Batavia wraps up River crown

Noah Frazier opened the door for the Batavia wrestling team, and Mickey Watson slammed it shut.

As a result, Batavia ran the table in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division, overcoming a 17-point deficit against archrival Geneva Friday night at home.

Frazier, a freshman, had the only takedown of the 182-pound collision against the Vikings’ Bobby Byker to escape with the 3-2 victory.

Watson, with Batavia leading by 2 points, then took down Geneva senior leader Jake Boser twice in the final three minutes to cement the Bulldogs’ 34-29 victory with his 5-1 triumph.

“We have been having so many close duals,” Watson said. “I was nervous because I knew (the dual) was going to come down to my match. I relied on my defense and tried to wear (Boser) out.”

Geneva (10-12 overall, 4-2 in the River), the defending divisional champion, was trying to create a three-way tie at the top with the Bulldogs (8-11, 6-0) and St. Charles East.

The Vikings were brilliant out of the gate behind Henry Zupke (220 pounds), heavyweight Jake Mills, Ryan O’Brien (106) and Brad Martens (113).

None of the four Geneva athletes allowed any offensive points: Zupke had a third-period technical fall, followed by Mills’ triple-overtime thriller against Alec Lyons; Martens’ second-period pin closed out the run that O’Brien continued with a 7-1 decision.

Suddenly, Geneva raced to a 17-0 lead.

“There’s 14 weight classes,” Batavia coach Ben Morris said of his thoughts at this point.

Sure enough, Batavia responded with an unanswered burst of its own.

Joey Shump had a quick fall at 120 pounds, and Kamran Khamissi was the unquestioned hero of the night for the Bulldogs at 126.

The sophomore was trailing the Vikings’ Mike Huck 14-6 after the second period, only to catch the Geneva freshman in a move that resulted in a crowd-stunning fall.

“At least a 10-point swing,” Geneva coach Tom Chernich said. “Those things are going to happen. (Huck) is just a freshman.”

“That’s the dual right there,” Morris said.

“(Huck) was (in the) down (position to start the period),” Khamissi said. “He tried to get up, and I caught him on his back, turned him and got the pin.”

Riding all the momentum, the Bulldogs’ Charlie Smorczewski and Anthony Scaccia extended the Batavia run to 22 points with respective verdicts of major decision and pin at 132 and 138 pounds.

Mark Henriksen and Mike Villaneva enabled Geneva to regain the lead with pins, but simple decisions by the Bulldogs’ Jon Wagner and Frazier put the final spotlight on Watson and Boser.

“I felt pretty confident with Mickey as our anchor,” Morris said. “He doesn’t win (his matches) by much, but he’s dependable.”

“It’s a tough way to go down,” Chernich said.