Alfred-Almond stops Panthers
BY BOB BENZ THE LEADER

CAMPBELL - With a team made up predominantly of freshmen and sophomores - and just three seniors - head coach Dom Scolaro knows his Campbell- Savona wrestlers will struggle to win matches this season.

The Panthers managed just four individual match victories Thursday and suffered a 51-21 setback to Steuben County foe Alfred- Almond.

Fueled by pins from Justin Washburn (112 pounds), Tyler Bossard (130) and Tom Demetreu (145), along with a 17-1 technical fall victory from Robert Comer (125), the Eagles quickly opened up a sizable lead and never looked back.

"They're one of the better teams in the league this year and they looked pretty good," Scolaro said. "We're really at a stage right now where it's going to be a building season for us. We're working on technique and we're trying to build and I think the guys we've got - we're about a year away to get them to where I want to be."

Campbell-Savona (1-3) did have some bright spots as two of its four wins came via pin.

A f t e r Alfred-Almond opened the match with a forfeit win at 171 pounds, Campbell-Savona's Kaleb Drake pinned Kyle Hadsell in 4:47 for a victory at 189. Drake's win knotted the match at 6-6.

"I was pleased with Kaleb - he wrestled well," Scolaro said.

However, after Drake's triumph, the visiting Eagles prevailed in nine of the next 10 matches. Campbell- Savona's only win during that stretch was a forfeit victory for Chris McLaughlin at 275.

The Panthers did finish strong, though, as Campbell- Savona teammates Justin Tombs and Jason Hyer won the final two matches of the evening.

Wrestling at 152, Tombs jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period and went on to pin Robert George in 2:58.

"Justin Tombs was hitting his escapes just about the way we've been drilling it," Scolaro said. "He got the position and got the reversal, so I was really pleased with Justin."

Hyer battled back from an early 2-1 deficit and held on for a 6-2 decision of Travis Harvey at 160 pounds.

"Jason Hyer is always very aggressive and he's hard to deal with," Scolaro said. "He got that leg hold in and did real nice with it."

In one of the closest matches of the evening, Alfred-Almond's Tom Doherty scored a 9-7 decision of Logan Wilson to win at 215. The Eagles' Jon Ryan scored a 3-0 decision of Tyler Romanki at 96.