All four local teams place in Top 10

OXFORD – On Saturday the 57th Annual Clyde Cole championship saw 12 Chenango County wrestlers take the mat with six coming away as weight class title winners.
Three of the winners are from Norwich, Dante Geislinger, Mikey Squires and Tyler Rice. Norwich finished third as a team, just one point ahead of county foe Bainbridge-Guilford-Afton-Harpursville (BGAH), who placed fourth.
Bainbridge-Guilford-Afton-Harpursville’s Darren Florance, Greene/Oxford’s Noah Kennedy and Sherburne-Earlville’s Alex Thompson also captured a spot at the top of the podium.
BGAH’s 99 pounder Darren Florance kicked of the round of finals bouts with 4-0 victory over Chenango Valley’s Trevor Cortright.
The 106 pound championship saw Owen Marcin of Greene/Oxford take on Vincent Grembocki of Shenendehowa – the tournament’s team winner – in the second match of the finals. Marcin fell to Grembocki by a final of 7-2.
Joey Florance, 2018-2019 state championship qualifier for the Bears, went up against Stevo Poulin – the top ranked 113 pound wrestler in New York State. Poulin, who is ranked second in the country and has won every year he has wrestled at the Clyde Cole Tournament, was pushed by Florance before pinning the BGAH wrestler in the second period of the title match.
Two-time New York State Champion Geislinger needed hardly anytime in his 120-pound championship match, defeating Queensbury’s Owen Rafferty in the first period to claim yet another Clyde Cole title for the Purple Tornado senior.
Receiving a first and second round bye that landed him in the semifinals, Geislinger was only on the mat for two matches over the weekend. The Norwich senior secured his spot in the finals with a pin over Davin Leavey of Shenendehowa at 1:50.
Against Rafferty, Geislinger landed a takedown in the first 10 seconds of the match then needed just another 39 seconds to win the match by pinfall.
In his first Clyde Cole championship bout of his young career, Mason Edwards of Norwich trailed 4-0 to Dryden’s Sam Dow going into the third period. The Purple Tornado freshman scored an escape, giving him two points in the match. Edwards fell just shy of tying the match as he ran out of time before landing a takedown to place second at 132 pounds.
BGAH’s Brody Oleksak started the third period on the bottom, trailing 2-0 to Averill Park’s Sean Malenfant – who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. However, a quick reversal for Oleksak tied up the match with 1:23 left. With 15 seconds remaining, Malenfant sealed the 152 pound crown with a late reversal.
Averill Park claimed back-to-back championships as teammate Mason Lumbra took down Morgan Lakin of Sherburne-Earlville by a final of 6-4.
Lakin took the early 2-0 advantage in the match bur Lumbra cut the lead down to a point as he scored on an escape. In the third period, Lakin started on the bottom an landed a move for a reversal to take the 4-2 margin with 33.7 seconds left.
The Averill Park wrestler quickly answered, taking Lakin down to the mat to tie the mat then immediately gained a two-count nearfall before time ran-out to add another two points to his total and grab the championship title.
Norwich’s Squires, a senior for the Tornado, earned an 11-3 victory over Shenendehowa’s Colden Dorfman, securing his Clyde Cole title at 170 pounds.
Squires earned an early takedown to jump out to a 2-0 lead. Later in the match, with a 4-3 advantage, the Tornado senior initially scored on not one but two reversals but the official waved them off at the end of the second.
Fired up following the decisions on the two calls, Squires landed another takedown and scored on a nearfall two-count to extend his lead to 8-3. Attempting to pin Dofman in the closing minute, he added a five-count nearfall to win 11-3.
After having to wait more than half to the day to wrestler his semifinals match. S-E’s Ethen Eldred ended up moving onto the finals due to a forfeit by his opponent. As he did not see action throughout the day on the mat, Eldred’s first bout of the day was the championship.
Facing Shenendehowa’s Brock Delsignore in the finals, Eldred fell behind early and was unable to recover as he was defeated by an 11-2 major decision. 
Oxford/Greene’s senior Noah Kennedy earned a second straight Clyde Cole crown with a 6-0 victory over Queensbury’s Seth Guay at 195 pounds. Kennedy finished three takedowns – one scored in each of the three periods of wrestling – on his was to the title win over Guay.
Alex Thompson was the Marauders’ lone title winner for his school, taking a first period pinfall victory over Aidon Ritter of Shenendehowa in the finals. Thompson landed a takedown first then held Ritter to the mat for the pin at 1:10.
Purple Tornado junior Tyler Rice claimed his third straight Clyde Cole title with a 3-0 victory over Shenendehowa’s Sebastian Underwood. The Norwich junior did not have a point scored against him all tournament, pinning his opponents in all of his matches leading up to the championship bout.
Through the first two periods of the finals match, Rice nor his opposition – Shenendehowa’s Sebastian Underwood – scored a point until the third. It was there where Rice took the win after scoring all three points, two late in the last 30 seconds.
As Rice did not have a point scored against him in his four matches, he was awarded the tournament’s Director’s Plaque – the champion with the least points scored against him.
Paul Baker of Oxford/Greene was given the Sportsmanship award, which is voted on by the referees. The Pin Award was given to Shamus Macguire of Maine-Endwell.
Oxford/Greene finished in fifth place as a team with 131 points while Sherburne-Earlville placed ninth with 94 points.
All four local teams are scheduled to be in action later this week with the S-E, BGAH and Oxford/Greene wrestling in dual meets while Norwich will wait until the Wrangle in the Plains on Saturday.
Other place winners from Chenango County were:
99 pounds: 3rd – Max Morris (Norwich).
113 pounds: 4th – Aiden Marcin (Oxford/Greene), 5th – Kaad’n Wakefield (Oxford/Greene).
120 pounds: 4th – Garrett Kiehle (BGAH), 5th - Vicki Fluery (Oxford/Greene), 6th – Kaden Waltz (Oxford/Greene).
126 pounds: 3rd – Andrew Brown (Norwich).
138 pounds: 4th – Damian Hitt (Oxford/Greene), 6th – Tyler Brown (Oxford/Greene).
145 pounds: 5th – Brady Buttice (BGAH).
152 pounds: 4th Joey Marvin (Norwich).
160 pounds: 5th – Paul Baker (Oxford/Greene), 6th – Zach Gardepe (BGAH).
220 pounds: 3rd – Rocco Arduini (BGAH).
285 pounds: 3rd – Timmy James (BGAH), Colby Spavin (Sherburne-Earlville).