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With five champions, No. 5 East Hartford wins first CCC Tournament title

East Hartford’s Yaxier Rivera, bottom, battles Avon’s Jonah Weber in Saturday night’s CCC Tournament final at 145 pounds. Rivera prevailed, 10-4 as the Hornets won their first CCC Tournament title.

GLASTONBURY, Feb. 4, 2023 – In two weeks, the CIAC state tournaments will begin in wrestling – two-day events to determine state champions in Class LL, L, M and S.

Teams in the Central Connecticut Conference got a preview of state tournament action with a 27-team, two-day event at Glastonbury High this weekend.

Defending Class LL co-champion East Hartford put six wrestlers in the finals and brought home five individual champions to win the CCC Tournament for the first time with a 235½ to 203½ win over No. 10 RHAM. Simsbury finished third with 198 points, followed closely by Avon with 194 points and five finalists.

“This was big,” East Hartford coach Todd Albert said. “It’s great. It’s a two-day event a mirror image of the state tournament. It’s a great tournament to prepare (with). It’s good for some of my younger guys t see what the state (tournament) will look like.”

RHAM had four finalists and brought home one individual champon – Jeremy Devine (152), who won his second consecutive CCC title.

“We needed this (tournament),” RHAM coach Ryan Fitch said. “We didn’t have any individual tournaments like this. We had a lot of quads (multi-team dual meets). This was important for us. We had a few disappointments that we’re going to need to correct if we’re going to win a state championship.”

RHAM’s Jeremy Devine won his second consecutive CCC title Saturday night in Glastonbury.

“The kids had to learn to fight back (after a loss) which is something you have to do if you want to win the (state championship),” Avon coach John McLaughlin said. “Kids will have to win to come back for third and fourth place. Those were good lessons to learn.”

It was a robust tournament with more teams in the gym (27) that will vye for the Class L or Class LL meets (25) in two weeks.

In previous years, some coaches in the league were not fans of the tournament, especially when it was a week prior to the state tournament and after the close of the regular season. Because it had no bearing on who won divisional titles or who was selected as an All-Conference performer, some thought the event was an unnecessary risk. Some athletes and entire teams skipped the event.

But this year, the tournament is part of the regular season with the matches counting toward the wrestler’s regular season record that determine seeding in the state tournaments. There were some wrestlers sitting out due to injuries but not as many as in previous years.

“Some of these brackets will be tougher than the (divisional) tournaments,” Simsbury coach T.J. Silva said.

Defending State Open champion Avon’s Isaiah Adams (113) hasn’t lost a match this season but has received plenty of forfeits because opposing coaches don’t want to face him. Adams was pleased to get four matches in this tournament.

He had three pins in four matches and a 17-4 win over South Windsor’s Kyden Merlin in the semifinals. Adams pinned East Hartford’s Avery Porter in the final in 1:17. For the third time this season, Adams (35-0) earned the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler award.

“It was nice to get some competition,” Adams said. “I thought I could have been better in my semifinal match but I made up for it in the finals.”

East Hartford fans celebrate after Drayvn Roberts won a CCC championship at 160 pounds.

East Hartford’s Isaac Quiles (120), Jaeckez Mendez (138), Yaxier Rivera (145), Drayvn Roberts (160) and Sammy Montovani (195) won CCC titles for the No. 5 Hornets.

Quiles (23-1) pinned New Britain’s Cameron Cardona, Mendez (26-0) outlasted Southington’s Josh Howard, 6-4, Rivera (23-4) beat Avon’s Jonah Weber, 10-4, Roberts (24-1) blanked Avon’s Roel Johnson, 9-0 and Montovani (25-0) pinned RHAM’s Michael Marques in 2:45.

“They were better than I thought in the finals,” Albert said. “They’ve been working so hard. They are a great group of kids. We can put anyone in front of them and they’re not intimated and they go right at them hard.”

Lewis Mills’ freshman Jack Gedney (106) beat defending CCC champion Ben Fournier of RHAM in a hard fought match, 8-6. Gedney is a one-man team and trains with Simsbury. It is the first conference title for a Mills wrestler since Peter Flockhart won a Berkshire League title in 1996.

At 126, Simsbury’s Griffin Devivo (27-4) beat RHAM’s Kyle Currier, 10-1 with Southington’s Colton Thorpe (32-3) winning a CCC title with an 11-2 win over Hall’s Laitham Arias at 132 pounds. RHAM’s Devine pinned Avon’s Jack Jones in 1:12 to win at 152 pounds.

With four pins, including a pin of Platt’s Ahmed Hernandez in 1:34 in the final, Simsbury’s Chad Mairano (27-4) dominated at 170 pounds.

Glastonbury’s Troy Giaccone (21-3) blanked Avon’s Gavin Fallon, 10-0 in the final at 182 with Rocky Hill’s Chris Adamczyk (22-1) beating Berlin’s Nick Ebrahimi in overtime, 3-2 to win at 220 pounds. Plainville’s Jeff Quirion La Oz won a title at 285 by pinning New Britain’s Marquise Eason in 2:40.

NOTES: Adams and RHAM’s Jeremy Devine were the only wrestlers to win titles for the second straight year.  … It was just the third time that the CCC held one tournament for all their wrestling programs. Southington won in 2018 and Simsbury won last year. The CCC had a Large Division and Small Division tournament in 2020.  … East Hartford’s Sammy Montovani (195) won the tournament’s fast fall award with four pins in 6:28 … The fastest pin in the tournament was from Platt’s Aiden McCarty (285), who had a 14-second pin in the consolation round. … Mills’ Gedney was the only freshman to win a CCC title. Three sophomores from East Hartford — Quiles (120), Mendez (138) and Roberts (160) won individual titles.

2023 CCC Tournament
At Glastonbury
Team results – 1. East Hartford 235½, 2. RHAM 203½, 3. Simsbury 198, 4. Avon 194, 5. Berlin 148, 6. Southington 132, 7. New Britain 129, 8. Hall 128½, 9. Glastonbury 107, 10. Plainville 106, 11. Enfield 104, 12. Platt 97½, 13. South Windsor 91, 14. Maloney 85, 15. Bristol Central 74, 16. Rocky Hill 71, 17. Windsor 68, 18. Bristol Eastern 64, 19. E.O. Smith 54, 20. Manchester 43, 21. Middletown 40, 22. Newington 36, 23. Lewis Mills 28½, 24. Farmington 24, 25. Wethersfield 16, 26. Conard 13, 27. Bloomfield 2
Championship finals
106 Jack Gedney (Lewis Mills) dec. Ben Fournier (RHAM), 8-6
113 Isaiah Adams (Avon) pin Avery Porter (East Hartford), 1:17
120 Isaac Quiles (East Hartford) pin Cameron Cardona (New Britain), 1:06
126 Griffin Devivo (Simsbury) dec. Kyle Currier (RHAM), 10-1
132 Colton Thorpe (Southington) dec. Laitham Arias (Hall), 11-2
138 Jaeckez Mendez (East Hartford) dec. Josh Howard (Southington), 6-4
145 Yaxier Rivera (East Hartford) dec. Jonah Weber (Avon), 10-4
152 Jeremy Devine (RHAM) pin Jack Janes (Avon), 1:12
160 Drayvn Roberts (East Hartford) dec. Roel Johnson (Avon), 9-0
170 Chad Mairano (Simsbury) pin Ahmed Hernandez (Platt), 1:34
182 Troy Giaccone (Glastonbury) dec. Gavin Fallon (Avon), 10-0
195 Sam Montovani (East Hartford) pin Michael Marques (RHAM), 2:45
220 Chris Adamczyk (Rocky Hill) dec. Nick Ebrahimi (Berlin), 3-2
285 Jeff Quirion La Oz (Plainville) pin Marquise Eason (New Britain), 2:40
Consolation finals (third place)
106 Joseph Garofalo (Southington) dec. Collin Sullivan (Berlin), 11-7
113 Kyden Merlin (South Windsor) dec. Coleman Finn (Simsbury), 13-2
120 Nick Savarese (Simsbury) dec. Elijah Fagin (Avon), 4-1
126 Ethan Buonanducci (Enfield) pin Jacob Gordon (South Windsor), 3:21
132 Caleb Phillips (EO Smith) dec. John Granger (Simsbury), 6-2
138 Landon Dionne (Bristol Central) dec. Andrew De la rosa (Glastonbury), 4-3
145 Luviss Offarill (New Britain) pin Kyle Amirault (Glastonbury), 1:07
152 Landon Vieira (Berlin) dec. K’dyn Mcbride (Enfield), 4-2
160 Jeremy Castillo (New Britain) dec. Zachary White (Newington), 8-2
170 Aidan Dejesus (Berlin) pin Tai Phillippe harris (Manchester), 3:23
182 Jesse Baldwin (Middletown) pin Andrew Mikosz (Southington), 2:40
195 Tyler Sinatro (Simsbury) dec. Michael Melendez (Platt), 3-0
220 Nicholas Dennis (Plainville) dec. Luis Delgado (Maloney), 7-0
285 Keonta Crawford (Enfield) FOR Luc Abbatemarco (Hall)
Fifth place
106 Michael Ortiz (Hall) pin Owen White (Avon), 2:09
113 Noah Glider (Hall) dec. Ryan Ouelette (Glastonbury), 9-5
120 Michael Guerriero (RHAM) dec. Caleb Orde (Berlin), 11-3
126 Usman Akhtar (East Hartford) forfeit over Tristan Gauvin (Avon)
132 Gavin Plourde (RHAM) pin Edward Waters (Platt), 5:22
138 Jameson Bell (Simsbury) forfeit over Joseph Kennedy Plainville, CT (Plainville)
145 Rosco Cook (Southington) dec. Hiram Sepulveda (Berlin), 5-1
152 Lincoln Archibald (Bristol Central) forfeit Ryan Zydanowicz (Hall)
160 Cooper Theriault-Dinielli (Plainville) dec. Conlan Simard (Berlin), 5-2
170 Jacob Beiler (Enfield) forfeit over Ares Savvides (South Windsor)
182 Christian Sewell (Windsor) dec. Adam Zavecz Bristol Eastern), 4-2
195 Jacob Boucher (Plainville) pin Joseph Della Ripa (South Windsor), 2:57
220 Patrick Dunko (RHAM) pin Michael Zapor (New Britain), 5:11
285 Thiago Delacruz (RHAM) pin Jaxon Yang (Windsor), 3:24
Outstanding wrestler: Isaiah Adams (Avon), 113)
Fast fall: Sam Montovani (East Hartford), 4 pins in 6:28
Broadcast: YouTube coverage of the CCC finals
2023 CCC championship tournament brackets and results

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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