by Ryan Mosher
Fresh off defending their Class C Sectional win, the Hoosick Falls wrestling team endured an extra long day in Queensbury at the Section II State Qualifier on Sunday, February 10, looking to improve on their second place finish last year. Every other year the tournament is spread over two days and held at the Glens Falls Civic Center, but with the impending snowstorm, the tournament was condensed to one day and moved to Queensbury High School. It was not an ideal situation, but the Section II Committee and the volunteers made it work.
[private]Six of the ten Hoosick Falls wrestlers in the tournament reached the semifinal round. Nolan Foster won his first two matches, the first by win, and the second by upsetting the #2 seed in overtime. In his semifinal match, Foster faced the #3 seed, Brandon Merchant from Cobleskill-Richmondville. Foster reached the final with a second period pin. Foster has come a long way since last season, when he wrestled the first half of the season on modified.
Junior Luis Weierbach advanced to the finals with a tech fall in his first match, and a pin in the semifinals at 106 pounds. Colby Davendonis faced Ryan Matuszak of Corinth in the semifinal after a 6-3 win over Austin Lown of Duanesburg in the first round. Matuszak edged Davendonis 4-3 to head to the finals.
Bryan Sherman, the #3 seed at 152 pounds, scored a major decision in his first match, and then faced off against the #2 seed Anthony Paturso of Schalmont in the semifinals. After six periods of an intense battle, the pair needed more time to decide a winner. Sherman scored a takedown with under twenty seconds to go in the first one minute overtime to get the win and propel him into the finals.
Brad Burns earned his trip to the finals with a pin in his first match and a tech fall in the semi finals. On a bad note, 170 pounder Billy Pine was injured in his first match, and could not wrestle in the semifinals. Despite the injury in the first match, Pine continued on and got the win, but could not step back onto the mat for the semifinals. Despite not being able to come back, Pine’s initial win still got him sixth place.
In wrestlebacks, Davendonis battled all the way back to a rematch with Lown for third place. Davendonis won 8-3 in overtime to take third place. Garrett Wright was pinned in the quarterfinals by Ryan Pappalau of Galway, but got his revenge in the fifth/sixth place match with a 6-3 decision.
Landon Nelson Named Coach Of The Year
Before finals started, Section II gave out several awards. Hoosick Falls Coach Landon Nelson was named Class C Coach of the Year.
Hoosick Falls chance at a Division II Sectional Crown came down to the finals. The Panthers had four wrestlers in the finals, and held a slight lead over Duanesburg and Corinth. Weierbach was the first Panther finalist up, facing off Nico Riccio of Galway. After building an 8-0 lead, Weierbach earned his third straight trip to the State Championships with a pin in 3:55.
Foster came up next, meeting the #1 seed from Albany Academy Matt Morris. Unfortunately all good things come to an end, and the freshman’s run through Sectionals did just that. After handling the #2 and #3 seeds, Foster met his match with Morris, as he fell by tech fall. There is little doubt Foster will have several more chances to earn a trip to the State Championships.
The 152 pound championship match pitted Sherman against Connor Lawrence of Duanesburg. Lawrence, the #1 seed, used takedowns to take the lead several times from Sherman, but could not build a big lead. After each takedown, Lawrence was unable to hold Sherman down. The score was close at 4-3 with Lawrence in the lead heading into the final round. Lawrence chose to start the third period down, and scored a quick reversal to take the 6-3 lead. Sherman immediately got a reverse, and a takedown with just over a minute left to tie the score 6-6. Lawrence got a reversal to lead 8-6 with :40 to go. Sherman got an escape with :22 left, and could not quite score again.
The final title match for Hoosick Falls was at 182 pounds. Brad Burns faced off against top seeded Tyler Morris of Salem. Both placed in the state championships last year, and had yet to wrestle each other this year. The match took a slow pace, with each of them scoring a point on an escape in regulation. In overtime Morris went to the ground hard, injuring his shoulder. He was not able to finish, and Burns won the title.
When the final team scores came out, the Panthers won their first ever Section II Division 2 Championship. Hoosick Falls edged Duanesburg by a score of 127-123.5. This is Hoosick Falls first championship since they split into two divisions, and first overall since the mid 1970’s.
Weierbach and Burns are each headed to States for the third straight year. The State Championships will be held at the Times Union Center on Friday and Saturday, February 22 and 23.[/private]