With no champs, New Britain rallies to win first CCC Tournament title by half point

BRISTOL, February 7, 2026 – It’s been a thrilling, memorable few days for the New Britain wrestling team.

On Wednesday, the Hurricanes won four of the final five matches with two pins to beat Southington, 34-31, for the first time since 2014 to win a share of their first-ever divisional championship in the Central Connecticut Conference.

The Blue Knights had a 31-20 lead after 11 matches. But before a loud and excited crowd, New Britain’s Liddon Norman (190) won and teammate Denyel Alvarez (215) got a pin to cut the lead to 31-30 with one match to go. Freshman Abdalla Abdalla (285) secured a 14-5 decision to give New Britain (21-2, 5-1 CCC West) are share of the championship.

It was their first pennant since 1983 when they won the Capital District Conference in their second year as a program.

On Saturday, New Britain won their first CCC Tournament championship despite no champions or finalists as the Hurricanes nipped Bristol Eastern by a half point, 179½ to 179 at Bristol Central.

The tournament came down to the final match of the day, the championship bout at 285 pounds. If Glastonbury would have prevailed in that match, it would have been the Guardians with the championship. But they couldn’t get the win and finished third with 176 points.

Manchester’s Noah Colon, the tournament’s outstanding wrestler, won his third CCC Tournament championship with a pin at 190 pounds while Lewis Mills’ Jack Gedney (126) won his second CCC championship and his first since 2023. Platt, Middletown and Plainville each had two individual champions.

New Britain won the tournament the hard way – through the consolation bracket.

On the eve of the final round, which consists of the championship final, consolation final (third place) and the fifth place match, New Britain had nine wrestlers remaining in the tournament – all in the third or fifth place matches.

Glastonbury had seven wrestlers remaining with two in the finals while Bristol Eastern had six wrestlers (three finalists) still in the tournament.

When the final round began, Glastonbury had a 2½ point lead on New Britain and a six-point lead on Bristol Eastern.

In the final round, New Britain went 5-4 with a pin while Eastern was 4-2. Glastonbury struggled with a record of 1-6, including a loss to New Britain in the consolation finals.

“We had zero champions and that tells you what you need to know,” New Britain head coach Nick Catalano said. “We wrestled back. We wrestled tough. We went out and got every point we could. Our kids hung tough for two days, two long days. We kept our composure. We wrestled in tough spots.”

Nathan Rivera (132), Julian Resto (157), Landon Roberts (165) and Denyel Alvarez (215) each finished third while Elvin Arguelles (113) finished fifth with a pin. Resto got a takedown with 55 seconds left in regulation against Glastonbury’s Mason Budinscale to take a three-point lead in a match he eventually won, 4-2.

Alvarez had two takedowns in his 7-2 win over Farmington’s Fey Aquino.

Alvarez was the final New Britain wrestler to compete and his victory gave the Hurricanes 179½ points, trailed by Glastonbury (176) and Bristol Eastern (173) with three matches to go.

At 215 pounds, Eastern’s Aidyn Davies pinned RHAM’s Cayden Caplette in 2:20 to move the Lancers into second place with 179 points.

In the final bout at 285 pounds, Dorian Pollard of the Bloomfield/Weaver/East Windsor co-op team pinned Glastonbury’s A’marii Dudley in 31 seconds to win an individual crown and deny Glastonbury’s chance to leap past New Britain.

“I knew he was good with throws,” Pollard said. “So, I just calculated when he was going to do it. I was playing it smart.”

It was the closest of all five CCC tournaments that have been held.

It’s unusual for a post-season tournament to come down to a half point but it has happened. The North Central Connecticut Conference tournament was decided by a half point in 2016 along with the Eastern Connecticut Conference tourney in 2018.

Three CIAC state tournaments have been decided by a half point – twice in Class M in 1991 and 2023 and once in Class L when Bristol Eastern won by half point in 2019.

On this afternoon, Eastern was a point shy of winning their first-ever CCC Tournament. Davies (215) won an individual title for the Lancers while Trevin Guardarrama (138) finished second after a hard-fought 4-1 loss to Simsbury’s Giuliano Sirianni.

Three Eastern wrestled secured key victories in the fifth place bouts to keep the Lancers in the hunt for the championship. Logan Shamper (165) and Evan Martin (120) each won with pins, picking up some key bonus points while Coltyn Masses (126) picked a crucial 1-0 win over RHAM’s Miles Yorio.

“We had a great tournament,” Eastern head coach Phil Soucy said. ”We had kids wrestle back which is really important in these tournaments. They competed and they competed.

“There was some really high-level wrestling,” he said. ”For our kids to be able to compete at this level with a couple of really good (Class) LL schools, that is really, really positive.”

Eastern will be competing in the CIAC Class M tournament in two weeks.

Jessus Gomez Hernandez (106) and Sean Champlain (144) won individual championships for Platt while Josue Lamb-Alvarado (165) and Cooper Theriault-Dinielli (175) won titles for Plainville.

Isaiah McDaniel (150) and Joshua Ramos (120) brought home championships for Middletown. Trailing by one, McDaniel got a takedown with 1:19 remaining to beat Guardarrama, 4-1.

Glastonbury’s Edward Foiletov (113) won a CCC title with a pin while Maloney’s Mohammed Ramlek (132) won by tech fall in just 2:13. Southington’s Jake Rivera (157) also a championship by technical fall.

CCC championships
At Bristol Central
Team results – 1. New Britain 179½, 2. Bristol Eastern 179, 3. Glastonbury 176, 4. Southington 162, 5. Plainville 129, 6. Middletown 127½, 7. Berlin 125, 8. Simsbury 124½, 9. Bristol Central 117, 10. Platt 113, 11. RHAM 110, 12. Hall 108½, 13. Conard 107½, 14. Maloney 107, 15. Manchester 103½, 16. Avon 92, 17. Farmington 66, 18. Bloomfield/Weaver/East Windsor 58½, 19. South Windsor 57, 20. Enfield 56, 21. Newington 45, 22. Lewis Mills 36, 23. Windsor 33½, 24. Wethersfield 30, 25. Rocky Hill 29, 26. East Hartford 17, 27. E.O. Smith 12, 28. East Catholic 6
Finals
106 Jessus Gomez Hernandez (Platt) dec. Kody Dragon (Bristol Central), 8-0
113 Edward Fioletov (Glastonbury) pin Ajay Ayyala (Southington), 5:02
120 Joshua Ramos (Middletown) dec. Caden Bell (RHAM), 11-7
126 Jack Gedney (Lewis Mills) dec. Mason Beecher (Avon), 12-3
132 Mohammed Ramlek (Maloney) tech fall Elijah Obisesan (Hall), 16-0 2:13
138 Giuliano Sirianni (Simsbury) dec. Trevin Guardarrama (Bristol Eastern), 4-1
144 Sean Champlain (Platt) dec. Brandon Pedra (Newington), 9-1
150 Isaiah McDaniel (Middletown) dec. Alex Lamarre (Bristol Central), 7-5
157 Jake Rivera (Southington) tech fall Evan Kucenski (Bristol Eastern), 20-2 4:55
165 Josue Lamb Alvarado (Plainville) tech fall Landon Cote (Berlin), 21-6 3:42
175 Cooper Theriault-Dinielli (Plainville) dec. Devan Bacote (Maloney), 9-6
190 Noah Colon (Manchester) pin Rocco Paolino (Bristol Central), 2:39
215 Aidyn Davies (Bristol Eastern) pin Cayden Caplette (RHAM), 2:20
285 Dorian Pollard Bloomfield, CT (Bloomfield/Weav/EW) pin A’marii Dudley (Glastonbury), 0:31
3rd Place
106 Raffi Arakelian (Conard) dec. Skylar Napolitano (Glastonbury), 4-0
113 Collin Sullivan (Berlin) pin Santiago Garcia (Conard), 0:53
120 Micah Vong East Windsor, CT (Bloomfield/Weav/EW) dec. Jake Lowe (Southington), 11-3
126 Grady Carroll (Simsbury) pin Derek Rodriguez (Southington), 1:13
132 Nathan Rivera (New Britain) dec. Liam Hildinger (Avon), 7-2
138 Landon Roy (RHAM) dec. Hassan Allami (Hall), 6-2
144 Aidan Kerr (Hall) dec. Aaron Aidoo (New Britain), 8-4
150 Chiemeka Ogbuagu (Southington) dec. Dwyte Llewelyn (New Britain), 2-1
157 Julian Resto (New Britain) dec. Mason Budinscak (Glastonbury), 4-2
165 Landon Roberts (New Britain) dec. Noah Soucie (Enfield), 8-4
175 Joseph Fukuyama (Conard) pin Ryan Vanburen (Manchester), 1:57
190 Owen Holmes (Conard) dec. Brett Osborne (Simsbury), 9-5
215 Denyel Alvarez (New Britain) dec. Fey Aquino (Farmington), 7-2
285 Michael Smith (Platt) pin Christopher Wright (Plainville), 2:44
5th Place
106 Tony Pietraroia (Berlin) DEF Anthony Perez (Middletown), 5-0 0:57
113 Elvin Arguelles (New Britain) pin Joniel Torres (Platt), 2:59
120 Evan Martin (Bristol Eastern) pin Patrick Sullivan (Berlin), 2:05
126 Coltyn Masse (Bristol Eastern) dec. Miles Yorio (RHAM), 1-0
132 Ryan Sousa (Farmington) pin Tyler Tummillo (Glastonbury), 1:48
138 River Wawrzaszek (Enfield) dec. Anthony Fusco (New Britain), 13-4
144 Gabriel Perritt (Manchester) pin Santiago Fernandez Decker (Glastonbury), 1:42
150 Thomas Frez Avon) dec. Ricardo Solis (Maloney), 5-3
157 Joel Hernandez Phen (Plainville) pin Nathan Addy (Rocky Hill), 1:34
165 Logan Shamper (Bristol Eastern) pin Sharief Richards-Cook (Manchester), 3:51
175 Benjamin Carlson (Hall) dec. Connor Downing (Glastonbury), 8-6
190 Nick Drury (Southington) pin Hayato Cayford (Hall), 3:20
215 Ca’mani Mcdaniel (Middletown) dec. Cole Krueger (Bristol Central), 7-2
285 Aidan Arcila (Berlin) pin Abdalla Abdalla (New Britain), 3:40
Outstanding wrestler: Noah Colon, Manchester (190)
Fast fall:
2026 CCC Tournament brackets and results (FloArena)

Broadcast of the finals (YouTube)