SECTION IV WRESTLING: SVEC'S DAVIS LEADS EAGLES AT STATE QUALIFIER (2019-02-09)

BY TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
WINDSOR, N.Y. - SVEC experienced emotions from each end of the spectrum at the Section IV Division II Wrestling Championships here Saturday night.

The Eagles' Dell Davis, in only his second year of wrestling, won the 195-pound title. Teammate Mark Mullen suffered a tough loss in the 182 pound final just minutes before that.

"A lot of emotions," SVEC head coach Ernie Marilley said. "We knew going in that Dell had to win it in order to go on to the state tournament because it's only his second year ever wrestling so we didn't have any credential to get a wild card. He knew going in that he had to give it his all."

Davis ran across the mat and did a flip before embracing Marilley and assistant coach Jesse Buck. The senior had just knocked off Greene / Oxford's Noah Kennedy, charging the No. 1 seed and taking him straight to his back with a thud. Moments later, the referee's hand slapped the mat with a resounding thud as well and the former basketball players had a pin in 3:49.

Mullen the top seed, suffered a fall against Susquehanna Valley's Mitchell Knapp in 3:24. Knapp broke a scoreless tie with a switch in the second period, then ran a bar and wrist combination to pick up the fall at 3:24.

"Highs and lows," Marilley said. "Mark he's had a great season. This was only his third loss of the season. He wrestled tough. We just got caught."

Mullen reached the finals with an 13-5 major decision over M-E's Roman Jellick in the semifinals. Davis advanced following a hard-fought 7-5 decision over SV's Trevor Frable.

The Eagles had one other finalist in sophomore Parker Sexton, who put forth a solid effort in an 8-5 loss to returning state runner-up Brady Worthing from Tioga.

Worthing scored the initial takedown of the bout, then gave up a point for locked hands. He would turn Sexton for a two-point near fall and a 4-1 lead heading into the second period. He extended his lead to 6-1 with a reversal.

In the final period, Sexton received a point on a stalling call, then added an escape to cut the advantage to 6-3.  Worthing added a late takedown, but Sexton quickly reversed him as time ran out.

"Parker wrestled tough," Marilley said. "We needed to create space a little bit sooner. We were doing well on bottom. He was confident. He told me he wanted to go bottom. I was really seeing confidence from him through this tournament that we haven't seen throughout the year which is really good because you want to peak at this time. He wanted to go down and he was confident that he was going to do something. He wrestled well and we almost had him at the end."

Also competing for SVEC were Ousmane Duncanson (113), Hunter Cleveland (126), Alex Morse (145), Devin Beach (152) and Jacob Campolito (220).


Morse out-pointed Whitney Point's Jordan Caniff in overtime, 12-10, then lost to Kegan Wright of Norwich, 13-2.

Beach decisioned Marathon's Larry Barned, 9-5, before falling to Windsor's James Hoover, 13-1.

Campolito pinned Waverly's Trent Skeens in 1:53, then lost by fall in 1:23 to OM / WG's Josh Bravo.

SVEC placed seventh out of the 25 teams competing with 86.5 points. Tioga won the team title for the third straight year, scoring 218 points. Windsor was second with 162.5 and Norwich was third at 158.5.

------

IN PHOTO 1: SVEC's Dell Davis (top). PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.