
Staples remained at No. 6 in this week’s top 10 wrestling poll. (Photo courtesy Leigh Busby)
It was a light week of action last week in Connecticut with the snowstorm that wiped out a day of action on Saturday.
No new teams joined the top 10 of the Connecticut Wrestling Online poll but there was some movement. Foran (14-5) slipped three spots to No. 10 after losses to Coventry, R.I. and Branford.
Branford (22-1), with the most dual meet victories in the state, moved up two spots to No. 8 with their 49-27 win over Foran. Undefeated New Fairfield (12-0) moved up one spot to No. 7 after beating Joel Barlow.
The top six spots in the poll are the same as they were a week ago.
Xavier (9-1) remains the unanimous choice as the No. 1 team in the state. The Falcons blanked Amity, 71-0 last week while No. 2 Danbury (8-1) picked up a pair of FCIAC wins over St. Joseph, 78-4, and Westhill, 60-9.
No. 3 Fairfield Warde (14-1) had a productive week with a 42-27 win over John Jay High from Cross River, N.Y. and squeezing in three wins on Friday night before the snow began with victories over Newtown, 49-21, Sheltonm 81-0 and Enfield, 63-9.
No. 4 Simsbury (7-2) beat Southington, 51-17, and Avon, 56-21. They had a competitive four-team match with No. 2 Danbury, Timberlane, N.H. and Nashoba Valley Tech from Massachusetts wiped out by the snow.
No. 5 East Hartford (13-0) blanked Wethersfield, 75-0 and No. 6 Staples (13-0) was idle.
With two weeks remaining in the regular season teams will be scrambling to conclude their conference schedules to determine league championships.
For more leagues, championship weekend is Friday, Feb. 11 and Saturday, Feb. 12. The Southern Connecticut Conference (SCC) is getting a jump on conference championship weekend. They will be holding the SCC championship meet on Saturday, Feb. 5, at Xavier in Middletown.
The four CIAC championship meets are set for Friday, Feb. 18 and Saturday, Feb. 19 with action in Trumbull (Class LL), Wilton (Class L), East Haven (Class M) and Killingly (Class S).
The State Open is scheduled for Feb. 25-26 at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven.
FAST PINS: There have been several fast pins over the past few weeks. Maloney’s Daejon Nixon tied a state record with a four second pin his 195 pound match with Bristol Central’s Eric Cooper on January 19. Nixon becomes the eighth wrestler with a four-second pin and the first since Joe Cardozo of Fairfield Prep (145), who had a four-second pin on January 8.
East Lyme/Norwich Tech’s Michael Minewich set a new state record at 138 pounds with an eight-second pin over Aiijah Zidbeck of Fitch on January 26. The old record was nine seconds by Bethel’s Andrew Klein in 2012.
Fairfield Prep’s Connor Smith set a new state record at 182 pounds with a five-second pin of Law’s Luciano Mazzella on Monday. That breaks the old record of six seconds set by Canton’s Dan Delos in 2013.
On the same night, Fairfield Prep’s Alex Cardozo (152) tied the state record with a seven-second pin of Law’s William Smith. He shares the record with Platt’s Matt Merrigan, who set the mark in 2019.
Xavier’s Chris Manganiello (113) set a new state record with an eight-second pin over Alyson Alberino of East Haven on January 12. That erased the old record of 10 seconds by Harding’s John Maldonaldo in 2012.
Connecticut Wrestling Online’s top 10 high school wrestling poll for the 2021-22 season. 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 5, Monday, January 31, 2022
Team | Rec. | Pts. | LW | Class |
1. Xavier (16) | 9-1 | 480 | 1 | L |
2. Danbury | 8-1 | 440 | 2 | LL |
3. Fairfield Warde | 14-1 | 410 | 3 | LL |
4. Simsbury | 7-2 | 388 | 4 | L |
5. East Hartford | 13-0 | 336 | 5 | LL |
6. Staples | 13-0 | 310 | 6 | LL |
7. New Fairfield | 12-0 | 263 | 8 | S |
8. Branford | 22-1 | 252 | 10 | M |
9. New Milford | 1-1 | 192 | 9 | L |
10. Foran | 14-5 | 178 | 7 | M |
Also receiving votes: Newtown (12-2) 154, Killingly (14-2) 135, RHAM (14-1) 118, Berlin (9-1) 89, Guilford (11-3) 49, Windham (14-1) 39, Trumbull (8-3) 36, Norwalk (1-3) 10, Notre Dame-West Haven (10-7) 9, Southington (10-3) 7 | ||||
Voting this week: Charlie Anderson, Trumbull; Matt Boissonneault, Bristol Central; Mike Cunningham, Xavier; Gerry deSimas, Jr., Connecticut Wrestling Online; Chris Gamble, Waterford; David Green, Nonnewaug; Tim Jensen, Patch Media; Paul Musso, New Fairfield; Chris Piel, New Milford; Patrick Risley, Windham High; Matt Schoonmaker, Jonathan Law-Milford; Jason Shaughnessy, Fairfield Warde; Ricky Shook, Danbury; T.J. Silva, Simsbury; Jimmy Zanor, Norwich Bulletin: Not voting: Derek Dion, Southington |
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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