Chaminade overtakes St. Anthony's, wins CHSAA championship after five straight runner-up finishes

Scott Cole wanted to finish the job this time.

“It felt like some good redemption for us as a team,” the Chaminade wrestling coach said. “I think this is my seventh year as coach. I won the first year, haven’t won since then.”

Until Sunday.

After five straight second-place finishes for Chaminade at the CHSAA championships — all won by St. Anthony’s — the Flyers flipped the script. The wrestlers’ dedication away from the mats contributed to a first-place finish with 381.5 points.

“All the hard work \[the team\] has been putting in the room really starts to pay off,” said 126-pounder Michael Sanfilippo, who won his match by pin in only 35 seconds. “ . . . You can see it on the mat, it really shows that we deserve to be here.”

Joe Cosgrove scored an upset win in the 152-pound bout and was named Champion of Champions. He topped St. John the Baptist’s Freddy Gomez, 14-8.

Eleven of the 15 first-place and second-place matches were won by Chaminade and St. Anthony’s.

“We’re a program that prides ourselves on scoring a lot of points and scoring them fast,” Friars coach Tony Walters said. “ . . . They buy in. February is St. Anthony’s.”

The month also belongs to Sean Flick, the CHSAA defending champ and No. 1-ranked wrestler in New York at 120 pounds among CHSAA schools. He won a spirited bout with No. 2 Izac Garcia of St. John the Baptist, 6-3, by decision.

“It was expected of me,” said Flick, a senior. “I just have to keep moving forward working towards Albany \[site of the state championships on Feb. 28-29\]. The main goal is to win, no question about it.”

St. Anthony’s finished third with 323.5 points, behind Kellenberg (345.5 points). The Firebirds won the regular-season dual-meet title. Led by CHSAA coach of the year Eric Meisse, Kellenberg’s success was because of its depth of talent level. On Sunday, James Watterson (185 pounds), Alex Cooper (195) and Timothy McGrath (285) all won their respective matches.

“That’s our MO: We knew we’d have a handful of champions,” Meisse said. “\[But\] we’re truly a team and we knew we’d possibly win this from the guys taking second, third, fourth, fifth.”

Kellenberg fell short of the title. It was Chaminade’s day.

Said Meisse: “No one was going to stop them.”