Prior to the match, the Golden Cougars honored seniors Brayden Newman, Joey Pillittieri, Brock Johnson, Sean Cobb and Collin Beichner and unveiled their 2020 New York State Public High School Athletic Association Division II Dual Meet Championship.

One year ago head coach Drew Wilcox and company took to the mats at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena, where they opened up with a 51-31 victory over Palmyra-Macedon and followed that up with a 45-33 win over Central Valley Academy.

The Golden Cougars won their semifinal bout 42-30 over Clarke to earn a spot in the finals against Mount Sinai, where they claimed the title with a 40-39 come-from-behind win on the back of several brilliant performances.

“It was a special day,” Wilcox remembered. “The kids really rallied around each other and we didn’t wrestle very well the weekend before. In hindsight I think it was because they were so focused on that tournament and the kids just stepped up all day long. A kid like Brock Johnson, dead to rights and about to get pinned, he finds a way off his back and ends up finishing with a pin himself. Really turned the tide there. After he got that pin we needed pins from Collin Beichner, Collin Mower and Brayden Newman and they all did it.”

For Wilcox and his assistant coaches, claiming the team title in the third year of the dual meet championships was validation for years of hard work building complete wrestling teams with only individual state championships on the line to close out the season.

“We were pushing for it and we were pretty bummed out it didn’t happen the year before it did because we had a really, really good team that year,” Wilcox said. “We were just excited for it. It was something that New York State wrestling needed. We needed a team championship and it makes it easier to get kids to buy in when you’ve got a common goal for everybody on the team and it’s not about the individual. It is a big deal for our program. For ten plus years we have been trying to accomplish that goal and we finally did it last year. We never really had a chance to celebrate. We went right into the individual postseason and kind of put it on the back burner. Then COVID hit, so this is kind of the first time we can all be back together and celebrate an amazing accomplishment.”

102: Evan Newman (F/CV) won via forfeit.

110: Karsen Lundgren (F/CV) won via forfeit

118: Sean Cobb (F/CV) won via forfeit

126: Brayden Newman (F/CV) won via forfeit

132: Damon Liguori (O) d. Vinnie Bloomberg, 5-4

138: Austin Chase (F/CV) won via forfeit

145: Joey Pillittieri (F/CV) p. Isaiah Deemer, 1:30

152: Dalton Caldwell (F/CV) p. Lucas O’Dell, 0:59

160: Nate Gabler (O) md. Brodie Little, 9-0

172: Hunter Caldwell (F/CV) won via forfeit

189: Chris Bargy (O), p. Kyle Keefe, 4:09

215: Brock Johnson (F/CV) won via forfeit

285: Collin Beichner (F/CV) p. Devin Kayes, 1:07