Marcellus' Barnes stages big upset
He made the tournament as an alternate, and wins at the 112-pound weight class.

By Jorge Arangure Jr.

Marcellus sophomore Matt Barnes laughed when he saw a sign on a wall of the Onondaga County War Memorial that bore some discouraging words for some wrestler named "Milton"

Barnes could afford to laugh. "Milton" is a nickname tagged on him by teammates, and as he walked off the mat Saturday, he had just provided the biggest upset win of the day in the 112-pound class at the Section Three Wrestling Championships.

"This means everything," Barnes said. "My brother (Chris Barnes, now a sophomore at Cornell) won sectionals twice, and I always wanted to win."

The sign, which was placed on the wall by his teammates, jokingly referred to the fact that Barnes had barely qualified for the tournament as the alternate in Class B-2, while most of his other teammates were seeded higher.

To gain a berth in the final, Barnes defeated Dane LaPlante of Beaver River 3-2. LaPlante, who was last year's 96-pound winner, was the No. 1 seed in the 112-pound division.

Barnes' pin of Toby Pawlewicz of Fulton in the final round electrified the crowd. But Barnes was unfazed by the crowd support.

"I've wrestled so many matches, that it didn't really matter," Barnes said of the crowd reaction. This would have been the perfect day for Barnes except that his grandmother was unable to see the biggest victory of his career.

"I always wanted to win this for her," Barnes said. "She was one of my main influences."

His grandmother, Helen Volsko, died of cancer two years ago and Barnes vowed to pay back her memory for the support that she had given him.

"She used to come to all my matches," Barnes said. "I will always remember her."

Barnes said he also was wrestling for his father, whose support has been an inspiration.

"My dad has been there every single step of the way," Barnes said. "He's taken me everywhere."

The victory came as a sweet surprise for Barnes, who has wrestled since the third grade.

"When I was young, I never thought this would happen," Barnes said.

No victory meant as much to Barnes as his last one. "This makes me feel good that I actually am somebody," he said.

Mexico was the big winner in team competition. The Tigers won their first sectional title by edging out Fulton and Lowville, who tied for second place.

"This is a big victory," Mexico coach Bill Kays said. "It was important for the kids."

The Tigers entered the final round in second place, but had five wrestlers who qualified for the finals. Three of the five Mexico wrestlers won their matches, including 135-pound JoeLon Williams, who was in the sectional finals for the fourth consecutive year.

Williams won the sectional title in 1996 at 98 pounds, but he lost at 112 in 1997 and at 130 last year.

"I was very discouraged," Williams said of the two losses. "But I worked a lot harder in practice."

Bill Parry of Morrisville-Eaton was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler. Parry attends Hamilton High School, but wrestles for Morrisville-Eaton because the Emerald Knights have no wrestling team.

Parry also was named the winner of a $500 scholarship by the Syracuse Wrestling Officials Association.

"It's been great," Parry said. "It's like a life-long dream."

The winners of Saturday's sectionals will compete in the state finals next weekend at the War Memorial. The state finals begin Friday afternoon and continue through Saturday evening.

In other matches, 145-pound Ben Morczek of South Lewis continued his undefeated season with a 7-4 victory over Craig Valente of Rome Free Academy.

"It's great to be undefeated," Morczek said. "But I'm not finished yet."

The only repeat winner from last year was 152-pound Dan Horning of Baldwinsville. Horning, who was last year's sectional winner at 145 pounds, defeated Justin Stowell of Mexico 13-2.

"I was much happier with this year," Horning said. "I don't think that I wrestled to my potential last year. This year I really went after my opponent."

Most wrestlers said they expected to follow their same routine in preparation for next week's state championship matches.

"If you're not conditioned now," Parry said, "then it's probably too late."