By the time the Cazenovia wrestling team made its way to Marcellus for Wednesday’s OHSL Liberty division opener, it had a fair amount of confidence generated by the way it performed in its first two outings of the season. On Dec. 1, the Lakers hosted a three-way meet with New Hartford and Fayetteville-Manlius, and won on both sides. Cazenovia beat the Spartans 49-31 and the Hornets 54-27. Against New Hartford, the Lakers benefited from three forfeits amounting to 18 points. Still, Teddy Kugler, at 138 pounds, took 23 seconds to pin Tony Karam, initiating a stretch where Mike Nourse (145 pounds) pinned Nate Benjamin in 45 seconds and Jake Wilson (160 pounds) finished off Dan Rabbia in 50 seconds. Dan Phillips, at 189 pounds, also got a pin, over Jim Laurenzo in 1:59, while Nick Petroff (120 pounds) won a tough 5-2 decision over Dan Fancett and Dylan Evans (126 pounds) rolled past Blake Haddad 13-5. In the F-M match, Carter Biviano (113 pounds) got his pin over Austin Feltrinelli in 26 seconds, while Wilson pinned Tim Byrnes in 42 seconds and Phillips took 47 seconds to pin Jon Hajduk. Petroff improved to 2-0, pinning Luke Rufo in 2:48, while Cossitt needed 4:16 to finish off Christian Dobrzynski. Kugler, Hayden Polhamus (195 pounds), John Nannery (220 pounds) and Brad Lucas (285 pounds) all claimed forfeits. From there, Cazenovia moved on to the Morrisville-Eaton Duals two days later and would finish second at the meet with a 4-1 record. The Lakers only lost to the host M-E Warriors 54-30. Otherwise, it beat CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt 42-33, edged Vernon-Verona-Sherrill 42-32 and also toppled East Syracuse-Minoa and Cooperstown before the meet was done. Then Cazenovia visited Marcellus, and that proved successful, too, as the Lakers held off the Mustangs by a 40-36 margin. Wilson opened things by pinning Kevin Morrissey in 1:46. Two matches later, Phillips blanked John Dunn 14-0 and Polhamus followed up with a pin over Mike Cherchio in 1:27. Marcellus stayed close by winning four of the next matches, the lone exception a forfeit to Lucas, as Aaron LaHart (106 pounds) and Biviano both lost close decisions, which limited the Mustangs’ point total. In response, Petroff pinned Nate Long with 33 seconds left in their match, and Awng Hung took just 68 seconds to pin 126-pound opponent Zach Caza. When Kugler claimed a forfeit at 145, Cazenovia clinched the meet. Now the varsity Lakers rest a bit, practicing for a week and a half before going to this Saturday’s Groton Holiday Duals.