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Bound Brook freshman 189-pounder Andrew Campolattano looked on from the bleachers in front of the stage at the NJSIAA Wrestling Championships at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City late Sunday afternoon, taking in an award ceremony for Jackson Memorial High School star Scott Winston.

Jackson’s 160-pounder was feted for his remarkable career — a 137-0 career record, three state championships and a dominant run during the weekend — as a crowd of more than 10,000 gave him a standing ovation. Later, he was given the tournament’s outstanding wrestler award.

Campolattano, who won his first state title Sunday with 4-2 win over Bergen Catholic junior Jon Becker and his school’s 15th, would like to have a similar experience some day.

He is off to a strong start.

Campolattano finished his freshman season with 43-0 record by edging Becker, who had beaten him three of five times during various summer tournaments. But Campolattano, wise beyond his years according to his coaches, scored first, then spun and twisted away from two Becker shots in the third period to win.

Campolattano was the eighth seed since, as a freshman he had no criteria for seeding from last season.

The 189-pound bout was the first of the day, taken in a random draw.

“I’m looking at the big picture and this is a small part of it,” Campolattano said. “Wrestlers like Scott Winston and Mike Grey (former Delbarton star and four-time state champ). I want to be in that company.”

His coach Steve Lukacs said he and assistant coach Marty Gleason reminded Campolattano on a few things before the bout, but didn’t go crazy with detail.

“He knows what he was going to do and execute it,” Lukacs said. “He thinks things through.”

Campolattano edged top-seeded Tyler Smith of Belvidere in the quarterfinals Saturday morning, then pinned Sterling’s Isiah Miles with a 20 second fall in the afternoon semifinal. Campolattano used an inside trip to get Miles to the mat. That was the same move he used to take a 2-0 lead on Becker with 30 seconds left in the first period. He rode Becker out the rest of the period to maintain the 2-0 edge.

“Scoring first really boosted my confidence,” he said. “It went just like I planned. I figured we’d wrestle for about a minute and a half and I’d go after him with 30 seconds left. I hit the inside trip and took him down.”

Becker scored a reversal 34 seconds into the second to tie the bout at 2-2.

“He was in incorrect position,” Bound Brook coach Steve Lukacs said. “But after that he escaped. I thought Andrew controlled the match and controlled what was going on.”

Campolattano escaped with 1:04 left in the period to take a 3-2. He protected that lead. Becker gave Campolattano a neutral to begin the third. That gave Campolattano a 4-2 lead. Becker tried to score a tying takedown. He nearly got it when he picked Campolattano’s ankle with 45 seconds remaining, Campolattano held.

“At first, I panicked a bit, but once he got the ankle up in the air, I started calming down and didn’t think he’d be able to take me down,” Campolattano said.

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