IAC WRESTLING: TIOGA BATTLES TOUGH AT ROBERT BRADSHAW INVITATIONAL (22 PHOTOS) (2019-01-12)

BY TIM TAYLOR
Valley Sports Report
CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. - Tioga seniors John Worthing and Austin Lamb won back-to-back championships to lead the Tigers to second-place at the Robert Bradshaw Invitational here Saturday.

The only team to finish ahead of Tioga was Webster-Thomas, a Division I school out of the Rochester area. Webster won the team title with 298 points. Tioga scored 255, followed by Section IV Division I powers Horseheads (182) and Chenango Forks (175.5).

"I thought we wrestled alright this weekend," Tioga head coach Kris Harrington said. "It's good momentum toward the Section IV Duals."

Worthing pinned his way through the 138-pound field, going 5-0 on the weekend. In the finals, he dispatched Ather Phommatha of Pioneer in 2:52. In the semifinals, he decked Charlie Burgess of Marcus Whitman / Penn Yan in 20 seconds.

Lamb went 5-0, scoring a 5-1 decision over Max Allen of Webster-Thomas for first place. In the semis, he bested Brandon Perrone of McQuaid Jesuit, 8-2. He also had two falls an a major decision to his credit.

"Austin and John did what senior returning state medalists should do," Harrington said. "I thought they wrestled really well."

Four other Tioga wrestlers advanced to the championship finals, each dropping hard-fought decisions to D-1 opponents.

At 99 pounds, 7th-grader Caden Bellis dropped a hard-fought 5-2 decision to Tyler Ferrera from Chenango Forks. He defeated Caleb Sweet of South Seneca in the semis, 7-3.

"I thought Caden Bellis wrestled really well in the finals. He's closing the gap against a high-level kid. It wasn't that close last time, so 2-2 going into the third and wrestling that all the way through, I thought that was great."

At 132 pounds, Brady Worthing fell in overtime, 3-1, to Horseheads' Devin Woolworth, a 3-time Division I state qualifier who placed fourth at states last year. Worthing downed Logan Gumble of Chenango Forks in the semis, 3-1.

"Brady, in a battle of two top-four kids in the state, no problem. You're going to lose those sometimes."

Freshman Emmett Wood, the fourth seed at 152, lost to two-time state qualifier Jacob Scibek of Horseheads, 2-1. In the semis, he pinned No. 1 seed Mike Fronczak in 1:59.

"You look at Emmett, you forget he's only a ninth-grader," Harrington stated. "He's wrestling a senior that's a three-time state rep, 2-1, and wrestled really hard. That was great."

Senior 160-pounder Zac Warner dropped a hard-fought 4-2 decision to Cam Coccitti of Webster-Thomas. He outlasted Liam Outhouse of Canandaigua, 11-8, in the semifinals in a controversial bout involving a time-keeping error.

"Zac's having a great year," Harrington said. "We don't make any excuses; he's not feeling that well right now. That's probably why it looks like he was tired. He wasn't tired. He's not feeling right.

"He's having great year. He's got 20 wins and just stepped up as a senior. He's been a program kid the whole time, so he's developed. All the credit goes to him."

The Tigers collected a pair of third-place showing by 126-pounder David MacWhinnie and heavyweight Steven Taylor.

MacWhinnie fell in the semis to top-seeded Joe Powers of Port Byron, 7-3, but scored a pin in 1:37 over Hilton's Nate Kasper. In the third-place match, he deaccessioned Jackson Allen of Webster-Thomas, 7-2.

Taylor was the top seed at 285, but dropped a 2-1 tie-breaker 1 decision to Anthony Oca of Webster-Thomas. He bounced back with a 4-0 shutout of Penfield's John Howard, then controlled Irondequoit's Nicke Serce, 2-1, for third.

"You can look top to bottom, that heavyweight bracket is really tough," said Harrington. "The two guys in the finals are good, the two guys for third and the guy that took fifth, they're all high-level kids. All of them could possibly place in the state tournament.

"I thought Stephen wrestled well," he added. "Stephen had a real late start. He didn't start until after Thanksgiving, so we're still not seeing the best Stephen. I feel like he's coming along pretty well. Four matches, get him in a little bit better shape and start looking out what for we have coming forward."

Joe Lloyd wrestled back to place fifth at 195. He defeated Colton Yerkes of Marcus Whitman / Penn Yan, 12-8, in a tie-breaker 1 thriller. Earlier in the day, he posted a pair of pins before falling to Sayre' Jordan Goodrich, 3-2.

Mason Welch placed sixth at 113 after wrestling four matches, falling to Alex Perez of Hilton, 4-2, in his final bout.

Also competing for Tioga:

Seventh-grader Gianna Silvestri (99 pounds) placed seventh, receiving forfeit from Horseheads' Ryan Massengale.

Junior Dom Wood (182) placed eighth, falling to Penfield's Keenan Moore in his final match.

Eighth-grader Emily Sindoni (120) was eliminated one win shy of placing.

Junior Jared Lamb (195) was eliminated by teammate Lloyd.

Tioga returns to action Tuesday at the Section IV Duals in Walton. Seeds are due out later today.