Danbury remains No. 1 but Simsbury climbs up to No. 2 in state top 10 poll

Saul Pera has control his match with Dawson Welch in Thursday’s CCC West bout in Southington.

SIMSBURY, February 4 – It was quite a week for the Simsbury High wrestling team. On Thursday night, the Trojans visited No. 3 Southington, erased an 18-point deficit and won the match with a pin in the final match, 38-31.

Two days later, Simsbury was in the championship match with No. 2 Bristol Eastern at the New Fairfield Duals. Simsbury led by 18 points with five matches remaining but Eastern rallied with four straight victories to tie the match.

But, once again, Simsbury had the pin in the final match to earn the victory, 36-30.

The Trojans (14-1) moved up four spots to No. 2 in this week’s edition of the Connecticut Wrestling Online top 10 wrestling poll. It’s the highest ranking for Simsbury since they were ranked No. 2 on February 4, 2013.

As they have all season, Danbury (13-1) remains No. 1 in the poll. This week, it was a unanimous decision by the voters.

Bristol Eastern (15-1), which had a school record 51-match winning streak snapped in the loss to Simsbury, slipped one spot to No. 3 while Trumbull (24-5) remained at No. 4 and Fairfield Warde (18-1) remained at No. 5.

Eastern’s streak is the fourth longest win streak in state history. Danbury holds the state record at 96 straight wins from 1996 through 2001.

Simsbury coach T.J. Silva was all smiles on Thursday after the win over Southington. But he also had an eye on what remains ahead for the Trojans.

“Our main goal is to win a Class L (title), State Open and compete to win a New England title,” Silva said Thursday. “Like I said the first year I took this job, we’re not going to be content winning league titles and finishing in the top five of the (Class L) tournament. We’re looking to be (Class L) and (State) Open champions and to compete for the New Englands.”

Simsbury can win the CCC West championship on Wednesday with a win over Farmington.

Southington (12-2) slipped three spots to No. 6 with No. 7 Middletown (18-2) and No. 8 Xavier (11-4) swapping spots in the poll.

No. 9 Avon (22-0) won their first CCC North championship last week with a win over Manchester. The Falcons won three bouts on Friday night, including a win over Bristol Central, to earn the fourth undefeated season in school history and the first since 1987.

After four straight weeks at No. 11, Killingly finally made their top 10 debut this week at No. 10. The Redmen finished the regular season at 26-2. With five wins on Saturday, Killingly head coach Rich Bowen became just the second coach in state history to win 600 dual meets in his career.

Foran (33-4) dropped out of the top 10 after losing to Killingly on Saturday, 44-30.

Foran will face Xavier in Middletown on Wednesday night with the SCC Division I title on the line. In the CCC East, Enfield will visit RHAM with the winner bringing home a conference title.

And there are some terrific traditional rivalries on Wednesday night – the final night of the regular season. Bristol Eastern will host cross-town rival Bristol Central while Hall will host Conard in the battle for West Hartford. In Meriden, Maloney will host Platt.

Six conference tournaments will be held this weekend.

Friday, February 8
ECC Tournament at Fitch-Groton
FCIAC Championships at New Canaan

Saturday, February 9
Berkshire Valley Tournament at Gilbert-Winsted
ECC Tournament at Fitch-Groton
FCIAC Championships at New Canaan
NCCC Tournament at Granby
SCC Tournament at Jonathan Law-Milford
SWC Championships at New Fairfield

The Connecticut Wrestling Online’s Top 10 high school wrestling poll. First-place votes in parentheses, record through Saturday, points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis, and last week’s poll ranking.

Week 6, February 4, 2019

Others receiving votes: Foran (33-4) 187, Montville (22-2) 142, Ledyard (21-7) 116, Greenwich (14-4) 106, East Haven (19-5) 73, Gilbert (21-3) 23, Guilford (18-8) 16, Joel Barlow 14, New Britain 9, Enfield 8, Windham (15-7) 7

Voters: Charlie Anderson, Trumbull; Matt Boissonneault, Bristol Central; Steve Bilheimer, Ledyard; Gerry deSimas, Jr., Connecticut Wrestling Online; Derek Dion, Southington; Paul Gallo, New Canaan; Chris Gamble, Waterford; Tim Jensen, Patch Media; Larry Kelley, Norwich Bulletin; Ryan Lacey, Danbury News Times; Bryan McCarty, Platt-Meriden; Eric Misko, Farmington; Chris Piel, New Milford; Patrick Risley, Windham High; Matt Schoonmaker, Jonathan Law-Milford; Jason Shaughnessy, Fairfield Warde; Ricky Shook, Danbury