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.”