Fairfield Warde won their fourth straight FCIAC championship on Saturday with a win over Ridgefield in the FCIAC tournament.
Fairfield Warde became just the second team since 1976 to win four consecutive FCIAC championships with a 7½ point victory over Ridgefield Saturday at New Canaan High.
The No. 4 Mustangs put five wrestlers in the finals, brought home two individual championships and had nine wrestlers finish in the top three to beat No. 2 Ridgefield, 203½ to 196, the smallest margin of victory since a 4½-point win by Danbury over Warde in 2022.
No. 2 Danbury was third with 180½ points while No. 5 Trumbull finished fourth with 152 points
“It was a total team effort,” Hall of Fame coach Jason Shaughnessy said. “After graduating 12 starters (from the 2025 team), this group bonded together to achieve success against a very deep and successful FCIAC field.
“We had a good run in the winner’s bracket by placing five (wrestlers) in the finals and continued that in the consolation bracket by placing an additional six wrestlers,” he said.
Warde (19-2) received championship victories from Paul Soracco (138), who outlasted Greenwich’s Mark Zolotarevesky, 8-5 and Dylan O’Brien (190), who pinned Wilton’s Alan Osta in 3:59.
Dominic Romero Flores (106) and Jude Grammatico (132) were second for Warde while Jose Abreau Barillas (285) lost in triple OT to Greenwich’s Colin Falla, 3-2.
Four victories in the consolation final by Warde were crucial in holding off Ridgefield.
Cody Palmentiero (113) got a two-point reversal with 1:31 remaining to help beat Wilton’s Saunder Anastasia, 6-5. Griffin Caird (144) and Derek Massey (157) each got a pin to finish third while Christian Lopez (175) secured bonus points with a 17-1 tech fall over New Canaan’s James Dunkin in 1:28.
The last team, outside Danbury who won 34 of 35 FCIAC titles from 1987 through 2022, to win four straight FCIAC titles was Staples, who won four in a row from 1973-76.
By finishing second, Ridgefield had its best-ever finish in the FCIAC tournament with five individual champions and six finalists.
Cole Desiano (113), Carter Lanzilli (120), Dylan Meyers (132), John Carrozza (144) and Leo Moore (150) won individual championship for the Tigers.
Meyers was named outstanding wrestler in the lower weights after his pin of Warde’s Jude Grammatico in the final. Desiano and Carrozza won by tech fall while Lanzilli won with a pin. After Stamford’s Midgerson Gelin got a takedown with 44 seconds left in the match to tie it, Moore got an escape with 17 seconds remaining to earn an 11-10 victory.
Four Danbury wrestlers won individual titles – Kai Farstad (99), William Vasquez (106), Em’rick Henry (157) and Harrison Muller (175) – to lead the Hatters.
Trumbull freshman Hubert Szymko had three pins including a pin of top seed Evan Christianson of Wilton in the final (2:55) to win his first FCIAC championship. Szymko was the OW in the upper weights.
Saturday’s conference championship results
ECC: Ledyard wins first title since 2017
With three champions, five finalists and nine wrestlers finishing in the top four of their respective weight class, No. 9 Ledyard beat No. 8 Killingly by 19½ points, 228-208½ to win their first ECC championship since 2017.
Killingly had won the last two ECC championships and six of the last ECC titles.
“They did the right things and that’s what it came down to,” Ledyard coach T.J. Hepburn told the New London Day’s GameDay crew that broadcast the ECC finals. “They were getting bonus points left and right which made a difference.”
“It’s been a long season. We’ve had a lot of guys sick, a lot of guys injured. We lost our 190 pounder during the season, so we had to face a little adversity and move our lineup up a little bit. Today, we had our guys up a weight class from 132 (pounds),” he told GameDay. “It’s been a long road, but these guys came together.
George Jolley (113), Noah Caisse and Lukas Boxley (138) won individual titles for the Colonials (18-4) while Liam Kelo (106) and Aidan Martinez Garcia (215) each finished second.
Killingly (26-2) had three individual champions and five finalists to finish second while Lyman Memorial/Windham Tech and East Lyme/Norwich Tech each had three individual champions.
Gavin Jonasch (106), Bradey Jonasch (120) and Exael Padilla (165) won for Killingly while Anthony Caisse (157), Riely Georgian (175) and Cameron Gronholm (215) won for East Lyme/Norwich Tech.
Lyman’s Lucas Judd earned Outstanding Wrestler award with his 4-0 win over Griswold’s Michael Capalbo thanks a near fall in the final 10 seconds to secure the win. Capalbo came into the match with a 22-0 record.
Calvin Sammarco (144) and Liam Pekarovic-West (99) also won for Lyman.
Saturday’s conference championship results
SCC: Another championship for No. 1 Xavier
No. 1 Xavier went 8-for-8 in the Southern Connecticut Conference championship tournament finals Saturday at Foran in Milford to win their ninth straight SCC championship with a 74½-point win over Shelton, 222-151½.
Xavier’s Braylon Gonzalez (144) became the fourth wrester in league history to win four straight SCC championships with his win by tech fall over Amity’s Andrew Jackson, 17-2 in 2:00.
Josh Perez (106), Treydan Beam (113), Zack Dixon (120), Alexander Depratti (126), Zaphyr Musshorn (132), Gonzalez, Vincent Rivera (175) and Chase Catalano (190) each won individual titles for the Falcons (11-4).
Saturday’s conference championship results
SWC: New Milford holds off Newtown
Four victories in the consolation finals and a pin from Dylan Bueno at 150 pounds helped No. 7 New Milford beat Newtown by eight points, 191½ to 183½ to win the Southwest Conference championship for the fifth time in the last six years.
It was the closest SWC Tournament since 2019 when Newtown beat Joel Barlow by a point to win the tournament.
Newtown had four individual champions and seven finalists to make a run at the Green Wave. Noah Blair (106), Owen Blair (113), Antonio Arguello (157) and Jake Maddox (175) won individual titles for the Nighthawks.
Artesio Whyte (120), Chris Setear (126), Michael Cruz (132) and Jacob Hadden (165) each finished third for New Milford. Setear and Hadden secured bonus points for the Green Wave with pins and Whyte picked up bonus points with his major decision.
Saturday’s conference championship results
NCCC: Canton wins second straight league title
Canton had four individual champions and eight finalists as they won the NCCC championship tournament on Saturday in Stafford for the first time since 2019 and captured their second straight league title. Canton (17-6, 7-0 NCCC) outlasted Suffield/Windsor Locks by 25 points for the tournament title.
Two wrestlers won their fourth consecutive league titles – Suffield/Windsor Locks’ Peter Annis (113) and Somers’ Harrison Accorsi (120) while Somers’ William Accorsi (120) won his third straight NCCC championship.
Only six wrestlers in league history have won four consecutive titles and the most recent athlete to do that was Somers’ Jeffrey Suschana in 2018.
Canton’s George Redford (144) won his second straight NCCC title and secured his 100th career victory while teammates Kai-Quintana-Wright (126), Kian Murphy (165) and Thomas Johnson (215) also brought home NCCC championships.
Hugh Eck (106), Aiden Catalan (132), Grant Chambers (175) and Joaquin Vasquez (190) each finished second while Grant Inlow (150) finished third.
Catalan dropped a 5-3 decision in triple overtime to Portland/Cromwell’s Adam Dean, who was named the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler. The two wrestlers were tied 1-1 after regulation and through the first two OT sessions. In the third and final OT session, both wrestlers were rolling around scoring points.
Saturday’s conference championship results
Berkshire: Nonnewaug wins again
Nonnewaug won their 24th Berkshire League championship by placing second at the Berkshire League tournament at The Gilbert School in Winsted. The Chiefs (11-12, 5-0 BL) took home the league title for the third time in the last four years.
Terryville/Thomaston won their first BL Tournament title since 2016 with three individual champions and four finalists. The Kangaroos had wrestlers in just 10 of 14 weight classes.
Gilbert/Torrington/Wolcott Tech senior Evan Schibi became the first BL wrestler since Northwestern’s Angelo Folino in 2019 to win four straight league championships.
It was a close tournament with just six points separating the top four teams.
Terryville/Thomaston won with 145 points while Nonnewaug and Gilbert/Torrington/Wolcott Tech finishing tied for second with 139½ points. Derby/Oxford/Holy Cross was a half point behind in fourth place with 139 points and four individual champions.
Terryville/Thomaston’s Ethan Bochman Rodriguez (138) won his third straight BL championship and was named the tournament’s outstanding wrestler.
Two girls made the finals – Northwestern’s Delila Langer (106) and Nonnewaug’s Danielle Falls (113) but both came up short.
