Sosinsky is a champion at last by Sean Farrell of The Record
The pain returned at the wrong time for Shane Sosinsky.
This was his tournament to win. Now was his time.
But just minutes away from his first Bergen County title, the soreness in his surgically repaired left shoulder started to bother him. The Northern Highlands senior hit a roadblock on his third trip to the BCCA finals. And his early lead was starting to slip away.
“It was a battle,” Sosinky said. “I had to fight through adversity.”
Sosinsky kept fighting to the final seconds to avoid a late takedown that could have sent the match to overtime.
That perseverance paid off. He earned a 5-3 victory over Mahwah’s Daniel Surich in the 182-pound final on Thursday in the BCCA George Jockish Holiday Wrestling Tournament.
“It feels great,” said Sosinsky, who’s headed to the Naval Academy next year. “Losing in the county final twice left me a little bitter. I wanted to get this one bad.”
Sosinsky needed surgery in early August to fix a torn labrum after landing awkwardly on his shoulder during a tournament. The road back wasn’t easy. The recovery process was both physically and mentally challenging.
Before becoming a champion, Sosinsky had to bring the same focus to rehab as he does to wrestling.
“I just knew that if I don’t do everything right, then I’m not going to be able to achieve my goals.”
The top-seeded Sosinsky showed no signs of rust through his first three matches of the BCCA tournament. He pinned Ramapo’s Jeff Foster for the first win, then earned major decision victories in the next two.
The range of skills in Sosinksy’s arsenal paired with his excellent technique became too much for opponents to handle.
“He can hit any move at any time,” Northern Highlands coach Tom Walsh said. “The situation is his style.”
In the final, Sosinsky looked to be on his way to another easy victory. But after Sosinsky built up an early 5-0 lead, Surich started to chip away.
“He’s a very quality opponent,” Sosinsky said. “He grinds it out for six minutes. We actually train together so we both know a little bit about what the other does. He’s a fantastic competitor.”
Sosinsky took an injury timeout with 1:37 left and his lead down to three. He talked to team staff, sipped on some water and held his sore shoulder, still wrapped in a black protective pad.
The last 97 seconds of the match would last much longer. He just tried to hold himself together until the next stoppage in play, the next chance to recover.
Finally, the clock hit zero and Sosinky took off the red bands around his ankles. He slowly walked off the mat as Northern Highlands’ first Bergen County champion since Nick Gravina in 2012.
“He was always the face of the program,” Sosinsky said of Gravina. “Now he talks about how I’m the face of the program. It’s a great feeling. It’s weird to see how people looked up to him, and now I’m that.”
Sosinsky sees Thursday’s title as just the beginning of a dominant senior season.
There’s still so much more work to be done, both on and off the mat. But he’s used to that feeling by now.
“Nothing short of a state championship would satisfy him,” Walsh said. “He’s going to put a smile on his face after this. One thing is checked off the list, but it’s not the [only] thing. He’ll get back to work.”