BATAVIA – Thursday’s wrestling dual meet between Batavia and Geneva featured tight battles, exciting finishes and three overtime matches. The Bulldogs wound up on top in all three of the bouts that went to extra time, sealing a 41-23 victory in Upstate Eight River action.
Wrestling started at 170 pounds and the Vikings (9-1, 1-1) jumped out to a quick lead thanks to Tony Castelvecchi’s 11-4 victory over Nick Offut.
“It’s always fun wrestling Batavia because a lot of these kids we wrestle the same wrestling club teams with,” Castelvecchi said. “We’re all mostly pretty good friends with them. It’s a good rivalry.”
Castelvecchi, a senior, ran his season record to 10-0 with the win.
“I’m pretty happy with that,” he said. “I haven’t run into anybody real tough yet, so I’ve still got to stay on my toes.”
Cody Murphy added to Geneva’s lead at 182 by getting a four-point move on a headlock in the waning seconds of his match with Noah Frazier to pull out a 7-5 decision.
Mickey Watson got Batavia (4-3, 1-0) on the board when he eked out a 2-1 victory over Jake Boser because of a stalling call with three seconds left.
“I should have taken more shots,” Watson said. “I don’t think I wrestled my best. I was working with him. I outworked him on my feet. The shots were there and I just have to start taking more of them. It felt good. I just need to finish and keep at it.”
The Bulldogs got overtime wins from heavyweight Mitchell Krusz, 106-pounder Michael Doranski and 160-pounder Jon Wagner.
“It’s a credit to how hard these guys work,” Batavia coach Scott Bayer said. “It’s their conditioning. … Our guys are battling. They’re pushing the pace. They’re aggressive. We work hard in the room and they show that on the mat.”
Geneva coach Tom Chernich agreed with that assessment.
“I thought they were in better shape than us, for sure,” Chernich said. “We are working hard, but obviously, they’re probably working harder.”
Batavia got pins from Connor McKeehan at 220, Charlie Smorczewski at 138 and Marc Goodin at 145.
Goodin’s victory clinched the win for the Bulldogs.
“I went out there and he threw me out of bounds real quick,” Goodin noted. “I got kind of angry, so I just went out there with my head up, snapped him down for a headlock, went for the ankle pick and rolled him onto his back.”
Geneva got a pin from Keneen Freemen at 132.
