No. 2 Newtown, No. 3 East Hartford prevail in top 10 battles

No. 2 Newtown and No. 6 New Milford meet in a SWC meeting before a large crowd in Newtown on Wednesday night. (Photo courtesy Tom Maurath)

There were two matches between top 10 teams in the latest Connecticut Wrestling Online top 10 poll on Wednesday night with No. 2 Newtown hosting No. 6 New Milford in a Southwest Conference match and No. 3 East Hartford hosting No. 8 RHAM in a Central Connecticut Conference contest.

No. 2 Newtown got four consecutive pins from Antonio Arguello (144), Jake Maddox (150), Marc Maurath (157) and Fisher Stites (165) to beat No. 6 New Milford, 36-30 Wednesday night before a lively crowd in Newtown.

The pin by Stites clinched the match for Newtown. The undefeated Nighhawks (11-0, 2-0 SWC Colonial) also picked up a crucial 1-0 win by Kenna Gioffre over New Milford’s Alec Oberc at 120 pounds.

It was the second victory by Newtown over the Green Wave in the last three years. In 2022, Newtown beat New Milford, 34-33 on criteria. New Milford (6-2, 1-0 SWC Colonial) got pins from Chris Reiss (215) and Danilo Scalizitti (175).

Wrestlers from No. 2 Newtown cheer at a teammate has a New Milford wrestler on his back during Wednesday’s SWC match in Newtown. The Nighthawks beat No. 6 New MIlford, 36-30. (Photo courtesy Tom Maurath)

No. 8 RHAM won the first three matches to take a quick 13-0 lead but No. 3 East Hartford won the remaining 11 matches to beat the Raptors, 56-13, in a matchup of two teams that won their respective divisions in the CCC a year ago. East Hartford won the CCC North with RHAM capturing the CCC East.

The match began at 285 pounds with RHAM’s Brody Magnannini (285) winning by pin and Ben Fournier (106) and Miles Yorio (113) earning victories by decision. East Hartford’s Jose DeJesus (120), Avery Porter (126) and Usman Akhtar (132) each won by decisions to cut the Raptor lead to 13-10. Porter had a 12-0 major decision to earn four points.

But East Hartford (7-0) had pins in six of the final seven matches to run away with the victory. RHAM slips to 7-2 on the season.

Results: Wednesday, January 10, 2024 (scores and boxscores)

Tied at 24-24 after 11 matches, No. 5 Fairfield Warde (6-1) won the final three matches on Wednesday night to beat cross-town rival Fairfield Ludlowe, 36-24 at Warde.

Warde’s Louis Soracco (165) beat Ludlowe’s Donell Young, 4-3 to give the Mustangs a 27-24 lead. Warde’s Ian Bertot (175) followed with a 4-0 win over Ludlowe’s Alec Mertz to extend the lead to 30-24. Warde’s Cole Grenier (190) pinned Andrew Sakey to give the match to the Mustangs.

Results: Wednesday, January 10, 2024 (scores and boxscores)

With eight victories and five pins, Killingly remained undefeated with a 42-39 win over Windham in ECC Division II action.

Killingly (19-0) currently leads the state with most dual meet wins and has won a school record 45 matches in a row dating back to the final weekend of the 2022 season.

Earlier this season, Killingly broke their previous school record of 36 wins in a row that was set in 2019-20. Killingly won their final match of the 2022 season and went 25-0 a year ago.

With 45 wins in a row, Killingly has tied Danbury (2007-09) with the seventh-longest winning streak in state history according to the Connecticut High School Wrestling Record Book. The state record for consecutive dual meet wins is held by Danbury with 96 from 1996 through 2001.

Results: Wednesday, January 10, 2024 (scores and boxscores)

After winning four matches against teams ranked in the top 10 in Minnesota and Illinois at the National Duals in Wisconsin last weekend, No. 1 Xavier (8-2) had eight pins in a 65-12 win over Fairfield Prep in a SCC Division I contest,

New London (7-0) remained undefeated with a 50-22 victory over Ledyard (5-3) in Eastern Connecticut Conference action. The Whalers had six pins in the victory, their second straight over the Colonials and third since 2018.

Results: Wednesday, January 10, 2024 (scores and boxscores)

No. 7 Simsbury (3-0. 2-0 CCC West) had pins in three of the final four matches to pull away from Southington (6-2, 2-1 CCC West) with a 49-29 decision.

No. 9 Trumbull (17-1, 3-0 FCIAC West) had nine pins in a 75-6 win over Brien McMahon while No. 10 Ridgefield (10-2) won their tenth dual meet with a 61-18 win over Darien.

With nine victories and five pins, defending CCC South champion Berlin (5-3, 3-0 CCC South) remained undefeated in the division with a 49-25 victory over Bristol Central.

Results: Wednesday, January 10, 2024 (scores and boxscores)

State high school wrestling standings, January 7, 2024