Killingly hands Waterford first defeat on criteria; Eastern outlasts Middletown

Enfield won their CCC East opener on Thursday night with a 54-27 victory over E.O. Smith-Storrs. Enfield improves to 7-4 on the year. E.O. Smith’s Quinn Rogers (132) controls Enfield’s Sean Messina in a 6-0 victory. (Photo courtesy Tess Grous)

WATERFORD, January 3, 2018 — There is some tough wrestling going on out in the Eastern Connecticut Conference. There were a pair of tight one-point decisions Thursday night.

Issac Bean’s two-point victory at 145 pounds and Derek Turner’s pin at 182 pounds helped lift Killingly (10-2, 1-1 ECC Div. II) to a thrilling 38-37 win over Waterford on criteria.

Killingly won because they earned more points than Waterford with pins, defaults or forfeits, 30-24. It was the first loss of the season for the Lancers (7-1, 1-1 ECC Div. II). Killingly’s Jordan Braasch (152) lost to Waterford’s A.J. Sachatello but lost by technical fall, saving a crucial point for the Redmen. Sachatello earned five points for a near fall instead of six for a pin. 

Zac Navarette’s pin lifted Montville to a 36-35 win over rival Windham. Montville improves to 14-2 on the year and 3-0 in ECC Division III. Windham slips to 9-4, 0-2 ECC Div. III

Thursday’s results and boxscores

Trinidad Gonzalez (220) won with a pin to lift No. 2 Bristol Eastern to a 37-34 victory over No. 9 Middletown in a battle of top 10 teams. The lead changed hands 10 times.

Middletown led 22-16 after eight matches but Eastern took a 28-22 lead thanks to back-to-back pins from Justin Marshall (152) and Noah Piazza (160).

The Dragons tied the match at 28-28 with Terrell Johnson’s pin at 170 pounds before Eastern’s Dylan Garcia gave the Lancers a three-point lead, 31-28 with a 7-4 decision over Middletown’s Jake Bowen.

Middletown’s Jacob Toth pinned Logan Meyer in 1:42 at 195 pounds to give the Dragons a 34-31 lead but Gonzalez’s pin in the final match gave the match to Eastern (9-0, 2-0 CCC South). Middletown is 8-2 and 1-1 in CCC South.

Thursday’s results and boxscores

Top-ranked Danbury (4-0) had six pin in a 66-6 victory over Westhill-Stamford. Two pins were in less than a minute. … No. 3 Southington had six pins as the Blue Knights (6-1) beat East Hartford, 55-21. … No. 6 Trumbull improved to 14-2 on the year with a 52-27 win over Ridgefield in FCIAC action. The Eagles had seven pins on the evening.

No. 8 Xavier (5-1) had two pins and took advantage of six forfeits to beat Shelton, 55-21. … No. 10 Avon (8-0, 2-0 CCC North) won their eighth straight match with a 66-15 win over South Windsor in CCC North action.

Thursday’s results and boxscores

After Hall cut the lead to two points with a pin, No. 5 Simsbury won the final five bouts of the match with a forfeit and four pins to remain undefeated with a 54-22 victory. The Trojans improved to 3-0. … Jakob Salinas (195) looked sharp as Bristol Central improved to 10-2 with a 61-18 victory over Berlin in CCC South play.

Thursday’s results and boxscores