Southwestern junior Adrian Torres fends off Declan McKee in the first round of the 101-pound NYSPHSAA Division II final at MVP Arena in Albany on Saturday. OBSERVER Photo by Christian Storms

ALBANY — Tioga sophomore Declan McKee lost two times this season and one of those losses came from Southwestern junior Adrian Torres in the 108-pound final of the Linda C. Knuutila Memorial by a 3-2 decision in tiebreakers.

The pair were once again pitted against each other in a final on Saturday evening, but the stakes were much higher, it was for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association 101-pound Division II wrestling championship at MVP Arena in Albany.

Torres was looking to add another loss to McKee’s total, but could not find the same result as time ran out on him in a 5-1 decision.

The first round ended scoreless as both wrestlers failed to make a successful move for a takedown, looking as if neither one wanted to try anything too risky and give up points.

McKee elected to go down first to start the second period and quickly earned the first point with an escape. Then near the end of the period he picked up a point for Torres stalling.

Southwestern junior Adrian Torres shoots for a takedown against Tioga's Declan McKee in the 101-pound Division II state final. OBSERVER Photo by Christian Storms

Torres was now in desperate need of a takedown, hoping to recreate the magic he found late in his semifinal match against Wyatt Sartori of Dansville/Wayland/Cohocton-V. After his escape he trailed 2-1 and McKee only received his first stalling warning in the round so Torres had to act fast.

In a dive for desperation to gain a takedown, McKee was able to capitalize on Torres with a takedown of his own to claim the state title by 5-1 decision.

While the loss is heartbreaking for Torres he will have his senior year to come back and attempt to climb higher on the podium.

Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama/Clymer’s Mason Maring was favored to join Torres in the finals later on Saturday as he was wrestling the opponent he defeated to get to states, Wilson’s Hamza Merrick.

However, the familiarity Merrick had with Maring paid off in their semifinal bout as he flipped the script from an 18-5 major decision to a pin for his spot in the 285-pound state championship. Merrick will take on defending state champion Troy Beeman of Waverly-IV, an opponent he lost to in the quarterfinals last season in the tournament before finishing in third place.

Tioga's Declan McKee scores a takedown in the final seconds against Southwestern's Adrian Torres as he claimed the 101-pound NYSPHSAA Division II championship on Saturday at MVP Arena in Albany. OBSERVER Photo by Christian Storms

Maring will still be able to wrestleback for at most third and can go no lower than sixth on the podium.

While Torres was able to score the late points needed for a spot in the championship, Falconer/Cassadaga Valley sophomore Dylan Newman could not notch the last second score in a 2-1 decision against Brock Frederick of South Jefferson-III.

Newman received a penalty in the first round and after that both wrestlers scored one point from escapes, a big difference from last year’s result between the pair in which Frederick won by pinfall at 0:33 in the 116-pound quarterfinals.

Randolph senior Caden Inkley faced a tall task in his semifinal at 152 pounds going up against 2024 Division I 138-pound finalist Luke Nieto of Plainedge-VIII and the top-seeded Nieto lived up to his billing with a dominant 19-2 technical fall.

Both Maring and Inkley made the most of their semifinal losses by getting to the highest point of the podium they still could.

Aside from the costly mistake against Merrick, Maring was back to business with a 12-1 major decision against Landon Andrade of Sherburne Earlville-III. Then in the third place match he dominated again with a 10-0 major decision over Zach Kuelling of Williamson/Marion/Sodus-V, finishing his high school on the podium.

Inkley bounced back with a 9-3 decision over Cooper Robinson of Waverly-V to reach the third-place match and that became a battle he really needed to grind for.

After two periods against Waylan Winseman of Honeoye Falls/Lima-V, Inkley trailed 2-0. He then kicked things into drive in the final period of his high school career by scoring eight points on two takedowns and two escapes for an 8-7 decision for third place.

All of the semifinalists guaranteed spots on the podium, while the remaining five local wrestlers had to work through the wrestlebacks.

Southwestern sophomore Miles Torres had the longest road to go after he essentially began his tournament in the consolation bracket due to an injury in the first round at 108 pounds.

After picking up a pair of wins on Friday, Torres needed just one win to guarantee a podium placement and he got that with a 4-1 sudden victory over Dylan Newman of Windsor-V to begin Saturday.

The younger Torres brother was not done after that as he was out to show if not for injury he could have certainly made a lot of noise in the championship bracket. Rattling off another two wins, including an 11-6 decision over semifinalist Seth Strain of Adirondack-III, Torres found himself in the third-place match.

Then in that match Torres was dealt his only loss of the tournament in which he wrestled to completion as top-seeded Mason Tanner of Jordan Elbridge-III defeated him with a 13-1 major decision.

Chautauqua Lake sophomore Thandon Bensink started in the same position as Torres on Saturday, but his quest for the podium at 131 pounds was cut short by Evan Sheils of Lansing-IV with a pin at 2:38.

Reaching the quarterfinals on Friday, Randolph senior Domanik Clark, Southwestern junior Carmine Calimeri and Falconer/Cassadaga Valley sophomore Patrick Braley needed just one win on Saturday to place at states.

Clark started with a 10-3 decision over Ryan Mashaw of Gouverneur-X, dominating the match the entire way aside from one reversal scored against him. He then followed that up with a more dominant victory as he earned a 10-1 major decision against John Parisi of Nanuet-I and was set to wrestle one of the semifinalists.

The Randolph senior was relegated to the fifth-place match as Owen Clark of Lansing-IV secured a pin at 1:51. Clark finished his high school wrestling career in sixth place at 138 pounds as Hunter Lines of Homer-III defeated him 4-0.

Calimeri scored a 17-1 technical fall over Barrett David of South Seneca-V to clinch a state medal, but then lost to eventual third-place finisher at 124 pounds, Trevor Middendorf of Newark Valley-IV, by 7-5 decision. Then he lost one more time with an 18-10 major decision by Lucas Hoffman of Odessa Montour/Watkins Glen in the seventh-place match.

After falling in his semifinal, Newman lost two straight matches to finish a pair of spots above Calimeri on the podium. First he lost 8-2 against Aidan Lee of John Glenn-XI and then in the fifth-place bout suffered a 10-1 major decision to Joe Scott of Letchworth-V.

Braley had a similar finish to Calimeri as he began the 190-pound wrestlebacks with a 9-4 decision against Dikota Hamilton of Trumansburg/Charles O Dickerson-IV. Then he suffered an 18-8 major decision by Alwalid Bourkia of Scotia Glenville before dropping an exciting 11-8 sudden victory decision against Avery Bustamante of Wayne-V in the seventh-place match.