PITTSBURGH - Virginia Tech freshman Mekhi Lewis, a former two-time state champion from Bound Brook, knocked off Penn State two-time national champion Vincenzo Joseph, 7-1, to win the 165-pound NCAA Wrestling Championships final on Saturday night.

Lewis became Virginia Tech’s first-ever national champion and was the fourth New Jersey champion on the night. Penn State’s Anthony Cassar (Montgomery, 285 pounds) and Rutgers’ Nick Suriano (Bergen Catholic, 133) and Anthony Ashnault (South Plainfield, 149) won titles earlier in the night.

"It means a lot, I always wanted to be a national champ,” said Lewis. “So to have this opportunity and go out there and wrestle and try to become one, I’m just so grateful for it.

“Virginia Tech wrestling has been really good. It’s just that we never really had good finals, good end results. So to be the first one is really special. It means a lot to me. Just so happy that I’m a part of the (Virginia Tech) program and it shows how good Jersey wrestling and how much better we’re becoming."

At the end of the tournament, Lewis found out he was more than a champion, being named the Most Outstanding Wrestler.

“It just goes to show how hard I’ve been working and I feel pretty good about it,” said Lewis.

After a scoreless first period in which Joseph barely fought off a Lewis shot, Lewis cradled Joseph for four points right off the second-period whistle. Lewis then fought off a takedown attempt at the end of the second period to hold on to a 4-1 lead.

Lewis added a late takedown to seal the match.

“I just felt -- this tournament (the cradle) was what I was looking for against all my opponents,” said Lewis. “The first opponent, I felt it was Marinelli, and I know Joseph did the same kind of stand-up as him. And as soon as I felt that I was getting it locked up and he was trying to fight out of it sort of, I just went with it. It was, like, a natural feeling, just natural.”

Lewis ran through the tournament as a freshman No. 8 seed, stunning top-seeded Alex Marinelli of Iowa, 3-1, in the quarterfinals and beating fourth-seeded Evan Wick of Wisconsin, 5-2, in the semifinals.

Lewis faced arguably his biggest test in the final, a two-time national champion and second-seeded Joseph, a Pittsburgh native who amazingly has never won a Big Ten title but always peaks in the NCAA Tournament.

While he wasn’t a high seed, Lewis was coming off a junior world freestyle championship in the fall and loomed as a dark horse.

“He kind of showed everybody. .... For America, from a wrestling fan base, college fans don’t follow freestyle that closely and they don’t know who’s who. …. I don’t even know who’s who and I’ve wrestled Internationally before, but the guy he beat in the world finals (Abubakar Abakarov of Azerbaijan) is like senior-level good,” said Virginia Tech 174-pound three-time All-American David McFadden, a former two-time N.J. state champ himself at DePaul. "For Mekhi to go out and kind of dismantle that guy, I’ve seen his growth. I’ve been with him every single day the last two years. I know what he’s capable of and it’s scary. He’s one of the toughest guys I know. He’s gritty.

"He usually puts a lot of pressure on himself, but this is the first tournament he’s been laughing all weekend and really enjoying it. I think we all knew what he was capable of. He won a junior world title against a really solid guy. "

McFadden picked Lewis up after he was done his post-match interview and carried the new national champion out of the interview room.

“Everybody, other than my teammate’s, family and coaches and fans, thought I was the underdog,” said Lewis. “I didn’t think I was the underdog. I just thought people didn’t get the chance to see me wrestle at a big stage, like, folkstyle, because they only saw freestyle. And I just felt like I was like I was prepared and ready to win a national title.”

Bill Evans can be reached at bevans@njadvancemedia.com or by leaving a note in the comments below. Follow him on Twitter @BEvansSports. Like our NJ.com High School Wrestling Facebook Page