Top-ranked Xavier finished first at the Methuen (Mass.) Invitational on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Xavier Athletics)
Things didn’t change too much in the Connecticut Wrestling Online’s top 10 high school wrestling poll this week. Nine of the 10 teams in last week’s poll are still there and the top four remain the same for the fourth consecutive week.
Xavier (9-4) remains the No. 1 team in the state with 14 votes from state coaches and media members. Danbury (11-1) is at No. 2 with a pair of first place votes with No. 3 New Milford getting a first place vote for the second time this season.
Newtown remains at No. 4 with East Hartford and Fairfield Warde swapping spots. East Hartford moved up one spot to No. 5 while Warde slips one spot to No. 6.
Undefeated Killingly (21-0) remains at No. 7 with Trumbull making their first appearance in the top 10 this season at No. 8 after winning the Connecticut Challenge Saturday in Southington.
Southington dropped one spot to No. 9 with RHAM getting pushed down one slot to No. 10.
Top-ranked Xavier continues to travel in search of competition to challenge their wrestlers. The Falcons were in Methuen, Mass., on Saturday and won the Methuen Invitational with 239 points to beat Salem, New Hampshire with 165 points and Natick, Mass., with 162. Methuen was fourth with 159.
Xavier had five individual champions with Raekwon Shabazz (106), Braylon Gonzalez (113), Kyle Levesque (132), Anthony Basile (138) and Charles Weidman (182) winning their respective weight classes. Gonzalez, who was 4-0 in the tournament, was named outstanding wrestler. He beat Methuen’s Dominic Gangi in the finals, 10-4.
No. 2 Danbury had their 18-match winning streak snapped on Saturday with a loss to Timberlane Regional in Plaistow, N.H. The Owls beat Danbury, 39-36 when Timberlane’s Jacob Andrade got a pin in the final bout of the match at 145 pounds. The Hatters took a lead of 36-33 when Jesse DeFonce (138) won with a pin.
Timberlane had an 18-0 lead after the first three matches of the bout but Danbury tied it at 18-18 with three consecutive pins of their own.
Danbury opened up the afternoon with a 42-32 win over No. 10 Simsbury, who also lost to the Owls by a 42-32 score.
The last team to beat the Hatters was Xavier last January in Middletown, 44-19. No. 1 Xavier and Danbury meet again on Friday in Danbury beginning at 7 p.m.
No. 3 New Milford (6-0) had 10 wrestlers finish in the top four of their respective weight classes as the Green Wave won the 21st Gary Tiger Ridgefield Challenge for the first time. New Milford had 209 points to beat Coventry, R.I., and Fairfield Ludlowe with 159½ and 158 points, respectively.
Alex Oberc (103) and Angelo Fernandez (170) won individual titles for New Milford. Fairfield Prep and Fairfield Warde had three champions each.
The tournament was renamed in honor of the late Gary Tiger, the long-time head coach in Ridgefield, who passed away in February 2020.
One of wrestling’s traditions is that an athlete leaves their wrestling shoes in the center of the mat when they have wrestled their last match and retire. Before the finals, Tiger’s two sons, Jordan and Travis, placed Gary’s shoes at the center of the mat and the entire gym paused for a moment of silence.
The tournament finals can be seen on YouTube. The Gary Tiger Ridgefield Challenge was last held in 2020.
Two top 10 teams battled for the championship in the Trooper First Class (TFC) Kevin Miller Duals in East Hartford on Saturday with No. 4 Newtown edging then-No. 6 East Hartford, 40-39 for the championship.
Five pins and a forfeit helped the Nighthawks (16-2) snap East Hartford’s 28-match winning streak in the finals. Pins from John Dasilva (285), Tommy Milligan (106) and Kenna Gioffre (113) clinched the match for Newtown. East Hartford (8-1) had five pins in the match.
Milligan, Gioffre, Marc Maurath, Luca Manfredi, Fisher Stites and Jon DaSilva were each undefeated (4-0) on the afternoon.
Newtown beat New London, Granby and Guilford in Pool A to get to the finals while the host Hornets beat Staples, Branford and Stratford to earn a spot in the championship match.
Branford beat Guilford, 42-40 to finish third. The duals hadn’t been held since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and a snowstorm in 2022.
Fairfield Warde (13-1) finished third at the Gary Tiger Ridgefield Challenge with three individual champions – Owen Sheiman (113), Dominick Spadaro (126) and Nehemias Pettway (220).
No. 7 Killingly (21-0) is one of three teams left in the state who are undefeated. Killingly won three bouts at the Class S Duals Saturday at their own gym with victories over New Fairfield, 45-31, Somers, 84-0 and Montville, 71-21.
Last Thursday, Killingly won seven of the first nine matches to take a 37-9 lead before the Whippets won the final five matches to close the gap. Windham could have won with a pin or tech fall in the final match at 285 but Killingly’s Devin Exarhoulias stayed off his back in an 8-3 loss to Jaycee Diaz.
Killingly also got five pins and a major decision to help build their 28-point lead.
Connecticut’s other undefeated teams are New Milford (6-0) and Weston, who is 9-0. The Trojans beat Bethel last week, 52-30.
No. 8 Trumbull (21-2) joined the top 10 after a three-point win over Fairfield Ludlowe, 148½ to 145½ to win the 12th Connecticut Challenge in Southington for the first time. Trumbull had two individual champions and two finalists along with two wrestlers that finished third.
Pins from Aethan Munden (195) and Lucas Cylwik (285) in the finals gave Trumbull the points they needed to win the tournament.
No. 9 Southington (8-2) had three individual champions at the Connecticut Challenge with Jared Mangiafico (126), Colton Thorpe (132) and Josh Howard (138) each winning individual titles. Thorpe was selected as the Outstanding Wrestler.
No. 10 RHAM (24-2) won the Richard Hastings Duals in Newington with victories over Lyman Memorial/Windham Tech, Bacon Academy, Maloney, Newington and Wethersfield. The most competitive matches were a 45-33 win over Lyman Memorial/WT and a 41-36 victory over Maloney.
Hastings, a physical education teacher at the school, established Newington High’s wrestling program in 1987 and coached the squad for 12 seasons, winning two CCC South championships and leading Newington to seven top 10 finishes in the Class LL tournament. He passed away after a fire in his home in 2005 at the age of 45.
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With four individual champions and six finalists, Avon beat New Britain by more than 100 points to win the seventh Highlander Invitational in Portland, 250-147. Portland finished third, a point behind the Hurricanes with 146 points.
Isaiah Adams (113), Elijah Fagin (120), Jonah Weber (145) and Jack Janes (152) each won for Avon, which set a new tournament record for most points. The old record was 214½ points by Haddam-Killingworth in 2017.
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South Windsor won the Rodney Smith Classic for the first time since 2013 with a 191-169 win over Ludlow, Mass. Five Bobcats won individual titles at the event at Suffield High, including Kyden Merlin (113), Jacob Gordon (126), Justin Dittmar (152), Ares Savvides (170) and Joseph Della Ripa (195).
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New Canaan had five champions and six finalists as they won the Brookfield Invitational with 201½ points. Darien was second with 141½ with Canton finishing third with 135.
R.J. Decamillo (138), Tucker Milligan (145), Cael Wilderman (152), Teddy Goetz (160) and Gilbert Clay (195) won for the Rams.
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At the 13th Doc Meyers Brawl on the Hill, Windsor outlasted host Rocky Hill, 153 to 132 to win the tournament. Windsor had eight wrestlers finish in the top three of their weight classes. Devonte Ryans (152), Jaycob Ly (160) and Christian Sewell (182) won for Windsor.
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At the Lawman Invitational at Jonathan Law in Milford, Platt High went 2-1 in the finals and 4-0 in the consolation finals to outlast NFA, 189½ to 174½ and win the tournament for the first time since 2017. Caiden Talento (152) and Ahmed Hernandez (170) picked up victories for the Panthers.
Connecticut Wrestling Online’s top 10 high school wrestling poll for the 2022-23 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.
Week 5, Tuesday, January 31, 2023
| Team | Rec. | Pts. | LW | Class |
| 1. Xavier (14) | 9-4 | 500 | 1 | L |
| 2. Danbury (2) | 11-1 | 472 | 2 | LL |
| 3. New Milford (1) | 6-0 | 450 | 3 | L |
| 4. Newtown | 16-2 | 400 | 4 | L |
| 5. East Hartford | 8-1 | 356 | 6 | LL |
| 6. Fairfield Warde | 13-1 | 332 | 5 | LL |
| 7. Killingly | 21-0 | 303 | 7 | S |
| 8. Trumbull | 21-2 | 246 | nr | L |
| 9. Southington | 8-2 | 216 | 8 | LL |
| 10. RHAM | 24-2 | 189 | 9 | M |
| Also receiving votes: Simsbury (5-3) 174, Fairfield Ludlowe (13-2) 138, Branford (17-7) 97, Windham (15-4) 89, Berlin (16-3) 84, Avon (11-6) 79, Platt (20-4) 21, Foran (20-7) 8 | ||||
| Voting this week: Charlie Anderson, Trumbull; Matt Boissonneault, Bristol Central; Mike Cunningham, Xavier; Gerry deSimas, Jr., Connecticut Wrestling Online; Derek Dion, Southington; Chris Gamble, Waterford; David Green, Nonnewaug; Tim Jensen, Patch Media; Chris Piel, New Milford; Patrick Risley, Windham High; Matt Schoonmaker, Jonathan Law-Milford; Jason Shaughnessy, Fairfield Warde; T.J. Silva, Simsbury; David Stewart, GameTimeCT.com, Jimmy Zanor, Norwich Bulletin; Paul Musso, New Fairfield | ||||
