John Antonelli III has been the lone Marlboro wrestler for five years.

Last week, the Marlboro High School senior announced his next step will be SUNY Oneonta, where he plans to continue his wrestling career and plan for a career as an educator.

“The wrestling team is awesome, and I will be battling and grinding with really great kids,” Antonelli said. “I will be able to get my teaching education and continue doing what I love to do for the next four years. I figured that was a perfect spot for me.”

Antonelli spent the last five years shadowing the Highland Huskies, but still retained his identity as a Marlboro Dukes wrestler.

“I loved representing my school,” Antonelli said. “I didn’t want to move schools. I wanted to represent my school and family. I wanted to be my own person and wrestle for myself.”

Antonelli started shadowing the Huskies when he was in eighth grade as a 99-pound wrestler. Never did he feel as though he was just a shadow wrestler. He was part of the team.

“I call the kids from Highland my family,” he said. “Most of my best friends are on that team.”

Antonelli, who wrestled at 132 pounds finished 30-6 and picked up his 100th win at the Mid-Hudson Tournament. He was a runner-up at the Section 9 Division 2 tournament after losing to Port Jervis’ Joey Amato, 7-6 in the finals.

He also won the 2019-20 Friends of Section 9 Officials Sportsmanship Award and the DeCapua Scholarship
Overall, Antonelli was a four-time Section 9 finalist, but never got that final victory to earn a Section 9 Division II championship.

“I am so blessed with the career I’ve had,” Antonelli said. “I don’t have any regrets.”
He finished his career with 116 total wins and earlier this season at the Mid-Hudson Tournament in Arlington, he became the first shadow wrestler in Section 9 to win 100 matches.

“I can’t even describe it,” Antonelli said. “It means everything to me. The hard work I put in ever since I was an eighth grader. I really am so blessed how I was able to do that. It was hard to be able to do what I did.”

As a shadow wrestler, he faced challenges that other wrestlers didn’t. While he traveled with the Huskies, he wasn’t guaranteed to have a match. He couldn’t wrestle during dual meets and didn’t receive any forfeits if the opposing team didn’t have an opponent for him. If they didn’t, he didn’t wrestle.
He earned every single one of his 116 victories.

“Every time, it was a varsity match no matter what,” Highland coach John McFarland said. “He saw some really great kids and he’s lost to great kids. All those wins are all earned and not forfeits.”

He didn’t choose SUNY Oneonta just for its wrestling program, which entered the 2019-20 season with 170 dual meet victories, eight top 30 national team finishes including, four top-20, three top 15, and one top 10 at the NCAA Division III National Championships under his tenure.

“Coach Ritter is one of the reasons I went up there (to visit the campus),” Antonelli said. “He was a super intellectual guy. He’s also a great wrestling coach.”

He also plans follow his mother, Hope Antonelli, an English teacher at Saugerties High School. SUNY Oneonta has a top education program, he said. He hasn’t decided yet, but he’s leaning toward elementary education.
He also fell in love with the campus, which he said, unlike Marlboro, which is a small high school, the campus feels big, but maintains an intimacy.

“The aura to SUNY Oneonta is really big,” he said. “It gives me a feeling of change. At the same time, it’s small. It’s not super big where I have to walk 15 miles to get something to eat.”

McFarland, who has coached him for five years said he is excited to see what Antonelli does in college.

“He’s the kid that wants to keep learning and in college he’s going to learn a whole new style a whole new style of wrestling,” McFarland said. “I think he’s going to end up excelling.”