Fonda/Johnstown edged by Cobleskill-Richmondville in non-league wrestling match

PHOTOGRAPHER: Paul Wager

Fonda/Johnstown's Owen Lewis, right, controls Cobleskill-Richmondville's Connor Wade in their 189-pound bout during Thursday's non-league match at Warren Street Elementary School in Johnstown.

JOHNSTOWN — After losing by tiebreaker to Tamarac in its season-opening dual meet on Dec. 6, the Fonda/Johnstown wrestling team posted its first win of the season Tuesday at Little Falls.

Fonda/Johnstown looked to push its win streak to two matches Thursday, but dropped a 42-34 non-league decision to Cobleskill-Richmondville at Warren Street Elementary School.

“It’s definitely encouraging from where we were last year,” Fonda/Johnstown coach John Paris said. “We’ve made some huge improvements.”

Jonathan Cranker (172 pounds) and Owen Lewis (189) won by fall for Fonda/Johnstown, while Grady Hicks (102), Jonathan Swartwout (110) and Owen Hicks (152) all won by forfeit. Coln Pickering added a major decision for Fo/Jo at 145 pounds.

“We’re taking all of the situations we see in each match and working on them in practice,” Paris said. “We’re seeing improvement every day, and it’s showing in our dual meets and tournaments.”

Ashten Haley (118), Liam English (126), Ben Yorke (132), Luke Yorke (138), Kyber Henry (160), Luke Pryor (215) and Carlos Torres (285) all posted pins for Cobleskill-Richmondville.

Torres opened the match by pinning Fonda/Johnstown’s Drake VanValkenburgh in 2:26 to give the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead.

Grady Hicks and Swartwout collected back-to-back forfeits to give Fo/Jo a 12-6 lead.

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However, Cobleskill-Richmondville won the next four weight classes by fall. Haley pinned Kyran Clark in 1:38, English pinned Matthew Livingston in 38 seconds, Ben York pinned Zane Chace in 2:32 and Luke York pinned Logan McCoy in 3:35 to make it 30-12.

Pickering stopped the streak by posting a 12-2 major decision over the Bulldogs’ Dominic Scolaro and Owen Hicks collected a forfeit to make it 30-22.

Henry pushed the Cobleskill-Richmondville lead to 36-22 with a fall over Aidan Bump in1:40 at 160 pounds.

Cranker pinned Chandler Willoughby in 3:34 at 172 pounds for Fo/Jo and Lewis pinned the Bulldogs’ Connor Wade with just three seconds left in the third period to pull Fonda/Johnstown to with in 36-34 heading into the final bout.

In the last contest of the night, Pryor pinned Fo/Jo’s Jonathan Sammons in 2:30 to secure the victory for Cobleskill-Richmondville.

“Dual meets are tricky,” Paris said. “There’s a little bit of strategy that goes into it and some maneuvering that goes on. It just didn’t fall our way tonight.”

It was the second dual meet of the season for Cobleskill-Richmondville, which blanked La Salle 60-0 on Dec. 8 in a Colonial Council contest.

Fonda/Johnstown (1-2 overall), which won 47-21 at Little Falls on Tuesday, is scheduled to compete in the Montgomery County Duals on Saturday at Amsterdam High School.

Cobleskill-Richmondville (2-0 overall) is slated to host the Battle in the Valley on Saturday.

285 — Carlos Torres (C-R) pinned Drake VanValkenburgh, 2:26; 102 — Grady Hicks (Fo/Jo) won by forfeit; 110 — Jonathan Swartwout (Fo/Jo) won by forfeit; 118 — Ashten Haley (C-R) pinned Kyran Clark, 1:48 — 126: Liam English (C-R) pinned Matthew Livingston, 0:38; 132 — Ben Yorke (C-R) pinned Zane Chace, 2:32; 138 — Luke Yorke (C-R) pinned Logan McCoy, 3:35; 145 — Colin Pickering (Fo/Jo) major dec. Dominic Scolaro, 12-2; 152 — Owen Hicks (Fo/Jo) won by forfeit; 160 — Kyber Henry (C-R) pinned Aidan Bump, 1:40; 172 — Jonathan Cranker (Fo/Jo) pinned Chandler Willoughby, 3:34; 189 — Owen Lewis (Fo/Jo) pinned Connor Wade, 5:57; 215 — Luke Pryor (C-R) pinned Jonathan Sammons, 2:30.

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