BERNE — Wrestling mats might just be the new house for the Bulldogs.

The Berne-Knox-Westlerlo wrestling team — in its second year as a varsity squad — is starting to feel comfortable on the mat and might be heading into its most successful season.

BKW showed its new found mat muscle by winning its own tournament to start the season.
"We had success in every way," said BKW Coach Jeff Vogel. "The parents came out and participated. They ran the kitchen and at the doors, and helped sell T-shirts. And, on the mat, everybody scored points. We had four first places and six second places to win the tournament. It was a great day all-around"A great day for the program."

The Bulldogs got wins from Seth Pitcher in the 125-pound weight class, Najee Stewart, at 140 pounds; Josh Glick, at 145 pounds; and Keith Domermuth, at 275 pounds.
"Stewart won four matches on the day," Vogel said. "He is very dominating on his feet; he did a great job.
"Josh Glick won his five matches in less than five minutes," Vogel said. "He was dominating on the day."

Those four wrestlers had early success, but Vogel sees good things for every wrestler in the line-up.
"I expect good things from everybody," Vogel said. "We lost to Canajoharie by 60 points last year in our first match as a varsity team. This year, we lost to them by one bout. We lost by 11 points, but we lost to a team that we lost to by 60 points last year and graduated very few seniors. We picked up 50 points."

The Bulldogs also lost a close match to Broadalbin-Perth in their first competition after the BKW Tournament.
"They beat Fonda by 30 points," Vogel said. "We lost to Fonda last year by 30 points and we lost to Broadalbin by three and we didn’t wrestle our super heavyweight because it was a non-league match and they didn’t have one. If Keith wrestles, we probably win the match.

"Big things from everyone"
"I expect big things from everyone," Vogel added. "We have a saying. ‘We’re not doing this to sell popcorn.’"

And the Bulldogs will have every position filled, a rarity for a new, small-school team.

Freshman Grady Picinich will fill the 96-pound slot for the Bulldogs this season. David Tiernan, a junior, will wrestle in the 119-pound division and Tommy Bushnell, also a junior, fills the 130-pound weight class.
"We are expecting a lot out of him," Vogel said of Bushnell. "Schoharie had a kid move in from California, and he was a state champion. Tommy was in his weight class at our tournament and he held his own. Tommy will be a player come February."

Kacey Dean, a sophomore, will be in the 125-pound weight class.
"She fits in the line-up well," Vogel said.

Michael Belott, a junior, is in his first year on the team and will be wrestling in the 135-pound class. Stewart is at 140 pounds and Glick is at 145 pounds.

Matt Hoffman is also at 145 pounds and is improving tremendously in his first year, Vogel said.

Nolan Diamond, a ninth-grader, is in the 152-pound slot and sophomore Greg Hannay is at 160 pounds.
"He is vastly improved," Vogel said. "We finished second [at the BKW Tournament]. He is doing some good things on the mat."

Aaron Romey, a sophomore, is at 171 pounds and Steven Gerard is wrestling at 189. Gerard is the only senior on the team.

Dominick Penk wrestles at 215 pounds.
"He finished second," Vogel said of the junior’s performance at the BKW Tournament. "But he can beat anybody he sees on the schedule. He is a very athletic heavyweight."

Domermuth will wrestle at the 275-pound super-heavyweight class this winter. He wrestles in the TNT Club during the off-season and that aided him in finishing fourth in the section in Division II last year. He will be one of the front runners for the small-school super heavyweight title this year.

Pastor’s help
"We’ve picked up points on teams that are way ahead of us," Vogel said. "Looking around, we have 22 wrestlers on the modified. I’m pleased with the numbers. Most are from our pee-wee program. In another year, we’ll have a team that has underclassmen just as experienced as the seniors on it. The pee-wee program went from 25 to 60 wrestlers and I expect more growth this year."

The program gets help from Pastor James Malloly. He is a pastor of a church in South Berne and also runs a club wrestling program a couple nights a week during the summer.
"He has a lot of boys in the club," Vogel said. "He has greatly accelerated the program for us."

Helping out Vogel at the varsity level and coaching the modified is David Funk. He has been with the program for the past couple of years and coached at Norwich High School, near Binghamton, for 30 years.
"He brings a lot more things to the table," Vogel said. "Having him is a huge asset."

The Bulldogs wrestled at Catskill on Tuesday. BKW then will send a junior varsity squad to the Niskayuna tournament on Saturday while the varsity will wrestle at Burnt Hills on the same day. BKW then will travel to Duanesburg on Dec. 21 before taking a break for Christmas.