The Newburgh Free Academy wrestling team opened its season with a dual meet loss to the Cornwall Dragons.

What followed was four difficult practices, around an unbeaten run at the Columbia Duals. Then on Wednesday night, the Goldbacks retained the “Cat-Back” trophy by defeated the Warwick Wildcats, 51-21, in their home opener.

“It’s a big win for the team,” senior captain Joe Ponesse said. “Some heads were down from the new guys after Cornwall, but we came together and worked really hard in practice all week. It feels good to win.”

A friendly rivalry has developed between the Goldbacks and Wildcats since Phil Szumlaski, a 2004 Newburgh Free Academy graduate, has become the Wildcats’ coach. During his senior year at Newburgh, Szumlaski was the Section 9 Most Outstanding Wrestler and a third-place finisher at the New York State tournament. He holds the school record for winning percentage at .859 and is 11th all-time with 134 wins.

Newburgh coach Chris Leggett was an assistant coach under Jeff Cuilty when Szumlaski went through the program. It was Szumlaski, who coined the name, “Cat-Back” trophy.

“We wrestled outstanding,” Leggett said. “It was a tight match on paper, and we were down on paper. It’s a friendly rivalry we have with coach (Szumlaski), who wrestled for us back in the day. We have a great rivalry with him and to come out on top like that with a big margin was outstanding after a tough loss at Cornwall.”

It certainly looked from the start that the Wildcats had an advantage as the Wildcats got a pinfall victory from defending Section 9 champion Alex Greco to start the match at 138 pounds, and then Anastasios Tzezailidis followed with a pinfall victory to give the Wildcats a 12-0 lead.

That’s when the Goldbacks went on a tear. After Kevin Segali outlasted Michael Accardo, 2-1, at 152 pounds, the Goldbacks scored seven straight pinfall victories to take a commanding lead, 45-12.

“It’s really important to get those pins, as team-wise it’s six points, Ponesse said. “Going out there and getting a pin not only helps yourself, but it really helps the team.”

Mateo Morell got things started for the Goldbacks at 160 pounds. Morrell, a freshman making his home varsity debut, pinned Warwick’s Tyler Desotle in 1:06 before handing off to Ponesse and Christopher Leggett, who each pinned their opponents in less than a minute.

“Mateo Morrell in his varsity home match wrestling a sectional place finisher goes out and pins him, that was a swing match right there,” coach Leggett said. “That changed the whole complexion of the match for us. It was an outstanding win, and every subsequent match got the ball rolling.”

Devin Iturralde scored his pinfall victory with just two seconds to go in the match, sending another charge into the Goldbacks. Iturralde, a senior, wrestled modified years ago, and returned to the program this year.

“That was a swing match that could have gone either way, and winning the match 4-0 and getting the pin as a bonus was outstanding,” Leggett said. “He’s really happy with what he’s giving the team right now.”

Fabian Rhoden (285), William Soto (102), Cooper Merli (110) and Matthew Mercado also scored pinfall victories for the Goldbacks.

The Goldbacks had a wrestler in all 13 weight classes, and between the JV and varsity team seems to have numbers to spare after the pandemic caused the Goldbacks to miss the 2020-21 season.

“It really is great to see all the awesome new kids coming out,” Ponesse said. “We have a bunch of new kids and, as one of the older kids on the team, I love to see it. It means Newburgh has a bright future.”

Newburgh 51, Warwick 21
138: Alex Greco (W) pinned Joseph Bell, 1:03
145: Anastasios Tzezailidis (W) pinned Paxton Chick, :53
152: Kevin Segali (NFA) def. Michael Accardo, 2-1

160: Mateo Morell (NFA) pinned Tyler Desotle, 1:06
172: Joseph Ponesse (NFA) pinned Ricky Guzman, :55
189: Christopher Leggett (NFA) pinned Dylan Burke, :59
215: Devin Iturralde (NFA) pinned Jake Rooney, 5:58
285: Fabien Rhoden (NFA) pinned Ronald Weaver, 1:04
102: William Soto (NFA) pinned Braedan Hayes, 2:44
110: Cooper Merli (NFA) pinned Garrett Judd, 1:38
118: Brady Judd (W) def. Jordan Busby, 1-0
126: Matthew Mercado (NFA) pinned Chase Porter, 3:48
132: Griffin Petzold (WV) pinned Ivan Duran, 3:04.