Mount Sinai loses heartbreaker in dual meet state championship
Cold Spring Harbor's Jacob Bruno, left, and Mt. Sinai's Phil Johnson, duel standing up during their semifinal match at the NYSPHSAA Wrestling Dual Meet State Championships in Syracuse, NY on Saturday Feb. 1, 2020. Credit: Heather Ainsworth/Heather Ainsworth
SYRACUSE — The final seconds were a blur.
Mount Sinai and Falconer battled to the final weight class to claim the state’s Division II dual meet title Saturday. The teams were separated by five points after a hotly contested back-and-forth affair. With the SRC Arena in full throat, Falconer sent 35-win junior Brayden Newman to the mat and Mount Sinai countered with freshman Derek Menechino.
Falconer, from the Buffalo region, had climbed back into the dual with three pins in the previous four bouts to wipe out a 33-16 deficit and get within 39-34 looking to deny Mount Sinai a third straight state crown.
The pressure was on Newman to pin and erase the five-point deficit and bring Falconer its first state title. The school had come up short at the state tournament in the two previous years.
The pressure on the young Menechino was even greater. His charge was to go out and survive.
The two underclassmen gave the SRC Arena a 1:49 ride of their lives. And it all happened so fast. Newman took Menechino down for the early lead and tried to work him to his back for most of the first period. Menechino stunned the crowd when he reversed Newman and cradled him to his back for the 5-2 lead as the official scrambled on the mat to call the pin.
“I had him, but I couldn’t finish him. It was so close,” Menechino said. “And then he broke my grip to escape the cradle.”
Newman reversed Menchino and put him to his back for the pin in 1:49 to give Falconer the 40-39 win over Mount Sinai and the state’s Division II dual meet championship.
“My coach told me before I took the mat to be calm and that he thought I was the right guy for this moment,” Newman said. “It’s something I’ll never forget. He made a great move on me and I needed to get off my back. And once I locked him up with the half I wasn’t letting him out.”
It took a monumental pin in the final bout of the tournament to take down Mount Sinai, the two-time defending Division II champions.
The loss was numbing.
“One second we’re jumping up and down and the next we’re just hanging on,” Mount Sinai coach Matt Armstrong said. “What an emotional day from the big comeback against Tioga to the one-point loss in the final. I’m super proud of these guys. But we had a few unexpected losses and it cost us. We’ve had an incredible run.”
Mount Sinai (21-5) had consecutive first period pins from Mike O’Brien at 138 and Ryan Shanian at 145 for a 22-9 lead. And then it was a first period pin by Matt Campo at 170 and a 19-4 win by Joe Goodrich at 182 that gave the Mustangs a 33-16 lead.
Brayden Fahrbach pinned Mason Kilmer in 2:33 at 99 pounds to forge the 39-34 lead before the wild final bout. “It should have never come down to the final bout
Cold Spring Harbor (16-6) came into the tournament as a wild card and won its first two duals to reach the semifinal round against Mount Sinai. The Seahawks were without top wrestler Gavin Bell, who suffered a knee injury during the practice week.
“It was a total game-changer,” said Cold Spring Harbor coach Mike Ferrugiari. “We could have won the whole thing with him in the lineup. But our guys did a nice job competing and we moved guys around to try and win some bouts at different weights.”
In a bold move, Ferrugiari moved Seahawks junior Christian Hansen up to 170 pounds to wrestle Mount Sinai’s Matt Campo. Hansen gave Campo all he could handle but fell, 8-5. It was only the second loss of the season for Hansen (38-2), who has 165 career wins. “It was a challenge for me to go up in weight and help the team try and win the dual,” Hansen said.
Clarke (17-6) reached the semifinal round but lost to Falconer, 42-30. Coach Mike Leonard pointed to the team’s three captains for the program’s turnaround.
“We didn’t make the playoffs a year ago and we went to the state semifinals this year,” Leonard said. “I’m so proud of my guys and our three captains, Aiden Yurdiga, Mike Forte and Osmond Bouyer. Those three guys were leaders and the key to the room getting better and helping move the program in the right direction.”
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
