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No. 6 Simsbury rallies to beat No. 3 Southington with pin in final match

Sam Bergin and the Simsbury High wrestling team celebrate after beating Southington for the first time since 2015 to move one win away from winning the CCC West championship.

SOUTHINGTON, January 31, 2019 – The Southington High wrestling team raced out to an 18-point lead after the first four matches of Thursday night’s match with No. 6 Simsbury. The Blue Knights led by 10 points at the midway point of the match.

Then, Simsbury rallied with four consecutive victories to take a 10-point lead of their own – only to see No. 3 Southington rally to cut the lead to one point prior to the final match of the evening.

Simsbury’s Sam Bergin pinned Southington’s Derek Guida in 34 seconds in the match at 160 pounds to lift the Trojans to a thrilling 38-31 victory over the Blue Knights in a battle between two teams in Connecticut Wrestling Online’s latest top 10 poll.

The win puts Simsbury (10-1, 5-0 CCC West) in the driver’s seat for their first CCC West championship since 2015. The Trojans need to beat Farmington on Wednesday night to bring home the league championship. Southington has won the last three CCC West titles.

Southington (9-2, 4-1 CCC West) was missing two starters from their lineup – Jason Brault (138) and two-time New England champion Paul Calo (182) – a pair of senior captains. Calo hurt his shoulder earlier this season and had surgery on it Thursday. He is out for the season.

“(Simsbury) wrestled really tough and a lot of our kids wrestled tough,” Southington coach Derek Dion said. “They just outhustled us a little bit in some weight classes. We just have to lick our wounds and get ready for states.”

Simsbury led 32-22 after 11 matches but Jacob Cardozo (145) pinned Simsbury’s Andrew Oken in 3:41 to cut the lead to four points and Southington’s Josh Vitti (152) beat Carter Sirois, 10-3 to slice the Trojan advantage to just one point, 32-31 with one match remaining.

But Bergin made quick work of Guida to win the match for Simsbury – their first win over Southington since the 2015 season. “I was really nervous. I had to get the win for my team,” Bergin said. “I just put it all out there on the mat.

“We haven’t beat Southington in years,” he said. “So, this is really a huge, huge deal for our team. I’m just glad we all pulled together as a team. We worked hard for it.”

Simsbury’s Saul Pera (top) has control his match at 132 pounds with Dawson Welch in Thursday’s CCC West bout in Southington.

Wrestling in the darkened gym under a single spotlight hanging over the mat, Southington had all of the momentum early winning the first four matches to grab a 18-0 lead.

But Simsbury’s D’Sean Martin, a first-year wrestler recruited off the football team, put the Trojans on the board with a big pin at 285 pounds. Simsbury picked up a forfeit win at 106 and the 18-point lead was trimmed to six, 18-12.

Southington’s Ben Gorr earned a 12-2 victory at 113 pounds to push the lead back to ten points, 22-12.

But Simsbury won the next four matches to take a 32-22 lead. Ty Finn (120) won with a pin, John Mairano (126) had a technical fall and Saul Pera (132) won with a pin. Senior Aiden Brown (138) outdueled Southington’s Connor Hamlin, 10-6.

Brown’s normal weight is around 126 pounds but he is wrestling up several weight classes to get a varsity spot in a tough lineup and do what he can to help his team.

“Martin (at 285) energized the crowd and energized our team,” Simsbury coach T.J. Silva said. “After that I knew our big guns were coming with Ty Finn at 120, John Mairano at 126 and Saul Pera at 132. We’re young but we’re very talented and we’ve been battle tested.”

Simsbury still has to beat Farmington to win the CCC West championship. Silva said the team will enjoy the victory tonight but will quickly turn their attention to their next challenge – Saturday’s New Fairfield Duals that will include No. 2 Bristol Eastern.

“These are the matches you live for when it comes down to the last match just like the (Bristol) Eastern match,” Dion said referring to Southington’s season-opening loss to Eastern, 39-34 that was also decided on the final match of the evening. “Win or lose I will take a match like this. I would rather lose a match like this than win an easy match.

“It is a great learning experience, a great atmosphere,” he said. “Good for wrestling. It’s good for the sport. It was great (match). It was disappointing for us but you have to get the job done and we didn’t.”

Southington illuminates the mat with just one light during their home meets.

Simsbury 38, Southington 31
At Southington
170: Billy Carr (Southington) pin Will Henry, 1:33; 182: Matt Jacobson (Southington) dec. Brett Araniti, 9-6; 195: Caleb Chesanow (Southington) pin Ryan Guilfoule, 2:34; 220: Jacob Vecchio (Southington) dec. Tommy Guilfoule, 4-2; 285: D’Sean Martin (Simsbury) pin Sam McCarty, 1:05; 106: Cael Finn (Simsbury) forfeit; 113: Ben Gorr (Southington) dec. Alex Kasson, 12-2; 120: Ty Finn (Simsbury) pin Emmett Vitti, 2:26; 126: John Mairano (Simsbury) tech fall Caleb Brick, 17-2, 5:54; 132: Saul Pera (Simsbury) pin Dawson Welch, 3:53; 138: Aiden Brown (Simsbury) dec. Connor Hamlin, 10-6; 145: Jacob Cardozo (Southington) pin Andrew Oken, 3:41; 152: Josh Vitti (Southington) dec. Carter Sirois, 10-3; 160: Sam Bergin (Simsbury) pin Derek Guida, 0:34
Records: Simsbury 10-1, 5-0 CCC West; Southington 9-2, 4-1 CCC West

Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of Connecticut Wrestling Online. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.

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  1. Pingback: Shaughnessy earns 400th career win as No. 5 Fairfield Warde wins four matches – Connecticut Wrestling Online

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