“We wrestled all week in practice,” Trim stated. “Neither one of us really thought we had a chance at the podium, yet again the top. We thought we might place as our goals.”

With the main goal of just improving from his eighth-place finish last year, Trim surprised himself, knocking off the top-seed in the 215-pound bracket in sudden victory to book a date in the finals against Maring.

Trim had wrestled Maring seven times in a final prior to Saturday, but this match was the most important of his career. Then, just like he did two weeks ago at the Sectional Qualifier, Trim won, this time by 11-0 major decision.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Trim said about winning the state title. “My goal was always to beat my brother, who took fifth his senior year. I took eighth last year. I knew I needed to one-up him this year. … Finals, it felt like my sectional finals again. I’ve wrestled Mason eight times in the finals now. It’s a battle every time. I love to wrestle him.”

After a scoreless first period, the 5-seeded Trim started to make his move in the second period. He worked over Maring for a pair of near falls, almost ending the round just like the section final with a pin, but the junior from Westfield fought for a third period.

“One match at a time,” Maple Grove head coach Josh Reed said about Trim and Maring. “Nothing is ever taken for granted. These two are friends off the mat and I respect that they battle every time they get on the mat. They can put the friendship away for a moment, battle, come off the mat, come in for a big hug and be proud of each other.”

Trim can walk away from his career representing the Red Dragons as a state champion, closing out atop the podium with a 45-2 record in his senior season.

“It means the world,” Reed said about Trim becoming the state champion. “It means absolutely everything. I’m most excited for him, just because of his work ethic. I tell him all the time, nobody works as hard as you. I’m just proud to see what he’s done, him actually believing in himself, not having a doubt and he went there and he did it. We’re proud of him.”

While Maring comes up short of first place, the junior shocked brackets, finishing well ahead of his billed 6-seed and, more importantly, he has another year to try and get back for a better spot.

“He’s one that might not always agree with what the coaches are saying, but he really did this weekend and stayed locked in,” Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama/Clymer head coach Ken Rowe said about Maring’s tournament. “He stuck to the plan and listened to the techniques we were throwing at him. I don’t think many expected it, but he had an excellent tournament. He got caught there, ran that bar in the finals and that kind of changed the tone of the match, but I think he was in it anyways. He wrestled a great tournament and I think it’s going to help him out confidence-wise moving forward.”

Just before the Trim-Maring showdown, Southwestern sophomore Tavio Hoose took to the mat seeking his second state title after winning the 172-pound championship last year.

Hoose also faced a familiar opponent in the finals, taking on Greyson Meak of Section VIII’s Cold Spring Harbor, who he beat this year and in the finals last year.

However, it just wasn’t Tavio’s night on Saturday as he wasn’t able to escape Meak’s grasp.

“Honestly, I thought some of the calls were not in our favor, I’ll say to use the politically correct terminology,” Southwestern head coach John Vogan stated. “You can’t blame it on that, but sometimes you’re at the mercy of the way the official is calling the match. You have to try and score when on top, not just ride. Sometimes you don’t wrestle your best match and we’ve got two victories over Meak, one in the finals last year and in Eastern States this year. Today was his day, he wrestled a good match.”

Just like Hoose’s semifinal opponent, Meak scored first with a 2-0 takedown and from there he hugged onto Hoose like his life depended on it. Meak did not give up a single escape in the first two periods and when it felt like Hoose was breaking through he ran him out of bounds.

Eventually Meak was penalized two points for stalling in the third and did give up an escape, but Hoose was never able to win a takedown and came up short of a repeat by 5-3 decision.

“It was a great day for these kids,” Vogan added about Hoose and the rest of the Trojans at states. “Our expectations overall were not what we wanted today, but I think we have to take a step back and look at overall each of the kids that were here overall had a tremendous season. It’s a tough season because there is only a handful of kids in this entire state that end on a high note. Right now it’s hard, but if we take some time to reflect back on it, every one of these kids had a phenomenal, phenomenal year. For Carmine and Tavio it’s just more to build on for great careers, they’re both sophomores.”

DIVISION 2

101: No. 5 Andrew Juliano of Section III’s Holland Patent p. No. 2 Jakob Lucinski of Section VI’s Newfane, 3:07

108: No. 1 Maverick Beckwith of Section IV’s Norwich d. No. 2 Anthony Valls of Section IV’s Chenango Valley, TB 7-1

116: No. Darren Florance of Section IV’s Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton/Harpursville d. No. 3 Brock Frederick of Section III’s South Jefferson, 3-1

124: No. 2 Chase Nevills of Section III’s Copenhagen d. No. 2 Christopher Noto of Section V’s Honeoye Falls-Lima, 6-3

131: No. 1 Gavin Mangano of Section XI Shoreham-Wading River p. No. 3 Jayden Duncanson of Section IV’s Tioga, 5:55

138: No. 1 Brayden Fahrbach d. No. 3 Gianni Silvestri of Section IV’s Tioga, 6-5

145: No. 1 Casper Stewart of Section V’s Attica-Batavia d. No. 2 Kieran Cullen of Section II’s Greenville, 4-2

152: No. 2 Julian Camper of Section III’s Copenhagen d. No. 1 Caden Bellis of Section IV’s Tioga, 4-3

160: No. 1 Ousmane Duncanson of Section IV’s Tioga md. No. 6 Jacob Stephenson of Section VI’s Wilson, 16-0

170: No. 1 Brandon Woodward of Section V’s Palmyra Macdeon d. No. 3 Charles Foster of Section III’s Vernon-Verona-Sherill, 5-1

190: No. 2 Greyson Meak of Section VIII’s Cold Spring Harbor d. No. 1 Tavio Hoose of Section VI’s Southwestern, 5-3

215: No. 5 Matt Trim of Section VI’s Maple Grove md. No. 6 Mason Maring of Section VI’s Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Panama/Clymer, 11-0

285: No. 5 Troy Beeman of Section IV’s Waverly d. No. 2 William Wortkoetter of Section VI’s Wilson, SV 9-4

DIVISION 1

101: No. 1 William Soto of Section IX’s Newburgh md. No. 2 EJ Vass of Section IX’s Valley Central, 10-0

108: No. 1 Dunia Sibomana of Section VIII’s Long Beach d. No. 2 Cooper Merli of Section IX’s Newburg, 2-0

116: No. 1 Even Gursoy of Midwood md. No. 3 Anthony Severino of Section XI’s Lindenhurst, 14-2

124: No. 2 Luke Satriano of Section IX’s Valley Central md. No. 1 Matt Marlow of Section XI’s Northport, 10-0

131: No. 2 Joseph Clem of Section VIII’s Wantagh d. No. 1 Samson McKissick-Stale of Section V’s Pittsford, 5-3

138: No. 2 Amir Avazov of James Madison d. No. 1 Luke Nieto of Section VIII’s Plainedge,

145: No. 1 Liam Carlin of Section II’s Burn Hills d. No. 2 Mason Ketcham of Section IX’s Washingtonville, 31

152: No. 1 Cameron Catrabone of Section VI’s Williamsville North/East d. No. 3 Griffin Laplante of St. Francis of CAHS, 3-0

160: No. 1 PJ Duke of Section IX’s Minisink Valley md. No. 2 Matthew Rodriguez, 27-12

170: No. 4 Devin Downes of Section VIII’s Plainedge d. No. 3 Leo Venables of Section I’s Carmel, 6-4

190: No. 1 Elijah Diakhomihalis of Section V’s Hilton md. No. 2 Zachary Caldwell of St. Francis, 13-0

215: No. 1 Coy Raines of Section V’s Churchville Chili d. No. 4 Alexander Berisha of Section I’s Fox Lane, 3-1

285: No. 1 Stephan Monchery of Section IX’s Middletown p. No. 2 Vincent Petzold of Section VIII’s Plainedge, 2:17

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