Cortland Standard .net

MEXICO — Nick Edmond has been solid all season long for Cortland High and the Purple Tiger senior was rewarded at the Section 3 Class B Wrestling Championships.
Edmond was a perfect 3-0 during Saturday’s matches at Mexico High School, including a 4-3 decision over top seed Brandon Yager of Central Valley Academy, in the finals to bring home the 285-pound title. The second-seeded Edmond improves to 35-7 on the season as Cortland placed fifth in the 12-team field with 117 points.
Edmond began his title quest with a 6-3 decision over seventh-seed Jeremiah Bush from Homer in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Edmond pinned Hayden Polhamus of Cazenovia at the 3:51 mark.
After a scoreless first period in the title match, Yager took the bottom position and earned one point for an escape and a 1-0 lead entering the third period. Edmond chose the bottom position and got his first point when Yager was called for a body lock technical violation.On the restart, Edmond got an escape for the 2-1 lead and sealed the victory with a takedown.Yager did make things interesting with a two-point reversal in the final five seconds to make the final score 4-3.
Cortland junior Trent Jones was also a second seed at 113, and took second place after getting pinned by top seed Theo Powers from Mexico with 19 seconds left in the third period of his 113-pound title match. Jones went 3-1 on the day to up his record to 37-6.
Jones began with a first-round pin of South Jefferson’s Cole Hallett in 2:56. He stuck another South Jeff grappler, Jon Lillie, at the 2:50 mark of their quarterfinal bout. In the semifinals, Jones escaped with a 1-0 victory over Homer junior Isaac Cline before getting pinned by Powers (41-3).
In all, the Purple Tigers had nine wrestlers place in the top six with the top four finishers in each weight class advancing to the Section 3 Division II Championships this Saturday at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena. Section 3 will also have two wild-card entries in each weight classes so Cortland could have all nine wrestlers advance to the state qualifier.
Currently, Edmond and Jones will be joined by senior Drew Towers (34-7) and senior Grant Tinker (37-5) at OCC. Towers was fourth at 138 pounds while Tinker in the same spot at 145.
The Purple Tigers have sophomore Dane George (106, 5th, 29-12), sophomore Kiegan Brown (126, 6th, 27-10), senior Chace Bentley (170, 5th, 26-10), sophomore Dakoatah Miller (195, 6th, 36-8) and sophomore Reilly Brown (220, 6th, 32-9) on the bubble as wild-card entries.
HOMER CENTRAL had two fourth-place finishers Saturday as the Trojans placed 11th in the team standings with 34 points.
Cline (32-8) placed fourth at 113 after going 3-2 on the day. Cline was almost a finalist, but lost that tough semifinal bout to Jones. Joining Cline for the state qualifier is junior Dylan Hotchkiss (20-7) at 220 pounds as he went 2-2 Saturday,
Bush (16-14) is on the bubble as the junior placed fifth at 285 pounds.
Phoenix won the team title as just eight points separated the top three teams. The Firebirds had 203.5 points with three champions and 10 top-four finishers. Central Valley Academy took second with 197 points one champion, but six runners-up while host Mexico was third with 195.5 points and five champions, but just two other top-four finishers.
Austin Whitney of Mexico was the Most Outstanding Wrestler, taking home the championship at 145 pounds. The senior had a quarterfinal pin win before coming up with major decision victories in his semifinal and final.