Evingham finishes as State runner-up at 195 pounds, Smith collects 7th place finish at 220 pounds to help wrap up impeccable Wolverines season on the mat

ALBANY — In the history books since Bolivar-Richburg’s inception, never, in all of the successful seasons that the Wolverines wrestling program have put together on the mat, have they had a State Champion come out on top. The last time such a thing happened, you would have to go back to 2008, when Matt Appleby made it all the way to the final day of the season with a fourth place finish.

Since then, no other Bolivar-Richburg wrestler has since eclipsed that mark. That was until Saturday night inside the Times Union Center in Downtown Albany.

Through one day of action, just one Wolverines wrestler continued his journey on the winning side of the bracket — junior Hudson Evingham, who earned a No. 2 seed when the tournament first began early Friday morning. One after another, he weaved his way through the 195 pound field in Division II competition. Far enough to where he wound up with the program’s highest finish ever.

The only thing separating Evingham from State Championship glory was South Jefferson/Sandy Creek’s Tyler Mousaw, a wrestler hailing from Section III who was also on the verge of capping of a perfect season on the mat. For Evingham in match number 938 of the tournament, he fell just short of the mark during his brilliant run through the New York State field, being pinned by Mousaw in just 35 seconds to ultimately finish second overall in a field of 16 wrestlers within the group.

“If he wrestled the way he has been capable of wrestling, which he has, we absolutely expected him to be right here at the end,” said Wolverines assistant coach Andrew Taylor. “It would have been different if he didn’t get caught, but he was a little taken back with everything around him in the arena. It turned out alright in the end, even though he could capture that big prize. We had a fourth place finish back in 2008, and Hudson finishing second is the highest this program has had since then. He’s only a junior, and he’s going to work extra hard for next year to get back onto that podium.”

Evingham went 3-1 overall in the two-day tournament, finishing an astounding 60-2 on the season as a whole. All three of his victories came through via decision, with his first coming against 16th-seeded Edison Scutari from Croton (Section I), as he picked up the 1-0 decision to began his journey. Later on, he went on to capture another narrow decision, this time by a 3-2 count over seventh-seeded Tim Gadway from Saranac (Section VII) to advance into the Semifinal round.

On the final day of action, he battled a familiar face in the Section V community — Warsaw’s Nate DeGroff, who was seeded right behind Evingham at third overall. It turned into a clash of the titans until the very end, where Evingham managed to escape with a 6-4 decision of DeGroff, holding his opponent still in the last 15 seconds of the match to keep his lead in tact to move onto the Finals.

The wait was over five hours long at that point, but when the clock was beginning to approach 9 p.m. inside the arena, the time came for Evingham to battle for a State Championship. But just 35 seconds in, he was denied by Mousaw, who capped off a perfect season with a pin-fall victory, resulting in a second place finish overall for Bolivar-Richburg’s standout junior.

Evingham was not the only top finisher in the tournament.

First year Wolverine Tyler Smith found his way through the wrestle-back tournament after falling in his first round matchup. He found his way to the seventh place match, where he came away victorious with some hardware after a 2:35 pin-fall victory over Lyndonville’s Mario Fidanza — the very same opponent he defeated at 220 pounds to win his Section V championship patch back home in the Class B3 Finals.

As for Dawsen Yates, he did not place within the top eight wrestlers in the 126 pound division, falling in early competition. Looking back on it all, Taylor says that the outcomes the program received, far exceeded what they expected to get.

“It’s been a crazy weekend. The outcome we got was way better than we expected,” he said. “Tyler as a 10-seed took seventh place. Dawsen had a tough draw and a tough outing. He came up to me after the night was over and said that he’ll be back in the gym tomorrow working his hardest to make sure he gets up onto the podium next year. And then there’s Hudson, who made it all the way to the end. We couldn’t be more proud of these kids with all the hard work they’ve put in this season. It’s been a great ride.”