Berne-Knox-Westerlo wrestler Jake Wideman was able to repeat as a Section II Classification Champion and seven other BKW-Voorheesville wrestlers, on a team combining athletes from the two schools, were able to place at the Section II Class CC Wrestling Tournament last Saturday at Cohoes High School.

BKW-V placed four wrestlers in the finals, had one third-place finish and three more wrestlers in the top six. The team placed fourth overall in the event won by Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk, finishing just behind runner-up Hudson Falls and third-place finisher Cobleskill-Richmondville.

The highlight of the day was Wideman’s back-to-back championship. He  marched into the finals with a pin in the second period over David Leon of Schalmont in his quarterfinal match. Wideman scored a major decision over BKW-V’s second entry at 152,  Kai Fisher in his semi-final win.

In the finals, Wideman, in the last seconds, used a reversal against Matthew Gardner of Ichabod Crane to secure an exciting 4-3 win for his first Class CC  title  and  second Classification title. Last year, he won a Class DD title.

“There was no way I wasn’t going to score, when I looked at the clock and saw I was losing with 9 seconds on the clock,” said Wideman.

Drew Wideman started off the final round for BKW-V.   He was in the finals of the 120-pound class, wrestling the defending state champion, Orion Anderson. Drew Wideman lost by technical fall in the second period of a match that included Anderson displaying some of the most dazzling wrestling technique seen in the final round.

Drew Wideman’s path to the final round included a pin over Hudson Falls’ Isaiah Madison, and a hard-fought 12-7 semi-final win over Jared Kwarta  of Ichabod Crane. Drew Wideman became the first BKW-V  freshman  to reach the finals of a sectional classification event.

At 138 pounds, Devin McGill posted his best classification event finish by reaching the finals in his senior season. He pinned David Pahl of Schalmont in his semi-final match. He was in a tight 3-1 bout in the third period of the finals against Xavier Jones of Schuylerville when he gave up a takedown that led to a fall for the Schuylerville junior.

Casey Weis crashed the finals party at 195. He was one of three wrestlers in the tournament to get to the finals not being seeded first or second. Weis pinned Rowan Meyers of Taconic Hills in 45 seconds of his quarterfinals match then followed it up with a second period pin of Mike Nourse of Johnstown in the semifinals. Weiss faced 28-2 Tom Hill of Hudson Falls in the finals. Down 6-0 in the second period, Weiss hit a hip heist roll-through maneuver that had the returning CC Finalist fighting off his back. The gym was roaring, anticipating an upset. Hill was able to fight off the pin fall attempt on his way  to a 12-6 win.

Tyler Goodemote came from his fifth-seeded position to earn the third-place sectional patch. He was three and one on the day. Goodemote defeated the third-,  fourth-, and sixth-seeded wrestlers who had a combined 60 wins to earn his trip to the Division 2 tournament next week at the Glens Falls Civic Center.   He beat Demetrick Larock of Hudson Falls in the quarterfinals, 6-2.

Goodemote lost to the eventual champion, Ethan Cooper of Cobleskill-Richmondville, by fall in the semifinals. He then defeated Marlon Laing of Ravena by a major decision, 9-0, in the semifinals of the wrestlebacks before pinning the third seed, Scott Salls of Schuylerville, to secure his patch. He became just the third BKW ninth-grader to  place in the top three of the class tournament since the school started varsity wrestling in 2004.

Three other BKW-V wrestlers earned podium finishes.

Killian Fullerton used an 8-3 quarterfinal-round win over Lansingburgh’s Ryan Storm on his way to a sixth-place finish at 132.

At 145, Nick Pidgeon was the heartbreak kid of the day. He saw his semifinal opponent, Laine Pleickhardt of Cobleskill-Richmondville, score two points in the last 30 seconds to defeat him, 7-5.  He then dropped a close 1-0 decision to Joe Casholle, in the qualification round of the wrestlebacks to settle for a fifth-place finish.

At 152, Kai Fisher was the victim of an overtime loss in the consi semis to Joe Pomainville of Hudson Falls by a score of 6-5.  He finished fifth with a tight 4-3 victory over David Leon of Schalmont.

Five BKW-V wrestlers — Jake and Drew Wideman, Devin McGill, Casey Weis, and Tyler Goodemote — will be in action at the New York State Qualifier for Section II Division 2 on Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

Editor’s note: Jeff Vogel is the coach for the Berne-Knox-Westerlo wrestling team.