To paraphrase a slogan taken from Julius Ceasar and his conquests of the Gallic Wars, "Veni, Vidi, Vici," Spencerport wrestling team did just that on Saturday, February 3, in the gymnasium of the #1 New York state rated wrestling team of Canandaigua. They came, they saw and they conquered.

A capacity crowd of 1,150 witnessed the match. Canandaigua (16-0), ranked No. 1 in the state, had beaten Lancaster, Huntington, Fulton and Monroe-Woodbury this year in either tournaments or dual matches. These teams were rated 2-5 in New York state, so it was only fitting to face and defeat the #6 team in New York state, perennial power Spencerport.

Canandaigua had won the Class A Sectionals 10 out of 11 years from 1975-1985 with the exception being 1983. Spencerport had won the Class A Sectionals the last 12 years. Canandaigua was the last Section V team to beat Spencerport in 1994. Since then, Spencerport has amassed an 82-0-1 record against Section V teams. Canandaigua was a decided favorite to defeat Spencerport based on the rated teams they had previously defeated and the 5 of 7 head-to-head confrontations that they had won with Spencerport wrestlers in the Jamestown Tournament.

Coach Bill Jacoutot knew he had his hands full facing this tough Canandaigua team on their own turf. Before the match, Jacoutot told his team to think about the Spencerport wrestling tradition and what they are representing and wrestle to the best of their ability. These words must have sunk in, because they all rose to the occasion and defeated Canandaigua 27-17. Previous losses turned to wins for Spencerport. Coach Romeo of Canandaigua was hoping to score 15 points in the first four matches, but all Spencerport wrestlers raised their level of wrestling to prevent this from happening.

At 103, Greg Gelinas scored a major decision 15-5 over Blake Woodward and Mike Cuppernall did the same to Mike Terenzi 11-0 at 112; Canandaigua fans were raving until Jared Moreland pinned Jadan Lynn in the second period at 119. Highly state rated Trevor Chin defeated Spencerport Dan France-4 at 125; Dan was trailing 5 to 1 at one time and with 15 seconds to go was trying to turn Trevor.

After watching this valiant effort, the Spencerport fans realized this match was within grasp. The next six Spencerport wrestlers won: Mike Brongo 5-3, Jordan Raines 3-1, Mike Bourne 3-0, Steve Stulpin 4-2, Don Zimmerman 3-1 with a takedown in overtime, and Matt Morris 7-1. Canandaigua won the next two matches with Derek Moore decisioning Seth Louden 2-0 and Clayton Mack decisioning Jason Mussen 7-4. The 215 match saw Spencerport's Brandon Clayton defeating Evan Junot 3-2 with an escape in overtime.

Where does this put Spencerport in the state ratings? Spencerport has one blemish on their record, a 34-27 loss to fifth rated Monroe-Woodbury; Monroe-Woodbury now has two losses. If Canandaigua defeated the state's 2-5 rated teams in duals or tournaments, based on Spencerport's latest victory, they could be rated the new #1. This wrestling match was truly high school entertainment at its best. With sectionals coming up, the Spencerport-Canandaigua rivalry is sure to be fierce.

Earlier in the evening Canandaigua won four of the first seven matches at the junior varsity level to take a 20-16 lead. Spencerport stormed ahead by winning the next seven matches to make the final score 50-20.