CHENANGO BRIDGE – Norwich has already had much success in the 2017-2018 season and it’s just the beginning.
After having six wrestle in the finals at Clyde Cole, crowning four champions, the Purple Tornado traveled to a two-day duel meet in Central Valley.
Finishing 6-2 in a total at eight matches, Norwich proved once again they are going to be a force in the Section IV Wrestling world. With wins over La Salle Institute, Lowville, Onteora, Holland Patent twice and Mount Markham.
Their two losses to Spencer Van-Etten/Candor and the host Central Valley. Both programs are two of the premier in New York State. The Tornado’s loss to SVEC was by seven points. In that match, Bryant Sexton and Eli Rodriguez squared off again, just one week after their exciting match at Clyde Cole. Sexton and Rodriguez went the distance again, with Sexton coming out on top in a 7-4 decision. The next time these two could possibly meet again is in the Section IV tournament.
To keep them in the match, Norwich received wins from Andrew Brown, Dante Geislinger, Nick Glanville, Brennan Slater, Keegan Wright, Tyler Rice and Izaiah Caballero.
Against Central Valley, a Section III powerhouse in the wrestling world, the Purple Tornado saw defeat by only 11 points. In the duel match, Norwich’s victories came from Brown, Rice, Slater, Angel Francis, Dakota Powers and Eli Rodriguez.
“We wrestled really well,” said Norwich Head coach Bob Hagenbuch. “The guys fought hard all weekend against some pretty good competition. I’m very proud of these young men.
 “We had some things go our way and some that didn’t. That’s going to happen with 8 duals in two days. We went in with two of our better guys already out. On Saturday, we ended up not having Keegan Wright at all due to an injury on Friday night and Eli Rodriguez was on a limited basis aggravating an injury from the Clyde Cole.”
Slater had a good showing this weekend, winning seven out of eight matches. His loss came from Onteora’s Dillion Ross, giving Slater his only loss this season thus far.
But it was Norwich’s youth that really shined throughout the weekend.
Brown’s weekend was successful as he finished with a win in all matches with four pins, a tech fall and had zero points scored against him.
Rice also went undefeated over the weekend with seven of his matches ending with a pin and one tech fall.
Caballero earned the Most Outstanding Wrestler award from his weekend performance. Only losing one match, Hagenbuch stated he did, “an outstanding job winning key matches where he might have been overmatched but zoned in and took care of business.”
Norwich, having their 9th duel in five days, traveled to Chenango Valley to face their second STAC conference opponent of the season.
Caballero kicked off the evening at 132. In the second period, a take down by Caballero turned into reversal for CV’s Dom Mastronardi then a quick reversal turned it back in favor of Caballero. At the end of that period, his 9-7 lead continued to roll as he tacked on another reversal. Stalling out the last 26 seconds, Caballero took the 11-7 decision.
Ty Rifanburg made his season debut at 170. Rifanburg had been sidelined with an injury that occurred in the last football game of the season. He started his event with takedown and two near fall’s before Rifanburg’s quick moves landed him pin in 2:26.
Wright returned the from his injury over the weekend to pin his opponent in :17, helping keep Norwich’s hopes for comeback in the match alive. Before Wright’s match it was 20-9 in favor of the Warriors.
Slater was in a near pin position early by CV’s Trenton Gates. That quickly changed when Slater got a reversal that set him up for the pin in :52 seconds, adding another six points to give Norwich the lead 21-20.
Rice moved up to 285 weight class for the match. He immediately started with a take down that turned into a pin in :37 despite giving up 65lbs to Shane Follette of Chenango Valley.
Norwich’s Brown grabbed the team’s third straight pin when he took just :49 to put the Warriors Dominic Napoli on the mat.
Chenango Valley’s 126 pounder Nate Lehr beat Tornado Joey Marvin to win his 100th match of his career.
“Our young guys are playing big roles to help us get the wins this season. We have to bring it all together and we should be in good shape,” said Hagenbuch.
Norwich’s next match is home against Susquehanna Valley on December 20 at 6 p.m., their last before the holiday break. During that time, they will compete in the Windsor Christmas Tournament before opening the new year with Chenango Forks at home.
Norwich 45, Chenango Valley 35
Started at 132
99 pound: Andrew Brown (Norwich) pinned Dom Napoli (CV), :49; 106: Dante Geislinger won by forfeit; 113: Nick Glanville won by forfeit; 120: Dan Tester (CV) dec. Gabe Glanville (Norwich), 9-2; 126: Nate Lehr (CV) pinned Gabe Glanville (Norwich), :51; 132: Izaiah Caballero dec. Dom Mastronardi (CV), 11-7; 138: Derek Goga (CV) pinned Austin Hatton (Norwich), 2:16; 145: Cole Volpe (CV) dec. Dakota Powers (Norwich), 8-3; 152: Brady Hope (CV) pinned Dakota Hall (Norwich), :57; 160: Nate Aylward (CV) tech fall Angel Francis (Norwich), 19-4; 170: Ty Rifanburg (Norwich) pinned Kobe Parks (CV), 2:26; 183: Keegan Wright (Norwich) pinned Devin Edwards (CV), :17; 195: Brennan Slater (Norwich) pinned Trent Gates (CV), :52; 220: Darien Henry (CV) pinned Joe Madore (Norwich), 3:56; 285: Tyler Rice (Norwich) pinned Shane Follette (CV), :37.