For the second year in a row, Sam Josey went to Virginia Beach and left as a national wrestling champion.
This time, he did it as a high schooler.
“It’s totally different,” said the St. John’s Prep freshman. “Getting finalist gear, being on the main mats. There’s the ceremony, everyone has their own mat. It’s a different feeling, maybe more pressure.”
The NHSCA High School Nationals have a middle school division, and Josey last season had a finals matchup against the top seed who had been winning all his matchups in the second period or earlier. The grappler from Portsmouth, N.H., earned a major decision (15-7) in that final.
Once again, his finals matchup was a major decision, but the performance was even more dominant. This time he was the top seed, and he started off the freshman tournament with a third-period pin, added a third-period technical fall, gritted out a 10-4 decision in the semifinal, then a 15-6 major over Missouri’s Brock Conaway.
The only non-escape point he gave up in the tournament was with two seconds left in the final for stalling.
“I just got to go out and do it,” he said. “I know if I wrestle my best, no one can compete with me.”
The 5-foot-10-inch Josey won his title at 180 pounds last year, then won a state, All-State, and New England title against some superb upperclassmen at 190, and now has hardware as a 182.
“All that hard work paying off,” Josey said of his New England postseason. “I never doubted I could do it. My coaches never doubted. My family never did. All that belief came true. It just makes me hungrier to get out to national competition and wrestle some tougher guys.”
Smitty’s Wrestling Barn coaches Matt Smith and Cam Altobelli were in his corner, helping him wrestle his best and keep him calm. But he felt the support of an entire region willing him to succeed.
“Truly, it was everybody,” he said. “There were guys I’ve never talked to before in my corner. Seeing an all-New England corner felt nice.”
Massachusetts placers
Sophomore division: Brayden Boccia, Milford, fifth place at 126 pounds.
Senior division: Kai Napadow Baquero, Winchester, eighth place at 113; Peter Rincan, Northfield Mt. Hermon (previously Billerica), sixth place at 126; Shea Morris, New York Military Academy (previously Haverhill), third place at 145; James Tildsley, Shawsheen, fourth place at 152; Zayde Facchetti, Humble Kingwood, Texas (previously Minnechaug), fourth place at 220.
Girls’ division: Adriana DeGroat, Framingham, eighth place at 132.
⋅ Josey represented New Hampshire; Central Catholic freshman Sam Winship earned eighth place at 106 pounds, representing Maine; and Andover’s Yandel Morales, now representing Florida as a senior at Lake Highland Prep, took third at 138.
AJ Traub can be reached at aj.traub@globe.com. Follow him on X @aj_traub and Instagram @ajt37.