Bronco Campsey Finishes Historic Season as a New York State Division I Finalist

Mere fractions of an inch, if that, and a matter of seconds is all that stood between Austin Bronco Campsey and the first state title ever in East Hampton wrestling history.

Early on in the second period of the 108-pound Division I final of the New York State Championships at MVP Arena in Albany on Saturday evening, the Pierson sophomore was able to tilt Newburgh sophomore Will Soto for four nearfall points, that at various points throughout the 10-to-15-second ordeal looked like he may have actually gotten the pin, but it was never called by the official.

Instead, Soto scored 12 unanswered points in the same period to go on to win the match, 12-4, and with it his second consecutive state title. Soto won his first state title last season as a freshman at 101 pounds and placed upstate as an eighth-grader the year before that.

East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton head coach Ethan Mitchell, in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way, said, “I thought he was pretty flat in that tilt,” meaning he thought Campsey — who donned his gray and maroon Bonacker singlet over the Section XI blue and white singlet in the finals, much to the appreciation of Mitchell — pinned Soto. A very reserved Campsey agreed. “I thought I had him pinned.”

Another interesting caveat to the state final match was that it was somewhat inexplicably stopped not long after Campsey nearly pinned Soto, due to Campsey losing his headgear during the fracas in which he tilt Soto to his back. Mitchell said that a new rule came out recently stating that officials do not have to stop a match for gear issues, but they did.

Whether or not it caused a huge momentum shift or not is debatable, but nearly getting pinned seemed to wake Soto up. And, for the record, neither Mitchell nor Campsey was appealing the official result of the match, just that it was a lot closer than the final score would maybe indicate.

The loss, which was only Campsey’s third of the season, two of which came to Soto, also does not portray what has been a historic season for Campsey, who matched Eric Kaufman’s 1987 season through and through. Kaufman was also a state finalist that season, but what may give Campsey the slight edge, Mitchell said, is that he accomplished it as a sophomore while Kaufman did it as a senior.

What makes Campsey’s run even all the more impressive is that he hadn’t given up any points until the finals match with Soto. That includes his first three matches in the state tournament, and he had only allowed two points the entire postseason — a single point in his county semifinal match and another in his county championship match.

“Incredible,” the hoarse-voiced Mitchell said of Campsey’s accomplishments after a grueling two-day tournament that began Friday morning. “I’m so proud of him. He wrestled so hard, and this kid works so hard. I know he wanted to be upstate last year, and he just got to work.

“What’s crazy is that, similarly to what I thought at counties about Adam Beckwith, I still believe there’s yet another level in Bronco,” he continued. “He didn’t let it fly in the state quarterfinals or semifinals matches because they were so stressful. He was a little bit more strategic in his wrestling rather than hooking the kids. He hadn’t scored any back points until he turned Soto in the finals, who by the way, I don’t think he’s been on his back, definitely not this tournament, but possibly all season.”

Campsey also had a pair of some of the most exciting matches of the entire tournament in his quarterfinal and semifinal matches. Facing MacArthur junior Vincent Orandello in the quarters, the two battled through three scoreless regulation periods that continued into a pair of overtime periods. After those went scoreless also, the match would be decided in an ultimate tiebreaker sudden victory period, where one escape would decide the match.

Orandello chose top position for the 30-second period, in which Campsey escaped his grip with five seconds left to secure the 1-0 victory to advance to the semis in what was a rematch of the county championship match with Hauppauge senior Connor Sheridan.

Sheridan led Campsey, 1-0, in the county final until Campsey scored six points in succession with about a minute remaining to win, 6-1. Saturday’s semifinal was a similar match in which neither wrestler was willing to give up any points. But eventually Campsey scored a point on a escape in the third period and he punched his ticket to the state finals with a 1-0 victory.

Mitchell said Campsey was in control of his quarterfinal match to the point where he knew he would win if it got down to sudden victory.

“Bronco wants to take every position to their back,” he said. “He is so tough on top he just didn’t finish those positions early on in the match but he kept going for it. But that’s why he knew if it got to triple overtime, he would just stop trying to do it and just get the point he would need.”

What remains to be seen now, as the Bonac wrestling program heads into the offseason, is what having a state finalist in the wrestling room can do for a program. Mitchell thinks it will have more of an effect than maybe even Campsey, or anyone else for that matter, realizes.

“It lets all the kids know that they can do it. That they don’t have to be at these storied programs to be successful,” he explained. “As long as you’re disciplined and your work ethic is top notch then you can be successful too.

“The one thing I always keep saying is, why not us? Why not me?’” Mitchell continued. “And they’re buying into it. You saw it in Juan Roque last year and Adam Beckwith and Bronco this year. I see us turning a corner again next year. We definitely some have shoes to fill, but we saw some of the success that these kids had and they can do it as long as they believe it.”

Most state champions, finalists and even place-winners will take the next few weeks off before starting to train once again for offseason tournaments. It wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone if Campsey ends up going to Nationals in Fargo, the premier offseason tournament in the country, later this year, though Campsey himself said he is unsure at the moment of his exact path how to get there; he would need to qualify through various tournaments throughout the country.

Regardless, while the book has closed on the 2024-2025 season for the East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton wrestling program, it’s just starting in the freestyle and Greco-Roman style offseason program.

“We go back to work tomorrow,” Mitchell said on Sunday. “We’ll have the weight room open. We’ll be ready to rock and to keep it rolling. I’m excited about the freestyle season because it’s so crucial in many ways. It’s also nice that it’s not the school season so it keeps the pressure off, the kids can have a little bit more fun and the two different styles can sometimes be more exciting.”