Liverpool, C-NS bowlers head into post-season

By PHIL BLACKWELL

‘A winter’s full of work for area high school bowling teams led to what took place on the first two Sundays in February.

First, there was Sunday’s boys sectional tournament at Strike-N-Spare Lanes, followed exactly one week later by the girls making their way to Flamingo Lanes to vie for sectional honors.

As host sides, Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool would have a considerable advantage, whatever their regular-season marks – which, in the case of the girls Warriors and boys Northstars, were both quite good.

C-NS had already moved to the top of the boys SCAC Metro division standings last Monday with a hard-fought 5-2 win over first-place Fayetteville-Manlius.

Both teams bowled well, Northstars’ totals of 1,136, 1,092 and 1,096 in those three games just beating out the Hornets getting 1,015, 1,049 and 1,017.

Terry Miller led C-NS with a 600 series that had a 223 high game. Close behind him, Jacob Calabria’s steady 574 included a 204 high game as Tom O’Connell had a 561 series with games of 183, 188 and 190. Nehemiah Bachman put up 178, 186 and 196 in his 560 set.

For F-M, Ryan Yenny’s 588 series (202 high game) was ahead of Xavier Greene’s 575 series that had games of 200 and 205. Adam Koss opened with a 223 in his 562 set and Colin Gunderson got a 502 series.

The C-NS girls beat F-M by that same 5-2 margin, led by Trinity Short’s 494 series (172 high game) as Marissa Leone got a three-game total of 438. Taylor Rutter added a 410 set and Melody Schwartz got a 391 series.

Liverpool’s girls lost last Tuesday to Fulton 7-0, a match that served as a possible preview of the sectional tournament since it matches leaders of both Salt City Athletic Conference divisions, highlighted by the Red Raiders’ Hailey Pavement getting a 266 opening game in her 587 series.

Kenzi Orsmby’s 222 closed out a 597 series as Yilena Russell stepped up with games of 215 and 204 in her 577 set. They were both behind Fulton’s Miranda Laws, who shot 202, 214 and 206 in her 622 set as Addison Nichols (598 series, 234 high game)

Meanwhile, the boys Warriors won over Fulton in another 7-0 decision, Zach Doing shooting games of 192, 205 and 211 in a 608 series as Jackson Allen shot a 198 and Wes Lell, in his lone game, posted 205.

Liverpool also had Addison Ziegler go 5:03.74 in the 1,500 to earn second place as Meghan Moyer finished third in the 3,000 in 11:22.20, with Kaitlyn Hotaling fifth.

The Warriors were third in the 4x800 as Mikayla Greene took fourth in the 55 sprint in 7.69 seconds, with Trinity Short fourth in the weight throw at 34’1 1/2” behind Cary, Taima Tearney fourth in the triple jump, Layla Pearl Collins fourth in the pole vault and Gurgol fifth in the high jump.

C-NS also was second in the boys SCAC Metro meet with 94 points behind Baldwinsville as Liverpool, with 54 points, took fourth place. Davine Bennett, in the 55 sprint, edged West Genesee’s Dom Burris, though both finished in 6.67 seconds ahead of B’ville’s Brandon Levin (6.68) as Carlton Garnes was fourth in 6.90-. In the 55 hurdles, Garnes prevailed in a quick 7.96 seconds and Camron Ingram was second in 8.31. Joe Main got second in the shot put with 40’1 1/4” as Colt Hiltz (38’6 3/4”) was fourth, Ethan Matthews taking fifth in the weight throw/ For Liverpool’s lone victories, Ny’Quez Madison, in the long jump, had a top leap of

22’5 1/2” to reach the state top 10 in that event, C-NS’s Trevon Walker third with 20’9 3/4”.

Madison then won the triple jump with 43’9 1/2” to edge the 43’3 1/4” from the Northstars’ Anthony Johnson as Walker finished fourth. And in the high jump, Madison’s 5’6” put him in second place, with C-NS’s Xander Provost fourth.

Running the 4x200 in 1:36.11, C-NS finished second as, in 3:52.47, it beat out Liverpool (3:58.51) for third place in the 4x400, adding a third in the 4x800 in 9:07.77 to the Warriors’ 9:10.25.

Sean Graves was fifth in the 300, with Jacob Klasen got fifth place in the 600, while Tyler Graham was sixth and Liam Adams seventh in the 1,000.

Liverpool also had Brady Ruediger take fourth and Jacob Makhlouf fifth in the 3,200meter run, with Sajan Mishra fifth in the 55 sprint in 6.91 seconds and also fifth (9.28) in the 55 hurdles.

Josh Vang, in 4:43.72, beat out Michael Purvis (4:44.23) for fourth place in the 1,600-meter run ahead of C-NS teammates Dante Melfi and Ashton Murdock in the next two spots. Anthony Cerio was sixth in the weight throw.

C-NS wrestlers nab sectional Class AA title

By PHIL BLACKWELL

All through this winter, the Cicero-North Syracuse wrestling team has broke through barriers previous Northstars programs could not.

And it continued last Saturday when the Northstars, on its home mats, held off defending champion Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA to earn the Section III Class AA championship.

When all the bouts were done, C-NS had 195.5 points, just clear of the Rams’ total of 188. Liverpool made a strong push for the top spot, too, before settling for third place with 167 points.

Two Northstars won their respective weight classes. Kamdin Bembry, continuing a strong campaign at 215 pounds, pinned Liverpool’s Joe Piscitell in the semifinals and, in the title bout, got a pin over FayettevilleManlius opponent Jackson Schwab with 19 seconds left.

Up at 160 pounds, Ayden Sprague, improving to 24-4 on the season, only had to win twice, with a second-period fall over Jacob Severson (West

Genesee) in the semifinals and a tough 3-1 decision over Liverpool’s Dante Mallozzi in the final.

Another Liverpool-C-NS battle unfolded in the 172-pound title bout, but the Warriors claimed it when Owen Atchie claimed a back-andforth battle with John Sherbourne, prevailing 7-6.

Just as close to winning at 118 pounds, the Northstars’ Anthony Ciciarelli scored plenty of points against Auburn’s Mike Boyhan, only to take an 8-7 defeat. Kennedy Thomas was second at 132 pounds, dropping his final 16-8 to J-D/CBA’s Nathan Finn.

Atchie was Liverpool’s lone winner, as Mallozzi, Connor Kral (152 pounds) and Paolo Munetz (102 pounds) each got second-place finishes. Kral fell 5-0 to J-D/CBA’s Gerald Vielhauer as Munetz took a pin from Auburn’s Brady Maneri.

C-NS had Javone Dawkins earn third place at 110 pounds when he pinned teammate Kevin Mossow in 3:28, while at 285 pounds Joe Kozubowski beat F-M’s Andrew Dab- ulewicz 6-2 in the consolation bracket final. Sean Aldrich finished fourth at 138 pounds.

Kasey Kalfass beat Cael Bruce (Auburn) for fifth place at 102, with Drew Baker (126 pounds) pinning Auburn’s Owen Johnson to also finish fifth as Austin Hartman (189 pounds) earned fifth when he pinned teammate Khol Kalfass. Jacob Day was sixth at 152. Liverpool had Lucas Smith blank Dylan Radcliffe (West Genesee) 4-0 for third place at 132, with Tony Kelly earning third place at 160 when he pinned Severson after Sprague did so.

Carson Rice was fourth at 118, while Marek Sokolowski was fourth at 126 and Jayce Bliss fourth at 189 to match Piscitelli. Tyler Sharkey got fifth place at 145 pounds and Keegan Meyer fifth at 285 as Aiden AdamsBovenzi got sixth place at 110.

Most of these wrestlers will make their way to SRC Arena this Saturday for the sectional Division I championships, where only winners are guaranteed spots in the Feb. 24-25 state meet in Albany.

C-NS ice hockey beats Clinton in overtime

By PHIL BLACKWELL

As they went to the last week of the regular season, the Cicero-North Syracuse ice hockey team knew that it would be a part of the Section III Division I playoffs.

In a non-league game at Clinton last Thursday night, the Northstars engaged in an exciting battle, trading blows but able to emerge with a 6-5 overtime victory to climb back above the .500 mark to 9-8 overall.

Trailing the Warriors 2-1 through one period, C-NS scored four times in the second, grabbing a 5-4 edge, only to get shut out in the third by Clinton before being able to convert in the extra period.

Fittingly, Emmit Porter had a