The Fairport Wrestling team opened the Monroe County East schedule with a tough 34-27 loss at Irondequoit.

Phil Accorso (103) started the Red Raiders off strong against Brett Thompson. He shot and scored a single leg takedown midway through the first period. Accorso worked and was able to turn Thompson then stuck the pin with just two seconds remaining in the first period.

Fairport fell behind 21-6 against some tough matchups before Matt Cunningham (135) stepped on the mat. He was wrestling up one weight class. Cunningham fell behind early when Pat Mullin scored the first takedown, but he fought hard to escape. Cunningham shot back and scored the takedown and worked Mullin to his back but time expired just before he pinned Mullin. Cunningham quickly worked to turn Mullin at the start of the second period and this time stuck the pin at 2:28.

Brian Baniewicz (140) followed with the most exciting match of the evening against Mark Oberst. After a scoreless first period Baniewicz fell behind 3-0 but kept fighting and escaped before the second period ended. In the third period trailing 3-2, Baniewicz let Oberst escape then went for the takedown. With twenty seconds to go, Baniewicz shot and scored a double-leg takedown as he fell out of bounds to tie the match. Both wrestlers battled evenly through the first overtime period and couldn’t score. Baniewicz started on the bottom in the second overtime and with just six left in the match worked free for the escape to pull out the 5-4 decision and cut the Irondequoit lead to 21-15.

Justin Gavin (160) stepped up big for Fairport against Kyle Waite. Gavin scored a takedown in the first period. Leading 2-0 into the third period, Gavin stretched the lead with an escape then shot back to score another takedown. He worked Waite to his back for a near-fall on his way to a strong 7-0 decision.

Joe Fingler (171) followed in another hard fought match. Fingler scored the first takedown against Joe Magri but couldn’t hold him down. Magri shot back to score a takedown but Fingler was able to reverse his position to regain the lead 4-3 at the end of the first period. In the second period Fingler escaped but Magri scored a takedown to tie the match. Magri escaped in the third period to take the lead but with under a minute to go in the match Fingler shot and scored a single leg takedown then held on to secure a 7-6 decision and cut the Red Raiders deficit to 28-21.

Ryan Kelly (215) closed the match with a forfeit but it wasn’t enough as the Red Raiders fell 34-27.