Thrilling win puts New Milford wrestling one step from its first sectional title

NEW MILFORD – As freshmen, they came to save a wrestling program that could hardly stand on its own.

Now as seniors, they’re one step away from the greatest win in New Milford history.

One of Bergen County’s best comeback stories lived on Monday night when the Knights beat Butler (41-36) and Pompton Lakes (42-35) to advance to the North 1, Group 1 final. The Knights will wrestle three-time reigning champion Kittatinny on Wednesday in Newton.

While coach Ray Cottiers knows that the work isn’t finished, he can appreciate the progress it’s taken to bring a small public school back to this stage. Never mind the fact that New Milford has never won a sectional title or even reached a final in over two decades.

Back in 2021, the program was forced to co-op with Wood-Ridge when its roster got down to six wrestlers. But with a pipeline of talent on the way led by senior two-time state medalist Devin Ryan, it was only a matter of time before the Knights got back on their feet.

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“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Cottiers said. “It’s been a journey to get to this point. We have 14 seniors on the team that have been wrestling together since they were 5, 6 years old. We’ve been talking about this season for quite some time. We had different guys step up at different points.”

The journey was not easy on Monday night for the bracket’s second seed. New Milford got all it could handle against No. 7 Butler, escaping in the final two bouts with back-to-back wins from seniors Cole Totaro and Ryan Franklin.

A little over two hours later, Totaro stepped back on the mat against a familiar opponent: Pompton Lakes’ Redon Xleladini, a 21-match winner who beat him by major decision in their regular season meeting. This time, Totaro got the upper hand in a bout-clinching 8-7 decision with one weight to go.

“Cole is a fan favorite,” Cottiers said. “The stands chant his name constantly and everybody in the school loves Cole. He’s a very soft-spoken individual but he shows up and works and I know that he wants to win for himself. But I think more than anything he wants to win for his teammates.”

This was New Milford’s second match against Pompton Lakes and most of it played out like in January when the Knights squeaked out a two-point win. New Milford controlled the top half with pins from Devin (132) and Jerzey Ryan (138), while Pompton Lakes relied on its strength in the upper-weights to produce scoring.

What changed the math this time was a 10-point swing at 126. New Milford went from a tech fall loss to a tech fall win when senior Matthew Mulligan knocked off Pompton Lakes freshman Ryan Oyola, 22-7. Mulligan was unavailable when the teams last met.

“Extremely excited,” Mulligan said. “This is the one match that I was waiting for. I may have upset the team not wrestling last time, but this time I definitely came through for us. It feels great.”

In the quarterfinal, New Milford finished with bonus points in seven of eight wins, including pins from Stelios Psarianos (106), Aramis Hernandez (120) and Joseph Langschultz (157). The Totaro twins extended the lead with older brother Sutter winning 10-2 at 144 and Cole landing what he dubbed probably the most important win of his career. That allowed New Milford enough leeway to forfeit the final weight at 215.

“This time, I had a gameplan,” Cole Totaro said. “I tried to stay off my back and try and win.”

New Milford has done plenty of winning this season. By going 15-1, the Knights have turned the page on last year’s losing season and posted their most victories since the 2014-15 campaign. But as Cottiers points out, the job isn’t finished.

“We’re going to have to bring everything and then some to be able to go out there to that environment and that gym and Coach [John] Gill. Another coach whose record speaks for itself. We’re going to enjoy it tonight and then get back to the work tomorrow.”