IAC WRESTLING: SVEC DOWNS EDISON FOR 7TH DUAL MEET VICTORY (2025-01-15)
By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
SPENCER — The Spencer-Van Etten/Candor wrestling team gave up experience on the mat, but was able to take advantage of a deeper lineup to defeat Edison, 42-29, on Senior Night here Wednesday evening. It was the Eagles’ seventh win of the season, the most since going 10-8 in 2019-20.
The visiting Spartans put just six wrestlers on the mat, but won four of the five contested bouts with an advantage in experience. Four of the Edison grapplers are third-year competitors while only one of the Eagles has a full season to his credit.
SVEC was able to capitalize on forfeits, receiving six of the seven freebies handed out. Most of those went to the Eagles’ more experienced wrestlers. Brennan Zimmer (124 pounds), Rodney Vaow (131) and Kaden Jamison (145) are in their third year and Jak Smith (285) is in his second. Noah Banks (138) and Korbin Brenza (215) are in their first year.
Banks was one of three seniors recognized, along with Patrick Keir and John Johnston.
Johnston, a state qualifier last season, has been out since summer due to an injury and will find out near the end of the month if he will be cleared to compete.
Keir, a first-year competitor, drew Edison’s top wrestler, Greg Golden, at 170. Golden, coming off a podium finish at the grueling Southern Tier Memorial last weekend, brought a 25-3 record into the bout and dominated on his feet en route to an 18-3 technical fall.
The Spartans grabbed the early lead as Cameron Southard received a forfeit and Austin Donahue pinned Dante Davis in 1:31, but forfeits to Zimmer, Vaow, Banks and Jamison gave SVEC a 24-12 advantage and Gabe Benjamin’s pin of Levi Utter in 5:08 gave the Eagles a 30-12 lead.
Edison’s experience prevailed over the next three matches as Jace Schiller (160) pinned Cooper Zufall in 1:48 and Caden Southard (190) dispatched Kaden Sims in 3:08 with Golden’s tech fall coming in between to close the gap to 30-29.
Brenza and Smith picked up forfeit wins to make it 42-29.
SVEC coach Jesse Buck was pleased with several performances, including that of one of his newcomers, 8th-grader Gabe Benjamin.
“A big one for us and a developing kid. He's an eighth grader. Gabe bumped up to 52 and he was the first win that we had out there in the competed matches,” the coach said. “He wrestled really tough, really, really tough. The kid’s just exactly what you want. He's a straight-A student, super hard worker, listens and goes out and gets after it.
“Really excited for Gabe, and then glad to see Dante and Landon both get wins in the exhibition matches at the end as well. They've been working hard and good to see them get the recognition and have it pay off for them.”
Buck would have liked to see more head-to-head matches, but Edison didn’t have everyone available.
“It's the name of the game,” he said. “Thomas Edison, I know they were down quite a few of their guys, so that's always rough to travel and or just have your match missing most of your team. I know they were hoping for more and obviously we were hoping for more, but that's how it goes a lot of times. Some of the matches would've been pretty good with Zimmer, Rodney, (Kamren) Westbrook.”
SVEC improved to 7-5 on the season and is off until the IAC championships Jan. 25.
In exhibition matches, the Eagles’ Landon Lawrence pinned Aiden Quackenbush in 3:38 and Davis decked Cameron Southard in 2:26.
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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
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SVEC 42, EDISON 29
101: No Match
108: Cameron Southard (Ed) by forfeit
116: Austin Donahue (Ed) pinned Dante Davis, 1:31
124: Brennan Zimmer (SVEC) by forfeit
131: Rodney Vaow (SVEC) by forfeit
138: Noah Banks (SVEC) by forfeit
145: Kaden Jamison (SVEC) by forfeit
152: Gabe Benjamin (SVEC) pinned Levi Utter, 5:08
160: Jace Schiller (Ed) pinned Cooper Zufall, 1:48
170: Greg Golden (Ed) by tech fall over Patrick Keir, 18-3
190: Caden Southard (Ed) pinned Kaden Sims, 3:08
215: Korbin Brenza (SVEC) by forfeit
285: Jak Smith (SVEC) by forfeit
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