BERNE — The Berne-Knox-Westerlo wrestling team has gotten off to a great start this season.

The Grappling Bulldogs won their own tournament this past weekend and followed that up with a 54-15 thumping of Broadalbin-Perth in their home-opening match.

The Bulldogs lost their first match of the year last week against Colonial Council power Schalmont.
"We’ve had a pretty good start so far," said BKW Coach Jeff Vogel. "Against Schalmont last week, we lost 43-29. And this weekend we had a very good tournament."

BKW won its round-robin tournament by accumulating 289 points. Christian Brothers Academy was second with 280 points and Voorheesville was third with 124 points.

The Bulldogs had five champions and four wrestlers garnered second-place finishes.

Keith Domermuth won the 275-pound weight class after finishing with a 4-0 record. Josh Glick won the 140-pound weight class after winning all five of his matches.

Greg Hannay, at 189 pounds, won after beating all of the five opponents he faced on Saturday.
"Glick and Hannay probably won all their matches in less than 10 minutes," Vogel said.

Steve Yakel won all of his five matches by pin in the 130-pound weight class. David Tiernan won the 125-pound weight class.

Finishing in second for the Bulldogs were Grady Picinich in the 103-pound weight class, Vinnie Pasquini in the 140-pound class, Akeem Stewart in the 160-pound weight class, and Nolan Diamond in the 171-pound weight class.

Picinich won his first varsity match en route to finishing 3-1 on Saturday. Pasquini, Stewart, and Diamond all finished with just one loss in the tournament.

Matt Hoffman, Blake Whitbeck, and Devin Bush had fourth-place finishes for BKW.
"The kids did a great job," Vogel said. "We had a great turnout with seven teams. CBA was second, Voorheesville was third, Cairo-Durham was fourth. Greenville was in its first high-school-level tournament. They had two guys in finals — one winner and one second-place. They had a good day."

But it was a great start for the Bulldogs.
"We were at home so the kids didn’t have to get up until 7:30 or 8 which is much later than if we traveled to a tournament," Vogel said. "And then, after the tournament, we took the food that was left over and had a team meal together. That capped off the day. It was a great day."

"Continue to grow"

On Tuesday, BKW showed off its depth as the team won six matches by forfeit and had one draw due to a double forfeit.

Brandon Kallner, Tom Bushnell, and Josh Glick won their matches by pin, showing how hard the wrestlers worked during the off-season.
"A lot of the guys worked over the summer," Vogel said. "If they were not wrestling, they were weight-lifting or playing other sports, becoming better athletes all the time."

Vogel also has kids that have a lot of experience, though many are still considered underclassmen.
"We have very few first-year kids," Vogel said. "When we were building the program, they started in middle school and worked their way up through the ranks. These wrestlers are a big part of the program we want to establish."

Vogel has seen the interest level rise since the wrestling program started several years ago.
"We have more numbers than we’ve ever had," Vogel said. "But there are only a few kids I’ve never seen before. You can have confidence knowing you have kids that have been with you."

Besides the obvious goal of trying to win every match they enter, Vogel said that he and his wrestlers have some other goals in mind. The coach can see several wrestlers, including Bushnell, Tiernan, Picinich, Hannay, Domermth, and Glick, competing in the Section II meet at the Glens Falls Civic Center in March.
"One of our goals is to continue to grow," Vogel said. "Domermuth finished fifth in the section and he wants to improve on that. Glick was injured last year and couldn’t wrestle late in the season. He wants to do well in the post-season as well. All of our returning varsity guys have expectations of doing well in the post-season."

BKW has another home match today (Thursday) against Galway. This Saturday, the Bulldogs will travel to compete in the Richfield Springs tournament. Next Thursday, BKW travels to take on the combined team from Canajoharie and Fort Plain, before heading to Burnt Hills to take part in the Van Slyke Tournament.