Undefeated Killingly (17-0) won the Shoreline Scuffle tournament Saturday with a win over host Branford. (Photo courtesy Killingly Athletics)
For the third week in a row, Xavier remains the No. 1 team in the Connecticut Wrestling Online top 10 wrestling poll in balloting from state coaches and members of the media.
There are no new teams in the top 10 this week although four teams did swap positions in the top 10.
The top-ranked Falcon (8-4) gathered 14 first place votes with No. 2 Danbury pulling in three first place votes. Xavier won their own Colter Abely Mid-Season Classic for the third time in four years with a record score of 359 points, 21 points ahead of Chelmsford, Mass., in second place.
The Colter Abely Mid-Season Classic is held at Mercy in Middletown and is a bit different than most scholastic tournaments. Wrestlers compete in three-person, round-robin pools with the winner of each pool advancing to the semifinals.
Raekwaon Schabazz (106), Braylon Gonzalez (113), Kyle Levesque (132) and Matt Ferrucci (152) each won their respective weight classes with a perfect 4-0 afternoon. The Falcons had one wrestler finish second and four finish in third place.
Xavier smashed the previous tournament record of 277 points, set in 2020. The Falcons have won the tournament four times since it began in 2015.
No. 2 Danbury (9-0) won a pair of dual meets last week, beating Mt. Anthony Union of Bennington, Vt., in their annual Martin Luther King Day match, 31-26 and topping Ridgefield, 51-18.
Danbury won their third straight over Mt. Anthony in the first dual meet between the two schools since 2020. Danbury won six of the first eight matches to take a 27-9 lead and clinched the match thanks to a 10-2 decision from Jesse DeFonce at 145 pounds.
The 2021 season was wiped out due to the COVID-19 pandemic and last year’s match was cancelled due to snow.
No. 3 New Milford won their own New Milford Tournament for the 18th time with a 261-153½ win over Norwalk. The Green Wave fell just 2½ points shy of the tournament record by the Wave in 2002. New Milford had six individual champions and nine finalists to win the 37th annual event. New Milford’s Khalil Bourjelli (160) was named outstanding wrestler.
No. 4 Newtown (11-1) beat Stratford last week, 54-28 and finished fourth at the Colter Abely tournament. The Nighthawks were the second team from Connecticut in the tournament.
No. 5 Fairfield Warde (11-1) won four matches this past week to move up one spot in the poll. The Mustangs had wins over Staples, 54-24 and Foran, 57-24.
No. 6 East Hartford (4-0) slipped one spot in the poll. The Hornets remained undefeated in the CCC North with a 50-24 win over Avon and finished fifth at the Colter Abely tournament.
No. 7 Killingly (17-0) remains undefeated after five victories last week. KHS beat Waterford on Wednesday night and then won four times on Saturday to win the Shoreline Scuffle dual meet tournament in Branford. Killingly beat host Branford, 45-33 in the championship match.
Up two spots from No. 10 is Southington (7-2), who finished second at the Timberlane tournament in New Hampshire on Saturday. The Blue Knights had three individual champions – Jared Mangiafico (126), Colton Thorpe (132) and Josh Howard (138) – to finish second behind host Timberlane Regional, 173-165½.
Some of the top teams in New England – Sanford, Maine; North Andover, Mass.; Lowell, Mass.,; Noble, Maine and Bedford, N.H. competed at the event.
RHAM (19-2) won five matches last week and remains No. 9 in the poll. The Raptors beat Enfield in a CCC North match on Wednesday and then won four bouts at the second annual Carl Snitkin Duals, beating host NFA in the finals, 42-40.
“It was a great day of wrestling in honor of National Wrestling Hall of Famer Carl Snikin and the impact he had on NFA wrestling and Connecticut wrestling,” NFA coach Steve Nelson.
Snitkin was inducted into the Connecticut Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, part of the initial class in 2002. Snitkin, who died in 2018, began the wrestling program at Norwich Free Academy and coached there 25 years. Snitkin’s teams at NFA won 13 Eastern Connecticut Conference titles and nine Class LL state championships, including six straight from 1983-88, a state record at the time. When he retired in 1999, his 471 dual meet victories (471-80-7) were the most in state history.
Simsbury slipped two spots to No. 10.
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In other wrestling news, Trumbull beat New Canaan on Wednesday, 55-16, for their state-leading 20th win of the season. Trumbull is 20-2 with the most dual meet wins by team on this afternoon. Foran (19-7) is close behind with 19 victories.
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Greens Farms Academy faced off against some top competition this past weekend. The Dragons beat defending New England champion Northfield Mt. Hermon on Friday night, 44-17.
On Saturday, Greens Farms Academy (GFA) dropped a 46-12 decision to Wyoming Seminary from Kingston, Pa., the No. 2 ranked high school team in the nation. But the Dragons did beat St. Benedict Prep from Newark, N.J, 51-28 and Hill School from Pottstown, Pa., 72-12.
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Most dual meets finish tied decided by criteria but Gilbert battled to a pair of ties on Saturday at the Mount Everett Duals in Sheffield, Mass.
Gilbert (4-9-2) battled to a 42-42 tie with Mt. Greylock Regional from Williamstown, Mass., and a 36-36 tie with Monument Mountain Regional from Great Barrington, Mass. Gilbert head coach Darek Schibi said he was told by his peer coaches that they don’t break ties in Massachusetts.
Gilbert went 1-1-2 in the tournament with a win over Mount Everett, 42-30 and a loss to Pittsfield’s Taconic High, 42-36.
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GameTimeCT’s Jeff Jacobs takes a look at Norwalk High twins Ryan and Brendan Gilchrist.
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Four wrestlers from Brunswick School won individual titles at the 48th annual Brunswick Invitational in Greenwich on Saturday to help the Bruins easily win the championship. Brunswick had 405 points with Noble & Greenough School from Massachusetts in second place with 241 points. Enzo Vera (138), Alec Hamed (144), Carlo Tucci (157) and Tomas Delgago (190) won titles for the Bruins.
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Results: Saturday, Jan. 21
Results: Friday, Jan. 20
Results: Thursday, Jan. 19
Results: Wednesday, Jan. 18
Results: Tuesday, Jan. 17
Results: Monday, Jan. 16
Connecticut Wrestling Online’s top 10 high school wrestling poll for the 2022-23 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 4, Tuesday, January 24, 2023
| Team | Rec. | Pts. | LW | Class |
| 1. Xavier (13) | 8-4 | 500 | 1 | L |
| 2. Danbury (3) | 9-0 | 478 | 2 | LL |
| 3. New Milford | 5-0 | 446 | 3 | L |
| 4. Newtown | 11-2 | 396 | 4 | L |
| 5. Fairfield Warde | 11-1 | 342 | 6 | LL |
| 6. East Hartford | 4-0 | 340 | 5 | LL |
| 7. Killingly | 17-0 | 298 | 7 | S |
| 8. Southington | 7-2 | 231 | 10 | LL |
| 9. RHAM | 19-2 | 227 | 9 | M |
| 10. Simsbury | 4-1 | 202 | 8 | L |
| Also receiving votes: Trumbull (20-2) 189, Branford (15-7) 137, Berlin (15-3) 134, Windham (13-2) 133, Avon (11-6) 50, Fairfield Ludlowe (12-2) 40, Foran (19-7) 38, New Fairfield (9-3) 36, Hall (4-1) 24, NFA (17-5) 23, Guilford (8-5) 19, Norwalk (8-2) 7 | ||||
| Voting this week: Charlie Anderson, Trumbull; Matt Boissonneault, Bristol Central; Mike Cunningham, Xavier; Gerry deSimas, Jr., Connecticut Wrestling Online; Derek Dion, Southington; Chris Gamble, Waterford; David Green, Nonnewaug; Tim Jensen, Patch Media; Chris Piel, New Milford; Patrick Risley, Windham High; Matt Schoonmaker, Jonathan Law-Milford; Jason Shaughnessy, Fairfield Warde; T.J. Silva, Simsbury; David Stewart, GameTimeCT.com, Jimmy Zanor, Norwich Bulletin; Paul Musso, New Fairfield | ||||
