The Section 9 Division I finals have become a bit of an obstacle for the Newburgh Free Academy wrestling team.

The Goldbacks were shut out in the finals for the second straight tournament, losing all three of their matches. However, they will be sending three wrestlers – Cooper Merli (102), Jackson Merli (145) and Anthony Manzi (160) to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association tournament on Feb. 25 and 26 at the MVP Arena in Albany.

“We knew we were underdogs in two and the other one was a toss-up and now we’re without a second champ for three years now,” Newburgh coach Chris Leggett said. “But those three guys did qualify for states so that’s a good thing.”

Jackson Merli had the closest match of the day, a 5-3, overtime loss to Minisink Valley’s Luke Greiner in the 145-pound finals. They had previously met on Jan. 12 at the Section 9 Duals tournament, a bout Merli won in overtime. This time, Greiner came out quickly and scored a 2-point takedown 15 seconds into the match.

However, with 19 seconds to go, Merli reversed it to tie the match at 2.

Merli got the lead back on an escape late in the second period, but with 50 seconds to go, Greiner scored a point to tie the bout at 3-3.

Greiner was almost ruled to have won the match at the end of regulation, but Leggett protested, and it was ruled that he didn’t escape.

“I felt there was no loss of control, and we still had his legs,” Leggett said. “Luckily, those guys, trying to get the right call asked the assistant official and he agreed there was definitely no loss of control, and let it be decided in overtime.”

It was decided with 21 seconds to go, when Greiner scored a takedown for the sudden victory.

“I knew it was going to be tough,” Merli said. “I had to try some different things that weren’t going to work like they did last time. And at the end of it, he got the last takedown.”

The bout was named the tournament’s Most Exciting Match.

“If they wrestled 10 times, it could be five for one and five for the other,” Leggett said.

The finals started with Jackson’s younger brother, eighth grader Cooper Merli, facing Valley Central’s Luke Satriano for the third time this season. Satriano had won the previous two matches, and took this one, 6-2, forcing Merli to wrestle for true second to clinch his state berth.

“That’s the first time he’s ever experienced anything like this,” Leggett said. “Cooper’s got a good mindset. He quickly bounced back off the finals loss and was confident.”

Merli built a 5-0 lead on Wallkill’s Marco Futia before pinning him in 3:54 to join his brother at the state tournament. Jackson’s a senior, making this the only opportunity for them to go together.

“It’s kind of exciting because I know he’s going to get a pretty good seed going up there,” Jackson Merli said. “He’s probably getting a good chance to place very high.”
Manzi placed second at 160 pounds, after getting pinned by Minisink Valley’s Zack Ryder in 2:59. Ryder took Manzi down hard 7 seconds into the match and he was never able to get into a flow.

Jackson Merli and Manzi didn’t have to wrestle true second matches because they had already beaten the third-place finisher in their respective weight class. Merli beat third-place finisher – Wallkill’s George Thomas – and Manzi beat Minisink Valley’s George Racz in their respective semifinals.

Joseph Ponesse was seeded second at 189 pounds, but he suffered a 14-2 loss to Pine Bush’s Braydon Pennell in the semifinals. He then lost his third-place match to Goshen’s Max Winkler.

“Joe just had a tough match,” Leggett said. “The kid was a lot better than we had anticipated. Joe wrestled back to fourth place, and that’s a hard thing to do to come back here after you lose when you’re expecting to make the finals. That showed some tremendous effort and guts to come back and place fourth.”