HS wrestling: Spencerport rallies for wrestling victory
Democrat and Chronicle
James Johnson
Staff writer

(February 6, 2005) — CANANDAIGUA — Mike Collura turned around with a smile on his face and pointed to his screaming friends in the bleachers.

Collura's pin to end the 160-pound match sealed victory for Spencerport over Canandaigua on Saturday, in a matchup of state-ranked teams that the Rangers won 30-19.

It also might have been a signal that the Rangers have bounced back during a season that many teams would be ecstatic over but has not met their lofty standards.

"Finishing like this is something we can be proud of," Collura said. "We didn't reach our ultimate goal, which is to be No. 1 in the state, but we're satisfied with the way we've been wrestling the last few weeks."

Spencerport (12-2) is ranked fourth among large schools in the state.

Earlier this season, the Rangers watched a dual-meet win streak against Section V teams that was almost 11 years old end against Wayne. That probably ended any hope they had of finishing on top of the season-ending rankings.

They watched Canandaigua win four consecutive matches in front of a loud crowd of about 1,000 people to take a slim lead.

"It's a great place to wrestle," Spencerport coach Bill Jacoutot said. "They are a real wrestling crowd and that's a program, whether it's up or down, (that) will come after you.

"I said that it was going to be a dogfight, an Army-Navy game."

Spencerport was still in front, 18-16 before the 145-pound showdown between Canandaigua's Al Gianforti and Spencerport's Bryan Bourne. This was a rematch of Gianforti's victory during the Clayton Barnard Tournament finals last month at Hilton.

Gianforti was ahead 3-2 at the start of the third, when he suffered a cut. His head wrapped in tape, the Canandaigua senior continued to wrestle and capitalized on a mistake by Bourne to win, 5-3.

Canandaigua was ahead, 19-18, with three matches remaining. But 152-pounder Adam Snook put the Rangers ahead again after he rode Jim Hawkins through most of his 5-0 victory.

"I like to stay up with the (overall) score," Snook said. "I wanted to win it, I knew it was a pretty critical match."

Collura then charged on to the mat and worked over Peter Thomas aggressively for a pin. Collura got it with 18 seconds remaining in the second period.

"You go out there and put up the points that the team needs," Collura said. "It's a great feeling."

There was no way the Rangers could fall behind again.

All that remained was for 171-pounder Justin Linville to join Spencerport teammates Jared Plucknette, Matt Sheffet, Anthony Borzilleri, Chris Collura, Snook and Mike Collura as winners of their matches.

"It was a slow start for us," Snook said of Spencerport's season. "Our focus was off, but we're starting to put stuff together."

Canandaigua, (5-2) state-ranked sixth, took on Spencerport without Matt King, a sectional class champion last season. King is sidelined for the rest of the season after he broke his collarbone three weeks ago.