WAVERLY CROWNS TWO CHAMPS, FIVE OTHER PLACE IN TOP THREE IN SECOND-PLACE FINISH AT LEAGUE MEET
By: Tim Birney | Waverly Athletics | January 22, 2022 | Photo courtesy Tim Birney
WAVERLY — Waverly crowned two champions, and had two runners-up in a
second-place finish here Saturday at the IAC wrestling championships.
Freshman
Kam Hills, a third seed, and junior Gage Tedesco, a second seed, both
claimed IAC gold, while junior Connor Stotler, also a second seed, and
8th-grader Troy Beeman, a sixth seed, finished second in their weight
classes.
Junior Ty Beeman, a second seed, and senior Andrew
Kimble, junior Braeden Hills, and sophomore Josh Courtney — who were all
unseeded — each brought home third-place medals. Freshman Jake
Besecker, also unseeded, finished fifth.
“I’d give our
performance a B-plus / A-minus, somewhere around there,” said Waverly
coach Devan Witman. “There are definitely some matches I feel we should
have won, but there were some guys who really stepped up, and performed
really well.
“Overall as a team, I don’t think we’re quite where
we want to be, but we’re definitely getting there,” added Witman. “We’re
not there yet, but we’re headed in the right direction.”
Tioga,
the state’s top-ranked Division 2 team, amassed 222 team points to win
the team title, while Waverly tallied 138, Marathon was third with 135,
SVEC was fourth with 115.5 points, and Groton was fifth with 98.
Freshman Hills wins 285-pound title
Kam
Hills, ranked 12th in the state at 285 pounds, pinned sixth-seeded Seth
Northrop of Newark Valley in 1:19 in the quarterfinals, then decked
second-seeded Caleb Georgia of Lansing in 51 seconds in the semifinals.
After
a scoreless first period in his championship match-up against
top-seeded Logan Jamison of Marathon, who is ranked 10th in the state,
Hills turned Jamison to his back for a fall at 2:32.
“(Jamison)
has been wrecking people in the IAC and Section IV,” said Witman. “That
could be the match-up for the Section IV title, too,
“What Kam
does well is his positioning. He never gets out of position,” noted
Witman. “He never puts himself in danger on his shots, and he’s
constantly pushing forward.
“The second thing is he’s gotten into
great shape for a heavyweight,” continued Witman. “In that second
period, he was dead-lifting (Jamison’s leg), and he was doing it like it
was nothing. For a heavyweight to do that in the second period is a
huge feat, and it really shows what kind of shape he’s in.”
Tedesco wins 172-pound title
Tedesco
opened his march to the top step of the 172-pound podium with a
58-second pin of Dryden’s Hunter Covington in the quarterfinals.
In
one of the “matches of the day,” Tedesco survived a battle with
third-seeded Trent Browne of Tioga, winning a 9-7 decision. Both
wrestlers fought off their back during the bout.
In the finals,
Tedesco scored a five-point move midway through the first period on his
way to a 9-2 win over top-seeded Trevor Hurlbert of Marathon to avenge a
loss by first-period fall at the Windsor Christmas Tournament.
“Gage (Tedesco) wanted that one bad,” said Witman. “He knows he didn’t wrestle well the first time they wrestled.
“Gage
has been coming on as of late,” noted Witman. “We’ve restricted what we
want him to do on the mat, which has really helped. Now, he’s focused
on those three or four takedowns he can hit. He’s wrestling really well
right now.
“He was trying to hit 100 things earlier in the
season, and it just wasn’t working,” added Witman. “Now he’s hitting his
elbow passes, his slide-bys, and his counter shots … this is the best
I’ve ever seen him.”
Stotler falls to top seed in 132-pound finals
Stotler,
ranked 13th in the state, opened with a pin of O-M / WG’s Brandon Davis
in 1:27 in the round-of-16, then decked Tioga’s Mike Graham in 1:13 in
the quarterfinals.
Stotler advanced to the finals with a 44-second fall of third-seeded Tim Morehouse of Marathon in the semifinals.
Stotler
scored a takedown in the opening second of the championship match
against top-seeded Caden Bellis of Tioga, who is ranked third in the
state, but Bellis reversed, caught him in a cradle and scored a fall in
1:30.
“Even against Bellis, he came out ready to wrestle. He came
out firing and got that takedown,” said Witman. “I think that gave him
some confidence going forward, and I think it will continue to give him
confidence — just that one takedown, we can build off it.
“Most
likely that will be the Section final,” added Witman. “We’ll go back and
see what we can adjust, and see how much we can close that gap.”
Eighth-grader Beeman, Kimble finish 2-3 at 189 pounds
Troy
Beeman opened with a pin of third-seeded Zach McCall of Whitney Point
in 1:12 in the quarterfinals, then forged a 12-0 major decision against
second-seeded Seth Parker of Moravia in the semifinals.
In the
finals, top-seeded Devin Beach of SVEC, ranked third in the state, built
a 15-1 lead after the first two minutes, then scored a takedown into a
fall at 2:29.
“Troy Beeman is wrestling really well,” said
Witman. “He’s down a weight class from where he was at the beginning of
the year … because of that work he’s in tremendous shape and give 110
percent for three periods.”
Kimble was knocked into the consolation bracket immediately, losing by first-period fall to Beach in the opening round.
Kimble responded with four straight pins, including a trio of first-period falls, to finish third.
Kimble
opened the consolation bracket with a pin of Dryden’s Joe Kring in
1:20, then decked McCall in 1:18 seconds in the “blood round.”
In
the consolation semifinals, Kimble pinned fourth-seeded Brody Williams
of O-M / WG in 2:01 to advance to the third-place match, where he pinned
Parker in 45 seconds.
“Andrew Kimble was definitely a big
surprise today with how well he wrestled. He was shooting high-crotches
that I’ve never seen him hit before.
“After the (Devin) Beach
match, I don’t think he went outside the second period, which is a huge
testament to him,” added Witman.
Beeman finishes third at 215 pounds
Ty
Beeman, ranked eighth in the state, opened with a pin of Edison’s Alex
Wheeler in 1:21 in the round-of-16, then decked SVEC’s Ezekiel Foster in
1:50 in the quarterfinals.
Ty Beeman led third-seeded Donovan
Mitchell, ranked 15th in the state, 2-0 after the first two minutes, but
Mitchell locked in a cradle early in the second period for a fall at
2:49.
Ty Beeman bounced back in the consolation semifinals with a
3-0 win over Tioga’s Josh Snell, then decked sixth-seeded Nate Demmer
of Newark Valley in 2:36 in the third-place match.
“Ty (Beeman)
lost a heartbreaker,” said Witman. “That’s the second time we’ve seen
(Mitchell), and we’ll probably see him again in the Section final. Those
are the matches that are heartbreaking now, but the ones we need in a
couple weeks.”
Hills finishes third at 160 pounds
Hills
started his day with a loss via first-period fall to third-seeded
Kaiden Pado of Newark Valley in the opening round, but bounced back with
four falls of his own to finish third at 160 pounds.
Braeden
Hills, the fifth seed, opened his pin parade in consolation bracket,
needing just 1:17 to flatten Dominick Homer of Marathon.
After a
47-second pin of Lansing’s Colin Larratt in the “blood round,” Braeden
Hills decked fourth-seeded Jeremy Miller of O-M / WG in the consolation
semifinals.
In the third-place match, Hills trailed Dryden’s
Chris Combs, 4-1, and began the second period on the bottom. He went
head hunting and flipped Combs to his back for a fall at 1:23.
“He
didn’t look like himself in his loss,” said Witman. “I think if he had
the chance to wrestle that again, he would win that match.
“He
took my critiques to heart, and he came back strong,” noted Witman. “He
really got after it, and pinned his way back to third.”
Courtney finishes third at 126 pounds
Courtney
dropped a 7-0 decision to Marathon’s Anthony Neville in the opening
round, but bounced back with four straight wins in wrestlebacks to claim
third place.
Courtney opened his consolation bracket march with a
pin of fourth-seeded Jordon Taylor of Edison, then pinned his teammate
Payton Fravel in 52 seconds.
In the consolation semifinals, Courtney decked Tioga’s Emily Sindoni in 2:40.
In
the third-place match, Courtney scored a takedown late in the third
period to force overtime against fifth-seeded Cadin Creeley of Newark
Valley, then scored a takedown late in the extra session for an 8-6 win.
“(Josh)
came out ready to wrestle,” said Witman. “He’s another workhorse. He’s
going to put in six hard minutes, and wear people down.
“He
didn’t look 100 percent right in that first match, like he does in the
practice room,” noted Witman. ”He took that loss, then four wins later
he takes third place, and he has some points in the IAC for next year.”
Freshman Besecker places fifth at 118 pounds
After
losing by first-period fall to second-seeded Logan Bellis of Tioga in
the quarterfinals, Besecker bounced back in the “blood round” with a pin
of sixth-seeded Brett Deuel of Groton in 2:01.
In the consolation semifinals, Besecker lost via first-period fall to fourth-seeded Kris Willard of Groton.
Besecker
was awarded fifth-place via the “five-match” rule as his opponents,
fifth-seeded Anthony Fiero of Thomas A. Edison had already wrestled the
maximum of five matches on the day.
Other wrestlers for Waverly
• Fravel was 1-2 at 126, with his lone win a pin of teammate freshman Hayden Larson in 1:52 in his first wrestleback match.
•
Freshman Mackenzie Laforest was 1-2 at 215 pounds. She opened the day
with a 7-4 win over Dryden’s Aaron Thompson, but lost her next two
matches.
• Larson was 1-2 at 126 pounds. He opened with a 3-0 win over Whitney Point’s Jon McCall, then lost his next two matches.
• Freshmen Adam Hirthler and Seth Noto were 0-2 at 132 pounds.
• Sophomore Braeden Nichols was 0-2 at 138 pounds.
• Seventh-grader Nico Rae was 0-2 at 103 pounds.
• Freshman Dustyn Gingerich was 0-2 at 138 pounds.
Waverly returns to action Tuesday at Athens.

About the Author
Tim Birney is the founder / owner of River Road Media Group. He was born and raised in the Valley, graduating from Waverly High School in 1984.
Birney earned an Associate's Degree in Journalism from SUNY Morrisville in 1986 and a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism / Public Relations from Utica College of Syracuse University in 1988. He began his newspaper career at The Daily Review in Towanda in 1989, before moving on to The Evening Times in 1995. He spent more than 10 years at the Times, the last four as Managing Editor.
River Road Media Group includes Valley Sports Report (launched Aug. 10, 2009), Tioga County (NY) Sports Report (Aug. 13, 2018), and Northern Tier Sports Report (Aug. 31, 2020). Southern Tier Sports Report is set to launch in 2021.
