Frank Speziale Photo

OXFORD – After a day and half of intense wrestling, the 55th Annual Clyde Cole commenced with their finals Saturday night. With 15 weight classes in the tournament, the finals was an action packed event that drew in many fans from around the area.

Starting with the semi-final matches first thing in the morning, the crowd knew who they were going to see in the finals very quickly.

The 99lbs weight class was determined by two wrestlers that pinned their opponent in the opening period. Andrew Brown of Norwich landed his spot in the finals after a 1:13 pin over Nick Tempel of Averill Park. Brown’s win over Tempel was considered an upset on paper as Tempel was picked as a favorite to reach the finals.

His opponent? Stevo Poulin from Shenendehowa. Poulin, a national champion and wrestler at the international level, received byes in the first and second rounds before he landed a match against Bainbridge-Guilford-Afton-Harpursville’s (BGAH) Jacob Terpstra. Both were favored to match up in the finals but met Saturday morning instead. Poulin pinned Terpstra in just :44 seconds, securing his finals spot.

In the finals, Brown put up a strong fight against Poulin, doing the best he could to avoid allow Poulin to pin him. But Poulin had the better position and was able to get in the right before the horn sounded to signal the end of the first period to crown himself as the champion.