SOURCE: www.fltimes.com

February 27, 2005

Bloom, Webster headed to states
By William S. Paxton, Times Correspondent
Finger Lakes Times, Geneva, NY
Sunday, February 27, 2005

Full Text: Copyright 2005 Finger Lakes Times.

BROCKPORT - Mark Bloom was hoping to have some company on his trip to Albany next weekend.

The Geneva senior did his part to earn a ticket to the state wrestling tournament with an 11-5 victory over Spencerport's Adam Snook at 152 pounds in Division I, but his two teammates ? Josh Bloom and James Lyons ? came up a little short on Saturday in SuperSectionals at SUNY Brockport.

"I thought I wrestled well," said Bloom, who earned a trip to the state tournament in Syracuse last year at 145 pounds. "I was just happy I could be here."

Bloom advanced to the finals with a 14-4 major decision over Churchville-Chili's Bill Breon in the quarterfinals and a 13-6 triumph over Brighton's Brian Douangratdy in the semifinals.

Bloom's younger brother, Josh, and Lyons were also glad to be competing against the top wrestlers in Section V for the second straight week, but both of their state dreams ended in the finals.

Lyons might have had the most heartbreaking loss of the day, falling to Spencerport's Jared Plucknette in the final seconds of the 189-pound match, 5-3. The Geneva junior appeared to be outside the circle when Plucknette took him down with four seconds left in a tied match, but the referee awarded two points to the Ranger.

"It was a very controversial call," Geneva coach Bill Hadsell said. "[But to his credit] James kept wrestling. It was a tough loss."

Josh Bloom lost to Wayne's Josh Patterson, who also won their match last week, by pin in 3:45 at 160 pounds. Patterson jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first period and held the upper hand through most of the match.

"Josh had a great tournament," said Hadsell, who hopes the younger Bloom and Lyons use this year's tournament experience as motivation for their senior campaigns. "Patterson is a tough kid."

So is North-Rose Wolcott senior Mike Webster, who pinned everyone he faced at 171 pounds in Division II over the past two days to earn his first trip to the state tournament, snapping a Cougars' drought that dated to 1990.

"He's been wrestling well all year," NR-W coach Jim Prentice said. "[Going to states] has been his goal all year."

Webster started the day by destroying LeRoy's Matt Forti in 18 seconds in the quarterfinals, then polished off Kendall's Wes Snyder in 4:14 in the semifinals. In the title bout, Canisteo's Devan Bertch grabbed a 4-2 lead, but Webster battled back to win the match by pin in 3:32.

"He made a mistake [and I took advantage of it]," said Webster, who was able to take down Bertch with a hook over the back after the latter tried to get him underneath.

The Finger Lakes East had 13 wrestlers advanced to the D-I finals, and eight will be going to the state tournament, including Bloom. Canandaigua Academy had four winners: Dan Mandara (112), Rob Mack (125), Kyle Ingraham (130), and Albert Gianforti (140). Wayne's Luke Baum (135), Ryan Lamagra (171) and Patterson (160) also prevailed.

Another member of the Finger Lakes league, Penn Yan senior Kyle Heitmann, fell in the D-II 275-pound finals to Canisteo's Ryan Turner by pin in 5:05.

"It's his senior year, and he's come a long way," PY assistant coach Don Rossi said.

Waterloo's Josh Mateo (140) and Dean Lemmon (189) both lost in the D-II semifinals, as did Midlakes' Morgan Hoven (135). Marion's Matt Hasbrouck (103), Josh Mayville (112), Nick Hasbrouck (125) and Corey Camp (130) also made the semifinal round before succumbing.