Sal Interdonato

sinterdonato@th-record.com

LOCH SHELDRAKE — The poster was unfurled, revealing another milestone in Maxx DeCapua’s wrestling career.

DeCapua accomplished a feat only six other Section 9 wrestlers have attained in the Eastern States Classic 220-pound round of 16. The Newburgh Free Academy senior escaped with a 7-5 win over Copiague’s Malik Leftenant for his 200th career victory.

“This is all six years in the making,” DeCapua said. “It represents six years of hard work, going to wrestling camps and putting a lot of effort in.”

But DeCapua will not be adding his first Eastern States title to his mantle. He was pulled out of the tournament Friday night for precautionary reasons, coach Chris Leggett said.

DeCapua, who placed eighth and sixth at the Eastern States Classic the past two seasons, jumped out to a 5-0 lead with a first-period takedown and cradle on Leftenant. But DeCapua didn’t look like himself in the second period as Leftenant rode him out for all but 10 seconds and forced two stalling points.

DeCapua’s third-period takedown sealed the win in a match during which he called for injury time twice. Started around 6:30 p.m., it was DeCapua’s first bout of the day, after warming up at 9 a.m.

“He's feeling some anxiety and pressure,” Leggett said. “You can only get better by wrestling tough matches and he made himself realize, ’I can handle the pressure. I can win these tough matches and come out in the end much better for that.’”

Leggett described DeCapua as a “man-child” when he broke into Newburgh’s lineup as a 170-pound seventh-grader. DeCapua enjoyed success from the outset with help from motivation from his older brother, Mike, who was a member of the Newburgh team. DeCapua placed third in the state at 220 pounds as a junior and sixth at 195 as a sophomore.

“I'm proud of him and I'm happy for him,” Leggett said. “He's the seventh wrestler in Section 9 history (to 200 wins). That's a pretty big accomplishment for Newburgh.

“He hit the milestones of the school’s all-time wins leader and now 200 wins. From here on out, the next accomplishment would be to win the state championship. We are trying to keep the ship rolling in the right direction for him.”

But that direction will not involve wrestling at the Eastern States on Saturday.

sinterdonato@th-record.com

Twitter: @Varsity