Perry prepares for championships

Brad-Perry-2By Andrew Muse

Brad Perry is preparing for the biggest wrestling tournament of his life after he received an at-large bid for the NYSPHSAA Wrestling Championships to be held at the Times Union Center in Albany.

“It means everything to me; wrestling is the only sport I do,” Perry said. “I practice year round and this is the payoff, what I work for.”

The Granville Central School senior was the Section II runner-up at 170 pounds to Geno Brancati of Hudson Falls. Brancati defeated Perry in an overtime match 6-1 at the state qualifier held earlier this month at the Glens Falls Civic Center but earned an at-large bid to the state championships.

He was one of four Division II wrestlers in his weight class in the entire state to earn an at-large bid and hopes to capitalize on his opportunity.

“His work ethic is very impressive, he has the farm boy mentality of putting in work and getting it done,” Head Coach Stephen Palmer said. “He has a positive attitude towards success, which gets positive results.”

Perry is confident in his wrestling ability and going into a match he knows what he needs to do.

“I have my game plan, what my first, second, third moves are going to be,” Perry said. “Go in relaxed and calmed, trust your work and be focused on what you want to do.”

Perry started wrestling in the third grade after encouragement from his dad to join and has loved it since.

“My dad wrestled in high school and got hurt,” Perry said. “He kind of pushed me into it, and I ended up loving it and I have stuck with it since.”

He hopes to continue with his passion for the sport as he enters college and is hoping to wrestle at SUNY-Alfred.

For now though he is concentrated on the present; with the state championship looming he is doing what he can to get prepared.

“I’ve been working hard and focusing on small details,” Perry said. “I don’t want to change my game plan; it worked before and I have got to stick to my guns.”