BINGHAMTON – The Tornado mat-men stormed their way into the new year as they took on Chenango Valley with depleted numbers due to some athletes being out sick – and still pulled off the win over the Warriors by a score of 43-34.

Norwich got off to a hot start on Jan. 3, when at the 99 weight class when youngster Dante Geislinger sprung the Tornado for a :39 second pin over Dominic Napoli to start out the matchup. Norwich tacked on two more wins following Geislinger – drawing their lead to 15-0 – as Mikey Squires at 106 pounds defeated Nathan Lehr by a score of 4-2; followed by Eli Rodriguez dominating his match for the early pin over Richard Champion in just 1:00 flat.

That is when things started going south for Norwich, they dropped four straight matches – all by way of pin – surrendering their 15-0 lead to CV who then climbed to a 24-15 lead over Norwich.

However, the grit of one of New York State's best Division II dual meet teams, as Norwich was recently ranked seventh in the state by the New York Sportswriters Association, did show through as the Tornado was able to secure six of the last eight matches.

It all started when Austyn Hatton stepped onto the mat at 145 pounds. Hatton decisively grabbed some extra points for Norwich with his late pin over Mike Mettler at 5:27 into the match. Hatton was then followed by by the Rifanburg brothers who each saw wins go their way – Ty grabbing a win at 152 pounds, when he won 15-1 over Nathan Aylward, and Cole at 160 pounds by way of pin in just :35 seconds over Kobe Parks.

It was the heavier weights that truly secured the match – up 34-24 – and heading into the final four matches of the night, Norwich's Jake Franklin, Brennan Slater and Tyler Rice each nailed the coffin shut on the Warriors with their decisive win to pull away.