Perrino Makes Quarterfinals, Upsets Section III Champion

By WRILEY NELSON
ALBANY

Cooperstown junior Matthew Perrino finished a phenomenal season in the quarterfinal round of the New York State wrestling championships at MVP Arena in Albany on Friday and Saturday, February 28 and March 1. Entering the tournament with a 34-14 record and the 11 seed, Perrino upset the Section III champion and battled the four seed and Section VI runner-up all the way to a hard-fought 4-3 loss.

Perrino defeated his first opponent of the tournament, 22 seed Finn Sheridan (21-15) of Trinity, by pinfall.

“It’s hard to get into the proper mindset at this high level of competition,” he said. “Everyone is there for a reason. You only have your parents and coaches there as support, but so does everyone else. I felt confident for the first match because it was a slightly worse seed, but still had to take it incredibly seriously to really face the challenge.”

The next round was a rematch against Section III Division II champion Christopher Doshna (41-3) of Marcellus/Onondaga, who beat Perrino by pinfall in early December. Perrino kept a lead throughout the match and won 3-2 by decision. Doshna went on to finish fourth in the state tournament.

“It was a rough match,” Perrino said. “I had to fight it all the way through. I managed to keep up good movement and was able to get behind him.”

The win set Perrino up for a difficult third match against three seed Takota Smith (33-6) of Pioneer, an opponent he had never faced. He consulted with his support in the bleachers, including family members, teammates, and partners from club wrestling and nearby schools, to set his goals and plan of attack. Smith took a 4-2 lead late in the second period, then relied on a strong defense and stalling to run down the clock.

“In the third period, [Smith] went straight to the mat,” Matthew’s father, Michael, said.

“Matthew had good control of the match but couldn’t turn him over. He eventually got a point for the stalling, but there were only 30 seconds left and not enough time to pick up another penalty.”

“I got some good moves on him, but he had great defense,” Matthew added. “Once he balled up with his hands under him, I couldn’t get hold of a wrist or another fulcrum point to turn him over. I hadn’t really seen that before, but now my coaches were able to tell me what to do in that situation: try to push them out of bounds, and maybe let them pick up another point so I can set them up for a takedown and, in this case, a 6-5 win at the very end.”

Perrino qualified for the main quarterfinals on Saturday, March 1, and returned to the ring exhausted and beat up from the day before. His opponent, Griffin McQuade (36-8) of Maine-Endwell, beat him by decision in the Cooperstown Invitational in December.

“I was nervous going into that match, knowing that he knew a lot of my moves,” he continued. “I tried to bring the same aggression I had the day before. [McQuade] is a little lighter than me and is incredibly fast, especially defending. He eventually got me in a headlock and pinned me with about 30 seconds left.”

“We’re very proud of Matthew for competing at States, of course, but his improvement from Sectionals just two weeks earlier is even more impressive,” Michael added. “He had the sixth seed going into that tournament, and he upset the fifth, fourth and third seeds. Then, he beat the top seed and champion from Sectionals in Albany. Making it to States was a gift, but he had accomplishments all along the way.”

“I’ve learned so much about the sport this season, especially coming off some rough losses earlier in the year,” Matthew explained. “Coaches [Mike] Croft and [Trentin] Carentz have been a constant help, especially with the mental and strategy side of things. They’ll do very detailed critiques, since one little wrong move can mess up a whole match. My best friend, our 285-class wrestler Max Scharf, is always there to help me warm up and train. It was especially helpful since we both started the season coming back from serious knee injuries. Max Koffer has also been a huge help with the mental side of things, getting us all into an aggressive mindset and talking about new moves and ideas.”

Inspired by Koffer’s off-season improvement, Perrino recently decided to join him in the Gorilla Grapplers Wrestling Club in Sidney. He will compete in a three-day national tournament in Virginia Beach at the end of March. After that season, he intends to start a local freestyle wrestling group to improve his mat awareness and mobility. His dedication to the sport and fascination with its every aspect, physical and mental, is clear in nearly everything he says.

Cooperstown wrestling fans can look forward to another strong season and a healthy crop of upcoming athletes learning by example. Complete results from the state tournament are available at nysphsaa.org/tournaments/?id=34.