2005 Class LL championships
At East Hartford
Team results: 1. Danbury 311.5; 2. Fairfield Warde, 162; 3. New Milford, 161; 4. East Hartford, 132.5; 5. Xavier-Middletown, 109; 6. Norwich Free Academy, 103; 7. Southington, 97; 8. Amity-Woodbridge, 90; 9. Simsbury, 89; 10. Newington, 86.5; 11. Trumbull, 77; 12. Cheshire, 75.5; 13. Norwalk, 75; 14. South Windsor, 73; 15. Greenwich, 69; 16. New Britain, 68; 17. Stamford, 50; 18. Fairfield Prep, 45; 19. Weston-Joel Barlow, 44; 20. Westhill-Stamford, 39; 21. Glastonbury, 38.5; 22. Bridgeport Central, 38; 23. Shelton, 32.5 ; 24. Hall-West Hartford, 32; 25. Platt-Meriden, 30; 26. Newtown, 29; 27. Bulkeley-Hartford, 25.5; 28. Manchester, 21.
Individual results
103
Championship: Anthony Valles, South Windsor tech fall Mike Batinelli, Stamford, 17-2; Third place: Greg Fontaine, Southington dec. Ronnie Waters, Cheshire, 5-3; Fifth place: George Madkour, Danbury pin Syid Massiah, Bridgeport Central, 3:25
112
Championship: Tyler Howe, Danbury dec. Victor Garcia, New Britain, 12-10; Third place: Will Sherman, New Milford dec. Phillip LaClair, East Hartford, 3-2; Fifth place: Kevin Hovey, Simsbury dec. Don Spadaro, Fairfield Warde, 10-4
119
Championship: Joey Martin, Simsbury dec. Timothy Holmes, East Hartford, 15-1; Third place: Willy Squarciafico, Xavier, dec. Mark Madkour, Danbury, 3-1; Fifth place: Spiros Stefanatos, New Milford dec. Aaron Rodgerson, Trumbull, 12-9
125
Championship: Kevin Horan, Newington dec. Dean Smith, Danbury, 5-3; Third place: Kyle McAlees, South Windsor dec. Anthony LaRosa, Xavier, 13-3; Fifth place: Joe Hall, New Milford dec. Samuel Wade, Bridgeport Central, 6-3
130
Championship: Nick Weyer, Danbury dec. Andrew Durrand, East Hartford, 2-1; Third place: Peter Stefanatos, New Milford dec. Stefon Camacho, Stamford, 6-1; Fifth place: James Silva, Trumbull dec. William MacDonald, Simsbury, 4-1
135
Championship: Frank Cammisa, Danbury dec. Louis Cofrancesca, 5-1; Third place: Michael Bellagamba, New Milford dec. Christopher Amato, Xavier, 10-8; Fifth place: Michael Damiano, Greenwich dec. Jordan Jacquo, New Britain, 12-8
140
Championship: Kyle Rodgers, Danbury pin Levi Shelley, Fairfield Warde, 3:04; Third place: Spenser Hennes, Platt Tech pin Brian Sloat, Trumbull, 2:12; Fifth place: David Spears, Bridgeport Central dec. Brandon Williamson, Greenwich, won by default
145
Championship: Jeff Marra, Danbury dec. Tyler LeBlanc, East Hartford, 5-0; Third place: Jamie Pisano, New Milford, pin Tim Petrides, Norwalk, 0:50; Fifth place: Derek Waldron, NFA dec. Evan Orgren, Hall, 3-0
152
Championship: Anthony Liseo, Southington dec. Ismael Nieves, Bulkeley, 3-2; Third place: Jeff Esposti, Danbury dec. Lonnie McGee, Fairfield Warde, 6-2; Fifth place: Justin Toland, NFA dec. Jacob Spencer, Amity, 9-2
160
Championship: William Esposito, Danbury dec. John Holzinger, Xavier, 3-2; Third place: Zach Wagner, Fairfield Warde dec. Todd Everette, Simsbury, 8-0' Fifth place: Steven Chamble, Newington dec. Gabriel Ouellette, NFA, won by default
171
Championship: Matt Tricarico, Danbury pin Patrick Knight, New Milford, 3:00; Third place: Anthony Kaponis, Newington pin Philip Thompson, Westhill, 5:42; Fifth place: JJ Casagrande, Fairfield Warde vs. Luis Miranda, East Hartford, double forfeit
189
Championship: Anthony Parrish, Fairfield Warde dec. Nicholas Rankin, NFA, 10-4; Third place: Michael Riley, East Hartford dec. Matthew Vernik, Amity, won by default; Fifth place: Alex Read, Newtown pin Jason Sandler, Weston/Barlow, 3:29
215
Championship: Dave Bernstein, Fairfield Prep dec. Chase DeCarlo, Danbury, 12-2; Third place: David Johnson, NFA pin Platon Koukides, Norwalk, 2:50: Fifth place: William Knight, Manchester pin Max Connolly, Southington, 1:34
275
Championship: Brendan Herlihy, Fairfield Warde pin Thomas Ferrell, New Milford, 3:46; Third place: Angel Montanez, Trumbull pin Nick Papachristou, Norwalk, 1:46; Fifth place: Spencer Charette, Southington pin Rob McAviney, Cheshire, 1:19
Outstanding wrestler: Anthony Valles, South Windsor
Fast fall: Spencer Charette, Southington, 5 pins in 10:23
Connecticut Wrestling Online
EAST HARTFORD, Feb. 19 – Another state tournament and another record for the record-setting Danbury High wrestling team. Not only did the Hatters capture a state record ninth straight Class LL championship but they scored a state record 311½ points in the process. That snaps the record that DHS set in 2000 of 293 points.
Danbury had nine wrestlers in the finals and seven won. The Hatters had 11 of their 14 wrestlers qualify for the State Open. Fairfield Warde was a distant second for the second time in four years with 162 points. New Milford finished third with 161.
"I'm getting spoiled," Danbury coach Ricky Shook told the Danbury News Times. "We just wrestled great this weekend. We scored over 300 points. I don't know if that's ever been done. We came into the tournament with the goal of qualifying 13 wrestlers for the State Open. We were close to our goal with 11.”
Matt Tricarico (171) won his third Class LL title, winning all four matches by pin. Teammate Kyle Rodgers also had four pins in his championship effort. Tyler Howe (112), Nick Weyer (130), Frank Cammisa (135), Jeff Marra (145) and Will Esposito (160) also brought home titles. Weyer also won his third Class LL title with a tight 2-1 decision over East Hartford senior Andrew Durand.
Howe’s 12-10 win over New Britain’s Hector Garcia riled up the crowd. Trailing 10-7, Garcia put Howe to his back and nearly pinned him. Howe fought off his back for nearly a minute but managed to get a last-second reversal to stave off OT and earn the win. However, due to confusion at the scorer’s table, the crowd expected the bout to go into overtime.
When Howe was declared the winner, a cascade of boos rained upon the mat. And for the rest of the evening, the Danbury wrestlers were booed. "It felt like the FCIAC's all over again," Shook told the News-Times. "This is what happens when you have nine wrestlers reach the finals. I told the team to expect it." When Cammisa (135) beat Amity’s Louis Cofrancesa, 5-1, he brought his finger to his lips to tell the crowd to shhh.
Simsbury junior Joey Martin (119) won his third straight Class LL championship with a dominating 15-1 win over East Hartford’s Timothy Holmes.
At 152, Southington senior Andy Liseo also won his third straight championship with a tight 3-2 decision over Bulkeley’s Ismael Nieves. Liseo, who won a pair of titles at 160, has won all three of his championships by 3-2 scores.
Tournament MVP Anthony Valles of South Windsor won his first title at 103 with a dominating 17-2 tech fall over Stamford’s Mike Batinelli.
At 275 pounds, Fairfield Warde's Brendan Herlihy lifted the Mustangs into second place with a pin of New Milford's Thomas Ferrell in 3:46. "Going out I knew we needed a pin for second place (as a team)," Herlihy told The Connecticut Post. "I was a little shaky at first, but once I got into the flow, it was over."
The finals got off to a late start. They didn't begin until 8:45 p.m.
Information from the Danbury News Times, Hartford Courant, Connecticut Post and personal notes used to compile this report.
