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Rowe Captures 160-Pound Title In Albany

By Jay Young 11 min read

ALBANY -- If you were to glance at Bryce Rowe's black and orange Section VI singlet on Saturday of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Division II Wrestling Championships at the Times Union Center in Albany, not much would stand out.

If you had to put a style on it, you might say it looked "old school"

And, well, that's because it was -- literally.

So old school, in fact, that it was originally worn by Bryce's uncle, Brad, the current coach of Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama, when he won the 119-pound New York State title as a junior for Ripley in 1996.

After Saturday night's developments, tt wouldn't be surprising if a few more wrestlers from the section asked to borrow it after Bryce claimed the 160-pound NYSPHSAA championship by virtue of a nail-biting 2-1 decision over No. 1 Jacob Nolan out of Section VII Saranac.

"He asked to wear it and I'm just proud of him today. It's one of those things that I know they like to go with the old school stuff and … there it is," said Brad following the emotional come-from-behind win. "He was being patient to wait for his opportunity and he found it. It was a tough match, close match, there weren't many mistakes and you know he found it and got the win. I think just persistence and gutting it out."

While Brad's win in 1996 came following overtime, Bryce was able to claim the first ever individual state title for Chautauqua Lake in regulation, not that meant it was any less dramatic.

The third-seeded senior was content to wait through the opening period with Nolan in a standing clinch, testing and probing for weakness and openings until things settled into the second period tied at 0-0.

After winning the coin toss and deferring the choice of position to Nolan, Rowe took his spot on the top and quickly went into a one-point hole after the No.1 seeded junior grabbed an escape. Following Nolan's scramble, he was able to end up on top of Rowe, but still on his back, looking to earn an advantage for takedown points while the referees continued to yell that there was none there.

"I was fine, I knew I was fine," Rowe said of the position. "I was just latching on for dear life hoping they weren't going to give him two (points). I just locked on to that ankle and I knew I still had the upper control."

Starting the third period down in position and score, Bryce did what he has done so well all season and stayed patient until the right time. Looking for an escape, the senior was slammed down by Nolan after coming ever so close, forced back to the bottom once more with his energy fading. From that position, Rowe was able to find the opening he so desperately needed with under 20 seconds remaining on the clock.

"I kept realizing he was getting his hips a little high, whenever he would try and sink in a leg he'd force it," he said. "As soon as he forced it on that last one, I hooked his ankle, sat over and hooked his ankle and got him on his back."

That was all that was needed to ride out the remaining seconds to a win, and a second state title for the Rowe family Section VI singlet.

"I always wanted to live up to that (championship), so I finally got to do it," said Rowe, who ends his final season with a record of 42-3.

Continuing the day's tradition of slim margins, 195-pound No. 2 seed Corey Keefe of Falconer ended his tournament with a finals loss to No. 1 Doug Simmons of Section III Canastota via a 3-0 defensive battle.

As with Rowe's championship bout, Keefe and Simmons stayed wary throughout the first period, waiting to see what the other had planned. The Falconer senior then started the second period in the down position, hoping to earn the first points of the match via an escape, but Simmons' top game showed virtually no holes. At one point, it looked as though Keefe may have had an opening as the No. 1 seed went to lift a single leg, but that was promptly shut back down.

Giving way to the final period, Keefe tried a single leg lift of his own, but Simmons was able to read that play and earn an escape. That was followed up by the match's only takedown for the final two points.

"He left it all on the mat, had a great weekend and that's all that you can ask for," said Falconer/Cassadaga Valley head coach Drew Wilcox. "We just told him that we're proud of him and when this all sets in and he realizes he was second-best in the whole entire state of New York I think that is an amazing accomplishment for him, and like the rest of the seniors we're really going to miss him."

After entering the semifinals with an even 1-1 season record with Maple Grove No. 3 Zak Trim, Keefe had a fairly obvious game plan of what needed to be done to advance to the finals.

That included getting single legs and then waiting for an opportunity to trip the Maple Grove senior with a leg, which he did successfully three times in a row early in the match.

Following a 2-0 lead on the back of an opening frame takedown, Keefe began the second period in the down position, quickly notching an escape before picking up another takedown in the final period for a 5-1 decision.

"This kid lives for this," Wilcox said following that match. "We worked on having him drop to that single leg and trip it. He's really good at finishing single legs so we figured on top, just drop to the single and he trips and rides him out, so that's his mat return."

After falling to No. 2 Dan Torres of Falconer/Cassadaga Valley in the Section VI Championships at Lakeshore High School, Rowe understood that he was going to have to change his game up in this year's semifinal against the only wrestler who had managed to beat him.

"I always wrestled his match and I knew I had to wrestle my own match and I knew I had to be aggressive and not wrestle defensive so I went attacking," Bryce Rowe said.

That strategy resulted in Rowe earning a takedown and a 2-0 lead in the first period, but Torres was able to return the favor after earning an escape in the middle two minutes on the second attempt after Rowe was able to stuff the first.

Torres then earned a takedown just before the action left the mat boundary to take a 3-2 lead entering the third, which set the stage for Rowe's match-tying escape with 1:07 remaining.

After a stalemate through the opening period of extra time, Rowe was able to stuff Torres' escape attempts in the following period, giving him a chance to earn a win in the third with just one point.

That point came when Torres went to lift a single leg and Rowe was able to pull free for a 4-3 final.

"He's a great, he's always got his head on straight. He's always in the right position to score on you if you screw up in any way so he's a tough kid," Rowe said of Torres.

Giuseppe Hoose of Southwestern entered Saturday's action with the attitude that he had the right stuff to take down No. 1 seed Chance Lapier out of Section VI Ausable Valley, and after all was said and done it was only a point that separated the two in their semifinal.

Unfortunately it was the top-ranked Lapier who was able to pick up the 8-7 decision victory, sprawling his way to a win on the defensive. Lapier took a 3-2 lead after a single leg and a throw, while Hoose was able to return fire with an escape and takedown of his own to even things at 5-5. During the middle two minutes on the mat, it was an escape by the Southwestern senior that made the difference, earning Hoose a 6-5 lead.

In the end it was a spin and hold for a takedown that gave Lapier the final two points of the afternoon, which left Hoose shooting for a takedown that fell just short of the final buzzer.

While many would have had trouble recovering from a loss by such a small margin, Hoose did no such thing. The senior returned to the mat against Patrick Walsh of Olean and quickly sprinted his way to a win via fall in 4:17. Hoose then added another pin to his record, topping Brennan Slater of Section IV's Norwich in 4:47 to take home a third-place medal.

"You've seen it probably half a dozen times today where guys lose that match and they implode and they just go their own way," Southwestern coach PJ Wendel said. " … Giuseppe just rallied and came back. You wrestle that semifinal match five more times, we'd probably win four out of five."

Matt Evans of Randolph ended his weekend with a fifth-place medal after going 2-1 on Sunday.

An ankle pick takedown by the fourth-seeded senior earned him a 3-2 win via decision over Jacob Vergien out of Iroquois in his first battle on the mat.

"I'm just happy for Matt. He has worked and worked and worked and I think hoped and hoped and hoped for this moment his whole career," said Randolph coach Todd Conley.

That win was followed up with a loss at the hands of Kyle Sams out of Section 1 Putnam Valley-Haldane, 6-2.

"I'm proud of him and we're going to enjoy the rest of the tournament here. I think some of the pressure is kind of off now that he's in the placement round."

Evans showed his composure entering the fifth-place match against Ray Costa out of Section VIII Cold Spring Harbor, taking home a 5-1 decision after earning early points and using his defense to ride out a final victory for the weekend.

After entering wrestlebacks with a streak of pins to his credit, Randolph's Nick Becker was able to finish in sixth place. The senior's day began with a quick pin in 1:37 against Stephen Taylor our of Section IV Tioga to keep the momentum going from Saturday.

"I'm going to be an animal on top. I knew that I was going to pin him," Becker said following the win. "I wanted to go for first (place), messed up in the first round and the best that I could do I could is come back."

Despite the strong showing against Taylor, Becker would drop a 5-1 decision to No. 4 Nate Briggs out of Onondaga/Tully of Section III and would fall via pin in 3:28 to No. 6 Liam Dietrich out of Red Hook in the fifth-place match.

Also taking home a fifth-place medal was Torres. Following his tight loss to Rowe, the Cassadaga Valley senior was sent into the third-place bracket, where he took to the mat against John DeRidder out of section VIII Carle Place-Wheatley.

That match favored DeRidder via a 10-2 major decision victory, which pushed Torres into a match for fifth place. Torres was able to take advantage of the final opportunity of his career in that bout, toppling Isaiah Roes out of Section III Lowville.

No. 2 Robbie Penhollow of Falconer/Cassadaga Valley had his tournament come to an end following a 4-2 loss to No. 6 Trent Ingraham out of Central Valley of Section III.

After his loss to Keefe, Trim was able to end his day with a fifth-place medal. The senior sputtered slightly following the defeat, dropping a tough 5-2 decision to No. 5 Wyatt Holley out of Section V Keshequa, but was able to rebound. That comeback came in the form of a 6-5 overtime victory over No. 6 Nate Degroff out of Section V Warsaw to finish with the fifth-place medal

Following his loss to Hoose, Walsh was able rebound in his fifth-place bout against Jason Butler out of Section IX Port Jervis via a closely contested 6-4 decision.

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