor) dec. Cole Rice (Ox), 13-10. 106: Cody Ferrara (BGAH) dec. Dawson Laluna (Que), 5-0. 113: Chris Cirigliano (BGAH) dec. Dalen Geislinger (Nor), 3-0. 120: Dietrich Hartman (Shen) dec. Nate Hansen (Ox), 8-3. 126: Max Tempel (AP) dec. Will Hughes (Que), 10-0. 132: Austin Ryan (Una) dec. Nick Robbins (Que), 4-3. 138: Darren Ostrander (Gro) won by tech. fall over Hunter Owen (S-E), 5:32. 145: Tristan Rifanburg (Nor) pinned Ryan Betts (Shen), 3:13. 152: Frank Garcia (Nor) dec. Madison Hoover (BGAH), 10-3. 160: Austin Carr (BGAH) dec. Anthony Dinallo (Shen), 5-4. 170: Kevin Parker (Shen) pinned Nicholas Jump (Sid), 3:06. 182: Ryan Marszal (Una) won by tech. fall over Bryce Reed (Car), 20-5. 195: Riley Hanrahan (Una) won by injury default over Jack Buell (S-E). 220: Garyn Huntley (Ox) dec. Alex Avolio (UV), 7-3. 285: Austin Dean (Sid) dec. Erik Jessell (Car), 3-0.
CONSOLATIONS
99: Evan Hyzer (BGAH) dec. Connor Funck (Car), 8-1. 106: Reese Lockwood (Gro) pinned Nick Glanville (Nor), 4:29. 113: Derrick Finnegan (Que) dec. Garrett Lockwood (Gro), 11-7. 120: Ryan McMahon (BGAH) dec. Ty Rifanburg (Nor), 9-5. 126: Kevin Hubbard (BGAH) dec. Carter Hubbard (Nor), 3-2. 132: Ben Bivar (BGAH) dec. Cole Rifanburg (Nor), 2-0. 138: Jake Andrews (BGAH) dec. Kalvin Abrams (UV), 4-3. 145: Nick Murphy (Nor) pinned Garett Sylstra (Ox), 4:20. 152: Jake DeJoy (Una) dec. Kyle Weldon (Gro), 8-2. 160: Derrick Gardner (AP) dec. Nick Neer (Ox), 3-2. 170: Dylan Gifford (Sid) dec. Colby Foster (BGAH), 12-2. 182: Nate Wilsey (Una) dec. Brandon Swislosky (Sid), 3-2. 195: Joe Puccio (OV) dec. Kade Andrews (Car), 5-2. 220: Ethan Barber (Una) pinned Cody Bryans (Shen), 1:19. 285: Richie Conklin (UV) pinned Jordan Gougler (Shen), 3:30.