Newburgh’s John Carey was getting ready his 285-pounnd heavyweight bout Saturday against Half Hollow Hills during a duals tournament hosted by the Goldbacks.
Carey was 32-6 before the bout, and then left with a victory before being named the tournament MVP with a record of 6-0.

“I’m shooting for a section title,” said Carey, looking ahead to the sectional tournament over the Valentine’s Day weekend.

Carey’s career record grew to 69-34 when he beat Valley Central’s Corey Johnson 3-1 in overtime Friday during the Goldbacks’ 60-16 loss to the Panthers.

Carey expects a possible rematch with Johnson at the sectional tournament. He then looks forward to attending SUNY Morrisville next fall, where he also wants to wrestle.

In addition to Carey, Marcus Spearman and Aaron Moore were both undefeated with 6-0 records to help the Goldbacks to a 4-2 record in the tournament and a third-place finish.
Valley Central won the two-day tournament with a 5-1 record, falling only to Hauppauge, which one-day regular tournament Saturday.

The tournament was a bit of homecoming for the Goldbacks, a team that struggled into late January. The Goldbacks were 0-5 as late as January 20th, but a win by Johnny Bastone against guaranteed a victory over Pine Bush a day after the team beat Kingston.

A few days later, the Goldbacks headed north to Lansingburgh and picked up nine victories there to quickly put those early season struggles behind them.

During that stretch, Taylor Laraia became the Goldbacks’ all-time leader in pins and victories, and Coach Jeff Cuilty earned his 300th coaching victory and finished his tournament with 309 career wins.

“I am very proud of the team and the way they stepped up after the 0-5 start,” said Cuilty. “They could have packed it in, but they stayed focused and worked hard and have turned everything around.”

By Bond Brungard
sports@tcnewspapers.com