Top-ranked Spencerport holds on
Rangers shrug off early deficit, beat No. 6 Canandaigua

JJOHNSO@DemocratandChronicle.com
Democrat and Chronicle

DANESE KENON staff photographer Spencerport’s Alex Baxter, left, locks arms with Canandaigua’s Jamie Simmons. Baxter, 30-0 this season, scored a pin at 2:20 of the 215-pound match. The Rangers rallied to win, 35-21.

The Spencerport senior moved from the bleachers to the middle of the action Saturday as the Rangers won Section V’s most-anticipated annual matchup, 35-21.

An estimated crowd of 1,000 people filled the bleachers inside Spencerport’s gymnasium. Gray was glad that he was not among them.

“We won the big one,” Gray said before the Rangers celebrated their win by emptying their Gatorade bottles over coach Bill Jacoutot. “Last year, I had to watch from the stands (because I didn’t crack the team’s lineup).

“To contribute and (possibly) win the state title, I have no words for it. We earned it.”

Gray pinned Canandaigua’s Matt King 4:40 into the 112-pound bout to help the top-ranked large-schools team in the state open up what was a competitive match with Spencerport ahead 19-12.

Spencerport eighth-grader Bryan Bourne then followed that fall with another, pinning 119-pounder Rocco Catalfamo after 4:58.

That got the Spencerport fans on their feet again, as the outcome of the dual was all but decided. The Rangers earned their 110th consecutive victory over a Section V team, dating back to a loss to Canandaigua in 1994.

“We have big crowds for all of our matches,” Gray said. “Tonight it was different. The noise was so loud, it hurt my ears. It sounded like a freight train.”

Canandaigua’s Trevor Chinn, a state champion in 2003, opened the dual meet with a 23-9 technical fall over Adam Snook at 145 pounds. Canadaigua’s lead jumped to 9-0 after 152-pounder Josh Parsons beat Spencerport’s Mike Collura on overtime criteria.

The momentum the Braves built stopped when Canandaigua forfeited the 160-pound match to Jared Plucknette. Things turned in Spencerport’s favor after Matt Legas defeated Canandaigua’s Jim West, 13-2, at 171 pounds.

That major decision by one of Spencerport’s captains put the Rangers ahead 10-9 and was the first of three consecutive wins on the mat.

“Their defense is their ‘A’ game,” Parsons said. “They can stop our shots, and our team is a good offensive team. Going against a good defensive team, it’s hard to get points.”

Alex Baxter, one of 11 honored during Spencerport’s senior night, improved his record to 30-0 and fired up his teammates after he pinned Jamie Simmons 2:20 into the 215 bout.

“It really got the team going,” Baxter said. “We started off slow, losing the first couple of matches. I felt I needed to do something.”

“Coming into 119 it was going the way we wanted it to go,” Canandaigua coach Rich Romeo said. “We got through our heavyweights without too much damage.

“If we win that match, get four or five points, we’re in a position to have a chance to win.”