Milford’s T.J. O’Connor Reflects on Successful Final HS Season

By WRILEY NELSON
MILFORD

Milford Central School senior T.J. O’Connor is approaching the end of a six-year, five-season career on the Cooperstown/Milford varsity wrestling team in style. According to cnywrestling.com, O’Connor, 17, has a career record of 190-32, including 88 pins. He placed second in the 152-pound class at the Section III Class D-2 Tournament at Mount Markham on Saturday, February 3, and will compete in the Division II Championships on Saturday, February 10.

O’Connor had a bye in the first round of the Class D-2 Tournament and won two matches by pinfall, beating Dolgeville’s Ezekiel Monk in 52 seconds and Sherburne-Earlville’s Justin Rose in 2:14. He lost to Tavian Camper of Copenhagen in the finals, and was one of three C/M wrestlers on the podium as the team finished 10th of 11 schools. Sophomore Max Koffer placed third in the 116-class and Carson Moore finished sixth in the 215-class.

Earlier in the season, O’Connor took sixth place in the prestigious Eastern States Classic, considered one of the most difficult high school wrestling tournaments in the northeast, on Saturday, January 13. It featured a field of 32 high-caliber athletes in O’Connor’s weight class. He went 4-3 overall.

“I’ve had a lot of tough matches this year and have won a lot of tough matches,” O’Connor said. “I’ve lost some, too, but I feel really good.”

He was especially excited to face Camper, to whom he lost two difficult, close matches last year, at the Class D-2 tournament. Camper, who committed to the Division-I wrestling program at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in December, was an especially challenging opponent.

“We don’t win too many dual meets as a team, but I love everyone there,” O’Connor continued. “The kids at Cooperstown are just the nicest people. We’re all friends and really support each other in the sport and in general. I’ve been on the team for six years and there has never been any drama with this group.

“I love Coach [Michael] Croft, too,” he concluded. “He really, deeply knows what he’s talking about. He’s also great at managing the personalities and the social aspects of the team.”

The admiration is mutual. Croft, a 2008 Cooperstown graduate in his 10th year as coach, noted that O’Connor would have wrestled all six years for the varsity program if the COVID-19 pandemic had not canceled a season.

“T.J. is the longest-tenured wrestler I have coached,” Croft said in an e-mail. “This year, the team had great numbers and over half the roster was first-year varsity wrestlers. T.J. took a big interest in teaching and mentoring these athletes while focusing on his individual goals and success. Now that we are in the postseason, I am excited to see what he can achieve for himself now that it is just him left competing for the remainder of the season.”

O’Connor has not yet selected a school to attend this fall, but intends to study construction management. He said wrestling at the college level is on the table, but that academics will come first. To view his season and career wrestling statistics, visit www.cnywrestling.com/iii/results/wrestler.php?id=412800.