B-R ends perfect in Expressway
By BRYAN SICK
Daily Reporter, Wellsville, NY
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Reproduced by armdrag.com with permission.

BELMONT -- For the fourth year in a row, Bolivar-Richburg's wrestling program won the Expressway Conference, finishing at a perfect 6-0 in conference play with a 43-23 win at Genesee Valley Wednesday.

"Our guys wrestled hard and so did theirs," said Bolivar-Richburg coach Rich Schubmehl. "It's a nice feeling, fourth year in a row. Before this, our school had never won one. It's a nice feeling and Genesee Valley, Matt (Hopkins) has got a nice program here. Portville's a tough team. Franklinville's coming back up. And Olean, Mike is really turning Olean around. It's a real nice feeling."

It was another dominating performance for the Wolverines as they won six of their seven matches wrestled, but with only two pins and three forfeits, the final score was a bit closer than the Wolverines had been accustomed to this year.

"Everything was back and forth," said Bolivar-Richburg's Tyler Taylor. "They've got some good guys, we've got some good guys and everybody matched up real well for us. Everybody wrestled tough and did what they had to do."

Taylor picked up one of those two pins and Matt Appleby had the other, over Caleb Swann at 145 pounds and Corey Presutti at 140, respectively, both first-year wrestlers for the Jaguars.

Outside of those two matches, the Wolverines really had to work for every point they got.

"Some of the matches were a little closer than we would have liked them to be, but I give their guys all the credit, especially Chris Waite," said Schubmehl. "He was really hurting tonight and he came out and wrestled hard. But our guys, like always, they wrestled hard the entire match, gave 100 percent and we manage to pull out."

Waite had suffered from migraine sickness all day prior to the meet, but battle Derrick Dorvit to an 8-5 decision, one that Dorvit didn't take the lead for good until midway through the third period.

"Our 171-pounder had a migraine headache all day today, threw up twice so that hurt our chances as well," said Hopkins. "I've got to give him a lot of credit for what he went through today in school and at home and the performance he gave against Dorvit out there at 171 pounds was remarkable. I give him a lot of credit."

The same can be said for nearly every wrestler involved in the dual meet as several on both teams were unable to wrestle with various injuries leading to the six forfeits, three for each team.

"We were worried tonight because we had three of our starters out of the lineup, a couple guys banged up, and it turned out Matt had basically the same," said Schubmehl. "It was too bad because both teams really are good teams and we normally both field almost a full team, but it was a good match."

While the Jaguars may not have been at full strength, they were certainly fired up for the meet with the four-time champs, something that is starting to become the norm with such recent success.

"Ever since we won sectionals my freshman year four years ago, it's been tough on us," said Taylor. "Everybody's more up to come after us. That was the first year we won the league and ever since then, everybody's been after us to beat us."

Hopkins agrees that teams, including his own, are typically more fired up against Bolivar-Richburg and doesn't expect that trend to end anytime soon.

"I think so," he said. "I think that the success that they have had in their program has started to build a winning tradition there with the wrestling program. They've got a lot of resources to tap and they just do a great job there. I think that they're going to continue to be successful for years to come just because it's started to become a tradition there. The program is going to be solid top to bottom."

But for the moment, the Wolverines can enjoy the Expressway dynasty they have become and look ahead to making it an entire handful a year from now.

"Four years in a row, it's pretty nice," said Taylor, who won't be a part of next year's squad. "It's been a lot of fun. This was a big win for us. Coach Hopkins has really done well with the program, built it up. We knew coming in everybody had to wrestle tough and get the big win. We really pulled through big."