New Haven — Jarod Kosman has a history. He was just a little boy when he would climb aboard the bus and arrive at the Floyd Little Athletic Center along with his dad, Mark, the Fitch High School wrestling coach.

“When I was little, I was watching this,” Kosman said.

In addition, Kosman has a history of wrestling against Robert Hartling of E.O. Smith, his opponent in the 106-pound finals at Saturday's State Open championship. Having fallen twice to Hartling in the Class L finals in his two seasons in high school, Kosman, a sophomore, lost to the E.O. Smith wrestler again, this time 7-5.

Still, Kosman was one of only three local wrestlers to reach the State Open finals, joining Montville's Joel Morth at 132 pounds and Ledyard's Dan Contino at 195.

All three finished second, as Morth lost to top-seeded Timmy Kane of Fairfield Warde 9-3 in a battle of previously unbeaten wrestlers and Contino dropped a tough 3-1 decision to No. 1 Jackson Rheault of Somers. Contino trailed his semifinal match 4-0 against Xavier Bass of Harding before coming back to win 8-6.

New Fairfield won the State Open team title with 115.5 points, followed by Danbury with 112.5 and New Milford with 111. Ledyard was the top local team, 12th with 54 points, while New London was 13th with 53.

“He's got a history (with Hartling) since he's been wrestling,” Mark Kosman said of Jarod. “They wrestled each other when they were 8, 9, 10, 11-year-olds and now they're wrestling in high school. … Jarod never lost to him, but when you get to high school, it changes.”

Hartling defeated Kosman by injury default in last year's Class L championship match. With the score tied and the match headed for overtime, Hartling took one last shot at a takedown, according to Mark Kosman, and knocked Jarod off balance. Jarod hit his head as he fell and was knocked unconscious, forced to default due to injury.

Hartling was also Kosman's opponent in this year's Class L final, edging Kosman 5-4.

Kosman, already a two-time Eastern Connecticut Conference champion, goes through a lot just to wrestle. He suffers from a condition called hyperammonemia, meaning his body does not metabolize the ammonia in his bloodstream which is produced by protein.

Therefore, Kosman has a diet of mainly rice and steamed vegetables, his dad said.

Kosman, the coach, said his son's strength as a wrestler is a sense of calm about what he needs to accomplish.

“Nothing seems to phase him,” Mark Kosman said. “He's just used to it. He just naturally gets it. You've got to be prepared for the worst-case scenario (in a match). You've got to be mentally tough. You can't let things — the score, the time — wear you down.

“He's growing up.”

At 132, Morth, who reached the final despite not feeling well according to Montville coach Gary Wilcox, scored the first takedown of the match just seconds in. Kane tied it 2-2 after one period and slowly pulled away, leading 5-2 at the end of two.

It was the first loss of the season for Morth (46-1), the Class S champion. Kane, the Class LL champion, was last year's State Open champion at 126 and finished third in New England. Wilcox said that Kane is so good from the top position, he hesitated to put Morth in the down position at all during the match.

“He rides so tough. It's hard for anyone to get out from underneath him,” Wilcox said. “We knew Mr. Kane was the real deal. ... Joel pretty much threw up all day, but we're certainly not disappointed in his performance. He gives you 100 percent. He doesn't stop."

In the semifinals, Morth won an emotional 5-2 match over New London's Alejandro Paulino, a rematch of the ECC championship bout at that weight. Morth won the ECC title with a pin over Paulino, earning Oustanding Wrestler honors. Both went on to win state class championships.

Morth led the semis 3-2 on an escape with about a minute and a half remaining, but Paulino appeared to take a 4-3 lead with a takedown at the 22-second mark. After conferring, however, the match officials ruled that Paulino did not have control, a requirement for the takedown.

The referees took the two points off the board, leaving Morth up one with 14 seconds remaining. Morth managed a takedown with 6 seconds left for the final margin.

Contino, the Class M champion at 195, was locked in a scoreless tie with Rheault throughout the first period. Contino led 1-0 before Rheault executed a takedown in the second period that stood up for the remainder of the match.

“He was a strong kid. Danny's pretty strong and he held him,” Ledyard coach Steve Bilheimer said. “In the finals, you get one takedown and a lot of kids are smart and try to sit on it. (Rheault) capitalized on his points.”

Other local place-winners were Paulino, Jorge Hidalgo (182) of New London, Sam Lindblom (152) of Waterford, Billy Goff (160) of Fitch and Matt Dowler (138) of St. Bernard/Norwich Tech, fifth; and Renelson Michel (220) of New London and Shawn Hundley (285) of Ledyard, sixth.

v.fulkerson@theday.com

Twitter: @vickieattheday

STATE OPEN WRESTLING TOURNAMENT

At Floyd Little Athletic Center, New Haven

Team results

1. New Fairfield, 115.5; 2. Danbury, 112.5; 3. New Milford, 111; 4. Newtown, 104.5; 5. Windham, 102; 6. Fairfield Warde, 91 7. Foran, 89; 8. Fairfield Ludlowe, 87; 9. Trumbull, 81.5; 10. Killingly, 63.5; Local schools: 12. Ledyard, 54; 13. New London, 53; 16. Montville, 47; 22. Fitch, 38; 36. Waterford, 21; 43. St. Bernard/Norwich Tech, 15; 60. East Lyme, 6.5; 73. NFA, 3.

Individual results

106 — Final: Robert Hartling (E.O. Smith) dec. Jarod Kosman (Fitch), 7-5; Third: Julio Anthony Flores (Windham) dec. Connor Sakmar (Hand), 2-1 (OT): Fifth: Sean Johnson (Ellis Tech) dec. Brandon Leonard (New Milford), 9-0.

113 — Final: Jakob Camacho (Danbury) dec. Devon Schoenberger (South Windsor), 3-1; Third: Tristan Haviland (Trumbull) dec. Nick Arborio (Berlin), 7-3; Fifth: Gino Esposito (Foran) dec. Julio Javier Flores (Windham), 3-1.

120 — Final: Alec Opsal (New Fairfield) pinned Melquisedec Ortiz (New Milford), 2:58; Third: Kyle Fields (Danbury) pinned Alex Starr (Lyman Memorial/Windham Tech), 4:09; Fifth: Shaun Wagner (Southington) dec. Willie Gambardella (Branford), 4-2.

126 — Final: Baltazar Gonzalez (Ellis Tech) dec. Austin Sherman (Ludlowe), 15-5; Third: Chris Schultz (New Milford) dec. Michael Mirmina (Trumbull), 4-2; Fifth: Paul Calo (Southington) pinned Alex Steele (Warde), 1:41.

132 — Final: Timmy Kane (Warde) dec. Joel Morth (Montville), 9-3; Third: Ryan Luth (Foran) dec. Ryan Angers (Tolland), 7-1; Fifth: Alejandro Paulino (New London) dec. Charles Schultz (New Milford) 5-2.

138 — Final: Avery Shay (New Fairfield) dec. Jeremy Fields (Danbury), 3-1 (OT); Third: Jordan Baker (Middletown) dec. Dante Montanaro (Trumbull), 2-1; Fifth: Matt Dowler (St. Bernard/Norwich Tech) dec. Matt Conte (Westhill), 4-3.

145 — Final: Charles Kane (Warde) dec. Bryan Rojas (New Milford), 13-6; Third: Michael Ross (Foran) dec. Edward Lovely (Newtown), 4-3; Fifth: Bobby Clark (Ludlowe) dec. Cullan Contos (Windham), 4-2.

152 — Final: Emmett LiCastri (Immaculate/Barlow) dec. Marcus Sherrod (Ludlowe), 1-0; Third: Kieran Duggan (Nonnewaug) dec. Grayson Adler (Haddam-Killingworth), 10-3; Fifth: Sam Lindblom (Waterford) pinned Anton Dzeidzic (Wolcott Tech), 2:57.

160 — Final: Jacob Berry Parker (Somers) dec. Andrew D'Amico (New Fairfield), 3-2; Third: 160  Chase Lind (Ludlowe) dec. Brett Leonard (New Milford), 8-6; Fifth: Billy Goff (Fitch) dec. Joe Ryan (Trumbull), 9-3.

170 — Final: Max Odell (South Windsor) dec. Joe Accousti (Newtown), 3-1 (OT); Third: Tyler Burlinson (New Fairfield) dec. Alex Perez (Windham), 6-5; Fifth: Chris Shimwell (Wethersfield) won by forfeit over Logan Smith (Gilbert).

182 — Final: Anthony Falbo (Newtown) dec. Austin Caffrey (Killingly), 6-4; Third: Mitchell LaFlam (LM/WT) dec. Demetrius Mariani (East Hartford), 6-5 (OT); Fifth: Jorge Hidalgo (New London) dec. Daniel Persson (Shelton), 9-0.

195 — Final: Jackson Rheault (Somers) dec. Danny Contino (Ledyard), 3-1; Third: Xavier Bass (Harding) pinned Andrew Marquis (Danbury), 2:13; Fifth: Lee Stenild-Johanson (Ludlowe) dec. Gabriel Schwartz (NW Regional), 4-1.

220 — Final: Jordan Fletcher (Manchester) dec. Seiji Arzuaga (Windham), 3-2 (OT); Third: Thomas Long (Newtown) dec. Jasper Stone (Simsbury), 3-2; Fifth: John Ocana (Warde) won by forfeit over Renelson Michel (New London).

285 — Final: Luke Edmondson (Foran) dec. Hakim Fleming (Notre Dame-Fairfield), 2-1; Third: Josh Angel (Killingly) pinned Desmond Washington (Trumbull), 1:43; Fifth: Edward Fountain (Manchester) won by forfeit over Shawn Hundley (Ledyard).