by Ryan Mosher
At the WASAREN League wrestling championships, dubbed the Ken Baker Classic, the Hoosick Falls wrestling team had a very strong showing, capturing second place overall and sending eight wrestlers to the podium, including two champions. Granville took home the team title, scoring 157.5 points to Hoosick Falls’ 133 points.
Fresh off his Shenendehowa Invy Championship, Luis Weierbach fought his way right into the finals with a first period pin in his first match and a 4-3 win in his semi-final match. In the final he faced off against the #1 seed Carter Merecki of Salem. After a scoreless first period, Merecki scored one point with an escape in the second period to take the lead. He held that lead until half way through the third period when Weierbach scored on an escape of his own. After the sudden death period with no scoring, the match advanced to the two tiebreaker periods, where there was also no scoring. The ultimate tiebreaker period always offers a winner, and unfortunately this time it was Merecki, as Weierbach was unable to score and escape, and Merecki held him down for the win.
In the 103 lb. weight class, Tom Peabody was crowned WASAREN League Champion after he won 15-9 over top seeded Steven Cohan of Granville. Peabody took a big early lead, but Cohan battled back. Fortunately Peabody held off the late charge and won the match and the championship.
Dan Cramer overcame an early loss to wrestleback and take third place. After an early loss to
Justin Duel of Granville, Cramer won three matches, including a rematch with Duel in the final. Tyler Randall also went 3-1 on the day to take third place in the 125 lb. weight class. Randall recorded a 6-0 win over Josh Baker of Mechanicville in the final, his second victory over Baker of the day.
Michael Matatt wrestled in the 130 lb. weight class, making it to the final against Cory Seipp of Ichabod Crane. The two battled hard and were still tied at 1-1 going into the final minute of the third period. Matatt scored a take down with :33 left, but Seipp escaped just a few seconds later to make the score Matatt 3, Seipp 2. At the buzzer Seipp went for a take down, which Matatt tried to fight off. When the horn blew, it appeared that Matatt had held onto Seipp’s head, keeping him from getting control and the take down, but the referee surprised everyone when he awarded Seipp a take down, the 4-3 win and the championship.
Bryan Sherman gave top seeded Josh Peabody of Cambridge a good match in the 135 lb. semi-final, but Peabody pinned him in the third period to send him to wrestlebacks. Sherman had no problem with that as he recorded a second period pin in his first match and scored an 8-1 win in the third place match. He was 3-1 en route to the third place finish. Michael McGuire scored two wins over Jake Davis of Maple Hill, including one in the third place match as he went 3-1 and took third place in the 145 lb. weight class.
Brad Burns seemed to cruise through the 160 lb. weight class on his way to the championship. In his first two matches Burns recorded pins in the third period. In the final he recorded an 8-4 win and made it look easy.
The Panthers’ second season starts this weekend as they travel to Corinth to wrestle in the Class C Sectionals. The top four finishers in each weight class will advance to the Section II State Qualifier meet the following weekend at the Glens Falls Civic Center.