Chaminade's Connor Watson, Kellenberg's Jason Javier heading to Albany

Chaminade’s Connor Watson entered the season motivated by his loss in the 2013 CHSAA state finals.

Kellenberg’s Jason Javier entered the season with high aspirations but less experience on the big stage.

Both reached their goal on Sunday as the best of the best convened at Chaminade for the CHSAA state championship.

“It’s really all about mental toughness because a lot of these kids are stronger than me, especially (Kyle Buser) who I faced in the final,” said Watson, who won the 182-pound final. “It’s just about not giving up at the end. It’s about wanting it more than the other person.”

Watson battled Buser of St. Anthony’s for the third time in a 10-day span and came out victorious for the third time.

“Before the match I was thinking, ‘If I lose this is the end of my high school career,” Watson said. “But you have to block that out and just wrestle.”

Watson pinned his way through the tournament, winning four matches in a total of 7:23.

Javier was more of an unknown entering the season. Kellenberg head coach Chris Alfalla said that Javier wrestled mostly on JV last year, but by the time he arrived at Chaminade on Sunday they knew he had what it took to win the tournament.

“We thought if he wrestled well he’d be fine, he didn’t have to wrestle great,” Alfalla said. “As long as he didn’t make any mistakes or the other kid didn’t catch him he would be ok. He wrestled tough the whole year,”

For Javier, it was a journey that picked up steam after an offseason in which Javier made great strides with his club team.

“It’s been my goal since the beginning of the off season last year and I’ve been working so hard,” Javier said. “To finally do it is amazing. Everyday I just went in there and it worked out.”

Now both, along with seven St. Anthony’s wrestlers, move onto the public school tournament in Albany next weekend looking to prove that the CHSAA can compete with the rest of the best in the state.

“There are so many good kids on Long Island,” Watson said. “It just goes to show how good we are compared to the rest of New York.”