OXFORD - It's always a special time at Oxford Academy High School on opening weekend of wrestling season with hard-working wrestlers, from local to distant areas, dueling on the mat and proud fans in the stands. Oxford celebrated a remarkable 60 years since the start of the tournament and in honor of the growth of wrestling in Oxford.
The tournament showcased local Chenango County teams such as host Oxford-Greene, neighboring Norwich, Sherburne-Earlville, and Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton/Harpursville. All local wrestlers gave it their all with blood, sweat, and toughness all around, but it was Carthage who won overall with 210.50 points. Carthage held the lead since the end of Friday's beginning rounds. BGAH led the local county teams with a sixth place team finish, including one champion and two third place finishes. Norwich came in 9th place (74 points) with Sherburne-Earlville behind them in 10th and Oxford-Greene in 15th.
BGAH's Darren Florance became a Clyde Cole champion for the fourth consecutive year as he defeated Norwich's Maverick Beckwith in the 116 finals in a 9-4 decision. The defending two-time state and sectionals champion won all four matches on the weekend to kick off his final year. Teammate Ryan Blackman came in third place in the 152 pound weight class as he pinned Walton/Delhi's Travis Houck in 4:34. The Bears' Elliott Briggs received the tournament's Pin Award as he had the most pins (5) in the least amount of time (7:18). Briggs also finished third with a pin of Queensbury's Cameron McGarr in 1:01 in the 215 weight class. Davis Bernard and Blake Prisco both finished sixth to wrap up the day for BGAH in the final rounds.
Sherburne-Earlville's Landon Andrade attempted to repeat his champion status in the 285 weight class, but he fell short and received second place to Carthage's Kamdyn Dorchester by an 8-1 decision. Andrade took a first round bye before defeating Carthage's Marcus Hickey in a 1:21 pin and Norwich's Patrick White in a major 15-1 decision to reach the championship round. Aside from Andrade, two other Marauders reached the podium. S-E's Cody Clarkson earned fourth place in the 190 weight class falling to Shenendehowa's Anthony Kennedy in a 11-5 decision while teammate Nick Miller finished fifth in the 160 weight class, pinning Carthage's Kodi Kolk in 4:23.
Norwich had four wrestlers place in the tournament against tough competition. Maverick Beckwith, Braden Reid, Patrick White, and Regan Roach all placed through the hard-fought weekend. Beckwith finished second in the 116 class finals with the loss to Florence. After starting out with a bye, Beckwith defeated W/D Hayden Robinson by a fall within 1:29 and pinned Chenango Forks' Peyton Hubbard in 3:39 to reach the finals.
Braden Reid took third in the 285 weight class, which he was against his own teammate Patrick White in the third place round, where Reid won by forefit and White took fourth. Regan Roach capped off Norwich's weekend with a fourth place finish in the 138 weight class. Roach won his first two matches, including pinning Spencer Van Etten/Candor's Chris Miller in 1:12 in the first match. He dropped the next match to the finals champion before winning a 5-0 decision that advanced him to the third place match. He fell in a major-decision 15-1 to finish fourth.
Oxford-Greene was such a welcoming host on the weekend with two wrestlers placing and others just missing the podium. Sophomore Troy Braman finished fourth after going 1-1 in the first few matches before fighting his way back by winning three consecutive matches to compete for third place. Braman fell to Averill Park's Reese Bunney for the second time in the tournament with a pin at 2:11 to earn fourth, two spots better than his sixth place finish in last year's tournament. Eighth grader Kade Mustin made second appearance in the Clyde Cole tournament, where he finished fifth in the tough 124 pound weight class with a record of 3-2. Mustin defeated BGAH's Davis Bernard in the fifth place match in a 9-4 decision.
Oxford-Greene's David Dunkel (152) and S-E's Selena Moore (145) nearly missed placing in their respective weight classes after both finishing 2-2 on the day. Congratulations to all wrestlers and best of luck in the regular season. For full results, please visit cnywrestling.com under the Section IV results page.