It’s been a long time coming for the Newburgh wrestling program.

When freshman Cooper Merli outlasted Hauppague’s Connor Sheridan in the 102-pound Division I NYSPHSAA championship match on Saturday, February 25, he became the Goldback’s first state champion if 55 years.

“There’s been a couple to have made the finals, but the last state champ was in 1968,” Merli said, who was the top seed in the tournament. “It’s a pretty big deal to me and my coaches to be able to win.”

Merli secured a takedown in the first period against Sheridan, then added a reversal in the second period to take a 4-0 lead. The Hauppauge sophomore took Merli down twice in the third period, with an escape giving the Newburgh freshman a slight 5-4 edge.

“I had watched him earlier and I was pretty confident,” Merli said. “When I got that first takedown, it eased a lot of the nerves I had.”

With 38 seconds remaining in the third period, Merli was able to escape and take down Sheridan one last time, all but securing an 8-4 victory and the state championship.

“Even when he got the second takedown, I was still pretty confident in my ability to wrestle smart and stay away,” Merli said, explaining how he felt after the buzzer finally sounded. “I didn’t even know where I was for a second.”

The state championship tournament began on Friday, February 24. Merli received a first round bye, then won a 6-3 decision over Hamburg freshman Trevor DellaPenta in the second round.

Merli recorded a 18-4 major decision in the quarterfinals against Mohonasen senior Vincent Gralau, moving on to the semifinals on Saturday morning.

A 7-0 decision against Carthage’s Ryan Munn propelled Merli into the state final.

“It was a jolt of excitement, but then I had to start getting ready for the finals,” Merli said, who finished his season with an overall record of 48-3.

Newburgh’s last state champion was Al Favata, who won the 138-pound title in 1968.

Merli wasn’t the only Goldback to make the trip to MVP Arena for the state championships, or even the only one in the Division I, 102-pound bracket.

His teammate, William Soto (48-6), received the second seed in the tournament.

“I was surprised because I’ve had a couple of tough losses this season,” Soto said of he and Merli receiving the top two seeds as 102 pounders. “I was expecting to be in the top ten, but not to be number two. I was thinking five or six, but two was definitely a surprise.”

“It kind of rubber-stamps our program,” said Newburgh coach Chris Leggett. “You can get a lot of accolades when you do this for a long time, but that’s really a nice thing to see. It could be a curse too, being the one and two seeds and everyone’s gunning for you. We were a little nervous, but our guys went out there and wrestled well.”

While Merli defeated Soto in the Section IX championship match, he still had big plans for his first trip to states.

As an eighth grader, Soto earned a third place finish, with the Newburgh wrestlers taking two of the top three spots on the podium.

“Both of them have made each other better by being partners,” Leggett said of his 102-pound duo. “Having a great practice partner every day has certainly led them to where they are right now.”

“It was a goal of mine to place and I’m glad that I placed third. I did want to make it to the finals, but third out of all these tough kids here is a pretty good accomplishment,” he said. “This just proves to me that I can do this, I can place and do it against some really tough high schoolers.”

On the first day of the tournament Soto defeated Colonie’s Vincent Mastrianni in the second round on a 14-2 major decision, but dropped a quarterfinal match to Longwood’s Anthony Lagala-Ryan on a tight 10-8 decision.

After working his way through the consolation bracket, the eighth-grader outlasted Gralau for a 9-6 outcome in the third place match.

Joe Ponesse, a senior, advanced to the state tournament as the eight seed in the 172-pound bracket. He fell in his first two matches on Friday, finishing his season with an overall record of 41-8.