On opening night, Canton tops Terryville; Berlin to name gym in Day’s honor

Terryville’s Cayleb Leclerc, right, tries to get a reversal against Canton’s Brian Connolly in Tuesday night’s season opening match for both teams. Canton won, 48-15.

CANTON, December 11, 2018 — Canton had six pins as the Warriors won on opening day for the third straight year Tuesday night with a 48-15 non-league victory over Terryville.

It was a nice start for the Warriors, who have an eye on winning the North Central Connecticut Conference title for the first time since 2002. In the past two seasons, Canton has won the NCCC Tournament but finished second in the dual meet portion of the schedule to Granby.

Even though Canton forfeited three weight classes on opening night, fourth year head coach Josh Bristol expects to have a full lineup by January when the Warriors will be in the midst of the NCCC schedule.

Terryville, which filled nine of 14 weight classes, has a young team under first-year coach Joe Faitak. “We’re trying to build up the program,” he said. Faitak takes over for Peter Veleas, who coached the Kangaroos for 19 years and is now in Berlin.

Connor Clement (182), Braydon Fluckiger (220), Jack Freedenberg (132), Donovan Mackin (152), Josh Newell (160) and Austin Kilduff (170) had pins for Canton while Cayleb Leclerc (145) and Jon Maihot (195) had pins for the Kangaroos.

The rest of the state gets underway on Wednesday.

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Defending State Open champion Danbury looks strong – as usual. The Hatters come into the season with junior Ryan Jack (126) nationally ranked in the latest Open Mat national rankings. Jack is ranked 12th at 126 pounds.

Jack, who has made a verbal commitment to North Carolina State, won the Journeymen Classic this fall at 120 and was second in the Super 32 Challenge at 126 in October.

New Canaan has a pair of outstanding wrestlers returning with sophomore Justin Mastroianni and junior Tyler Sung. Mastroianni won a National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) national championship last March in Virginia Beach while Sung earned NHSCA All-American honors by finishing seventh.

Jack and Southington senior Paul Calo are returning New England champions. Calo won his second New England championship last March while Jack won his first New England title.

Danbury hosts Brien McMahon-Norwalk on Wednesday while New Canaan visits Southington. Southington will host Bristol Eastern in a battle of returning division champions. Eastern won the CCC South title a year ago while Southington brought home the CCC West championship.

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On Wednesday, Berlin will dedicate their “B” gym in honor of the late Jim Day, who died last March. The dedication will begin at 5:30 p.m. before their home opener against Wethersfield.

Day coached at Berlin for 33 years, leading Berlin High to nine state titles in three different classes (Class S, M and L) and 20 Northwest Conference championships from 1982 through 2007. He is just one of three coaches will more than 500 victories in state history and is a member of the Connecticut chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

He was chair of the school’s Special Education Department for 10 years and was an advocate for students with disabilities throughout his career. He spent years as Berlin’s athletic director.

Tuesday, December 11 results
Canton 48, Terryville 15
Coventry 24, East Windsor 12

Canton 48, Terryville 15
At Canton
182: Connor Clement (Ca) pin Jamison Kulesa, 1:12; 195: Jon Maihot (T) pin Chris Dinneen, 1:31; 220: Braydon Fluckiger (Ca) pin Alex McLaughlin, 0:23; 285: Charlie Corso (Ca); 103: double forfeit; 113: double forfeit; 120: double forfeit; 126: Levi Avolt (T) dec. Matt Webb, 5-4; 132: Jack Freedenberg (Ca) pin Luke Saucier, 1:10; 138: Gabe Deirtis (Ca) forfeit; 145: Cayleb Leclerc (T) pin Brian Connolly, 3:57; 152: Donovan Mackin (Ca) pin Bailey Schuster, 3:55; 160: Josh Newell (Ca) pin Devlin Corveau, 2:30; 170: Austin Kilduff (Ca) pin Mike Zulewski, 2:22|
Records: Canton 1-0, Terryville 0-1

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