Weekend roundup: Maddox beats state rival to win title; Trumbull girls beat Stamford

Newtown’s Jake Maddox, left and Antonio Arguello, right each advanced to the final at Saturday’s Eastern States Classic tournament in New York. Newtown coach Chris Bray is in the middle. (Photo courtesy Newtown High wrestling)

Newtown’s Jake Maddox became just eighth wrestler in state history to win an individual championship at the 22nd annual Eastern States Classic on Saturday with a 4-3 win over Gilbert co-op’s Evan Schibi at 165 pounds.

Schibi, who won a State Open title at 147 a year ago, took a 3-0 lead with a takedown with 20 seconds left in the first period. Maddox cut the lead to two with an escape with 1:52 left in the third period. Maddox’s takedown with 31 seconds remaining was the difference.

Newtown teammate Antonio Arguello (157) advanced to the finals at the Eastern States but dropped a 12-3 decision to George Johnson of Iona Prep in the final.

Maddox and Arguello were two of four Nighthawk wrestlers in the tournament and they helped Newtown finish eighth with 62 points. That is the best finish for a state team since Danbury was eighth in 2023.

The first Connecticut wrestler to win a title in this event was Danbury’s Kevin Jack and Granby’s Dominick Malone, wrestling for Wyoming Seminary, in 2012. The most recent state wrestler to win an Eastern States title was Simsbury’s Max Konopka a year ago at 190. Konopka now attends and wrestles for Greens Farms Academy in Westport.

Danbury’s Harrison Mueller finished fourth in the event at 175 pounds.

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Trumbull beat Stamford, 43-24 on Saturday night in the first girls-only meet in FCIAC history. The Eagles had five pins and there was competition in 11 weight classes. The first girls-only dual meet in state history was last March when Platt hosted Maloney.

Trumbull, which won the CIAC State Open a year ago, was led by Emma Rial (132) and Marangelie Teixeira (185), who each made the Open finals a year ago. Victoria Freitas (107), Evellyn Neiva (114) and Jullian Blake (126) also had pins for Trumbull.

The Trumbull girls have already won two girls tournaments this year – winning the Skip Ardan tournament in Manchester and taking the Queen’s Gambit tournament at Jonathan Law with a 30-point win over Stratford.

Stamford had four pins in the meet from Taliya Green (138), Alani Naomi Mitchell (145), Chole Daniele (152) and Gabriella Mighty (165).

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Xavier (4-4) remains a unanimous No. 1 selection in week 2 of the Connecticut Wrestling Online top 10 poll.

The Falcons beat Amity last Wednesday, 63-15 before heading to Maryland over the weekend to finish fourth in the 24th annual War on the Shore tournament in Ocean City, Maryland on Saturday against more than 40 teams from Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Virginia.

Zack Dixon (120) won an individual championship with a 4-0 win over Tyler Verceles of Loyola-Blakerfield while Braylon Gonzalez (144) finished second, dropping a 5-4 decision to Grayson Davis of Cape Henlopen in the championship match.

Ridgefield (6-0) remained at No. 2 in the poll with Fairfield Warde (6-0) and Danbury (5-0) trading spots. Warde moved up one spot to No. 3 while Danbury slipped to No. 4. Warde had just two more points than Danbury.

The Mustangs had eight finalists and four individual champions as they captured their own Warde Invitational on Saturday for 14th time.

Trumbull (8-1) moved up two spots to No. 5 after beating Greenwich last Wednesday, 44-29 and winning the East Haven Duals on Saturday. In East Haven, the Eagles beat Waterford, Jonathan Law and Portland/Cromwell in pool play before beating Glastonbury, 39-35 in the championship final thanks to six pins.

New Milford (3-0) moved up two spots to No. 6. The Green Wave beat Weston on Wednesday and finished tied for third at the John Gorman Memorial tournament in Cumberland, R.I. on Saturday. New Milford had two finalists in the event.

Foran (11-1) slipped two spots to No. 7 this week. Last Wednesday, Foran dropped a close bout to then No. 9 Notre Dame-West Haven, 36-32. But on Saturday, Foran won four matches to win the John Chaco Duals at Staples in Westport for the third time in the last four years with victories over New Britain, Stratford, Staples and Enfield.

For New Britain, the loss to Foran was just their second defeat in 19 matches this season. The Hurricanes, who beat Fairfield Prep, Staples, Stratford and Enfield at the Chaco Duals, are off to a 17-2 start. Simsbury slipped past the Hurricanes, 40-38 on Dec. 22.

Notre Dame-West Haven (10-2) moved up one spot to No. 8 after their win over Foran last Wednesday and a top 15 finish at the East Coast Catholic Classic in Richmond, Virginia. Notre Dame finished 13^th in the tournament that included some of the top prep school teams in the nation.

Notre Dame’s Riley Storozuk (150) finished fifth while Sean Sevingy (106) finished sixth.

Southington (7-1) joins the top 10 this week at No. 9 after winning the 19th annual Ray Southland Duals for a record eighth time and the first time since 2019. The Blue Knights had lost to Melrose, Mass., in the finals in 2023 and 2025.

Newtown (7-1) remains at No. 10 for the second straight week. Four Newtown wrestlers were at the Eastern States Classic tournament in New York while the remainder of the Nighthawks competed at the Warde Invitational.

Plainville (6-3) dropped out of the top 10 this week after a pair of losses to Melrose, Mass., and Conard at the Ray Southland Duals.

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Larry Tremblay of Melrose, Mass., left, became the all-time leader in coaching wins Saturday at the Ray Southland Memorial Duals in Southington. Tremblay gets a hug from Southington High coach Derek Dion.

Larry Tremblay, the Hall of Fame head coach at Massachusetts’ Melrose High became the winningest head coach in New England history on Saturday with four victories at the Ray Southland Memorial Duals in Southington.

The Red Hawks (18-3) dropped a 39-36 decision to host Southington in the finals but they beat Hand, 65-18, Conard, 41-34, Branford, 66-18 and Platt, 54-21 to secure four wins.

Tremblay, who is in his 46th year behind the bench has a career record of 879-127-5, according to the Boston Globe. He surpasses Manny Costa, the former coach at St. John’s Prep, whose teams won 876 matches in Massachusetts. Tremblay was inducted into the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2014.

The top two coaches in Connecticut history with wins are Killingly coach Rich Bowen, who began this season with a record of 733-185-2 and Derby co-op coach Buster Jadach, who began the season with a record of 637-306-5 mark.

Southington won the Ray Southland Duals for a tournament-record eighth time thanks to five pins. Melrose is no stranger to the tournament. They won it in 2023 and 2025 with wins over Southington in the championship match.

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Art Powers, center near trophy, handed out awards after the 37th annual Art Powers Duals Saturday in Berlin. The host Redcoats won the tournament. (Photo courtesy Peter Veleas)

With four pins and a technical fall, Berlin beat RHAM, 47-30 to capture the 37th annual Art Powers Duals for a record eighth time and the first time since 2018.

The tournament, the longest running dual meet tournament in the state, began in 1989 and is named in honor of Powers, who helped start the wrestling program in Berlin.

He graduated from the Kent School and was captain of their wrestling team. He attended Tufts where he was captain of the wrestling team and a two-time team MVP. He served as First Selectman and Mayor in Berlin from 1959-79. He was a college and high school official for 50 years and is known as the father of Berlin wrestling.

Powers, now 97, was at the tournament and handed out the awards to the winning teams. He was inducted into the Connecticut Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003.

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Other nuggets of information from this past weekend include:

Killingly improved to 15-1 with five wins last week including a 35-31 win over Ledyard in a tight ECC contest.  … New Britain (17-2) currently leads the state with 17 wins. …

Cheshire won the Warrior Invitational in Canton for the second straight year with a record score of 247 points, erasing the record of 204 set by Haddam-Killingworth in 2024. The Rams had four individual champions and seven finalists. They easily outpaced Avon Old Farms, who had two individual champions and 212½ points.

Ledyard (4-2) won three of four bouts in a quad-meet in Coventry, R.I. The Colonels lost to Bishop Hendricken, R.I. by a score of 63-18 but beat Salem, N.H., 44-31, Coventry, R.I., 51-29 and East Greenwich, R.I., 63-9.

At the Journeyman Women’s Eastern States Classic on Sunday, Choate Rosemary Hall finished second behind Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Seminary, 156½ to 147.

Olivia Mancha (100) won a championship for Choate Rosemary Hall while Sara McLaughlin (126), Chloe Ross (138) and Lily Runez (114) each finished second. Tatianna Irizarry (120) finished third.

Two girls from Amity Regional placed in the tournament with Cristel Miquel (132) finishing second and Elliana Selearis (126) taking fifth.

This weeks’ results

Sunday, Jan. 11 results
Saturday, Jan. 10 results
Thursday, Jan. 8 results
Wednesday, Jan. 7 results
Jan. 5-6 results 

This week’s top 10 poll

Week 2, January 12, 2026

Connecticut Wrestling Online’s top 10 high school wrestling poll for the 2025-26 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.