By just nine points, the Canastota wrestling team missed claiming the championship as the hosts of Saturday’s Center State Conference championship meet. The Raiders did not have Zach Zupan in the lineup, yet still piled up 197.5 points, beating everyone in the 12-team field except Adirondack, who prevailed with 206.5 points. Four Canstota wrestlers won titles, including Anthony Finocchiaro, who dominated at 130 pounds. He earned three straight pins, capped by his fall over John Mazza (Mohawk) in 1:28 in the finals. Meanwhile, Wyatt Albanese seized the 152-pound championship, shutting out Adirondack’s Matt Fay 5-0 in the championship match. At 215 pounds, Fred Sherman got to the top with a third-period technical fall over Ilion’s Zach Smith in the finals as Travis Conklin won at 285 pounds with a 10-4 decision over Jacob Gillard (Little Falls) in his title match. Three other Raiders made the finals, including Sam Farfaglia, who took his 171-pound showdown with Adirondack’s Cody Buhler to overtime before getting pinned. Nate Walker, at 96 pounds, lost a 7-0 title match to Ben Nastovski (Dolgeville), while Tyler Sirota could not continue in the 160-pound finale against Greg Davis (Sherburne-Earlville), taking an injury default. Joe Tiller snagged third place at 125 pounds, holding off Herkimer’s Bobby Maida 3-2 in the consolation bracket final, as Billy Rinauto (135 pounds) and Steve Fallon (171 pounds matched that third-place effort. Zach Hannan (103 pounds) was fifth. Morrisville-Eaton, who was ninth with 67 points, saw Mike Vreeland nearly win at 145 pounds, only to fall in overtime to Dolgeville’s Kaleb Smith. Barney Prince got to the last match at 119 pounds, only to have Pat Webster (Adirondack) pin him in the third period. Before the league meet, Canastota wrestled against Hannibal last Tuesday night, a close affair that saw the Raiders fall just short in a 34-32 loss to the Warriors. Of the 15 matches, just one was forfeited – to Hannibal’s Greg Hadcock at 103 pounds. Thus, the Raiders had more points on the mat and won eight times – but only two of them were pins. Finocchiaro, wrestling at 135, had one of the falls, finishing off Tyler Smith in 1:10, while Tiller took four more seconds than Finocchiaro, but still got a quick pin over Robert Elliot. Even Sirota had to go all six minutes in his 18-5 win over Rob Burnett, as did Rinauto in handling Nick Shepard 14-3. Just a few more points, and they turn into technical falls and Canastota gets a winning margin. Zupan, at 189, took out Blair Taylor 14-7, while Farfaglia beat Walter Forbes 5-2. Walker squeezed out a 4-2 decision over Dustin Ouellette and, at the other end of the weight spectrum, Conklin edged Steve Kingsley 5-4. After a long layoff, M-E returned Thursday night and rolled to a 70-6 victory over the Mount Markham Mustangs. Most of the matches were forfeits, but Wyatt Morris, at 285, did pin Mackenzie Dorre in 56 seconds. Patrick Ashcraft (112) finished off Nathan Weeks in 2:54, with Tyler Curtis (171) taking five fewer seconds to earn his pin and Prince beating Tanner Christian 11-3. M-E is slotted into the Section III Class B tournament this Saturday at Oneida, just as Canastota makes its way to Lowville for the Class C championships. Top finishers here advance to the Feb. 12 sectional finals at Utica Memorial Auditorium.