Class LL Tournament
At Trumbull
Team scores: 1. Danbury 237, 2. New Milford 158, 3. Southington 149.5, 4. Amity 139.5, 5. Stamford 132.5, 6. Greenwich 129, 7. Ridgefield 125, 8. NFA 103.5, 9. Simsbury 97.5, 10. South Windsor 91, 11. Glastonbury 88, 12. Newington 86.5, 13. Trumbull 86, 14. Manchester 69.5, 15. New Britain 65, 16. Masuk 57, 17. Newtown 55.5, 18. Westhill 55, 19. Xavier 47, 20. Cheshire 45, 21. Norwalk 34, 22. Shelton 29, 23. East Hartford 24, 24. Fairfield Prep 20, 25. Bridgeport 19.5, 26. Platt Tech 16, 27. New Haven 9.
Individual results
103 -- Finals: Alex Blank (Ridgefield) pin Mike Briskin (Cheshire) 5:29; 3. John Lemoine (Trumbull) dec. Doug Fontaine (Southington) 7-3; 5. Brian Jennings (Danbury) dec. Jack Germano (Newington), 3-0
112 -- Finals: Mike Cunningham (South Windsor) dec. Mike Battinelli (Stamford) 12-0; 3. Anthony Amorando (New Milford) dec. Rich Reher (Trumbull) 4-0; 5. Gregory Hovey (Simsbury) dec. Spencer Ciancola (Amity) 3-1
119 -- Finals: John Gouveia (Newtown) dec. Charlie Costanzo (Danbury) 2-0; 3. Beau Richards (NFA) pin Alex Camacho (Stamford), 4:41; 5. Stephen Krohley (Amity) dec. Dylan Rinker (South Windsor) 14-0
125 -- Finals: Spiros Stefanatos (New Milford) dec. George Madkour (Danbury) 5-4; 3. Eliot Lopez (South Windsor) dec. Nick Gialluca (New Britain), 7-2; 5. Jason Camacho (Stamford) pin Matthew Fallon (Ridgefield), 0:35
130 -- Finals: Corey Paulish (Ridgefield) dec. Chris Krisatis (Manchester) 12-0; 3. Tucker Schaefer (Danbury) dec. Joseph Sargenti (South Windsor), 10-2; 5. Michael Katz (Amity) dec. John Garrison (Amity) 11-0
135 -- Finals: Michael Vernik (Amity) dec. Steven Brant (Simsbury) 6-0; 3. Matt Van Houten (Stamford) dec. Jordan Napolitano (Westhill), 2-1; 5. John Smith (Danbury) dec. Jacob Ouellette (NFA), 4-0
140 -- Finals: Trevor Ritchie (Southington) pin Jordan Jacquo (New Britain) 5:19; 3. Andrew Gewirtz (Amity) dec. Greg Laroche (Stamford) 1-0; 5.Jonathan Goncalves (Danbury) dec. Chris Emanuelson (Glastonbury), 7-6
145 -- Finals: Dean Smith (Danbury) dec. Stefon Camacho (Stamford) 7-0; 3. Mike Bellagamba (New Milford) dec. Samuel Baron (Ridgefield), 4-0; 5. Storm Horine (Greenwich) dec. David Turner (Xavier), 13-2
152 -- Finals: Tyler Howe (Danbury) dec. Jake Clarke (Greenwich) 3-2; 3. Jack Nuland (Ridgefield) dec. Robert Esposito (Newington), 7-1; 5. Tim Bradle (New Milford) dec. Daniel Rodriguez (Glastonbury), 9-4
160 -- Finals: Ryan Roddy (Amity) dec. Cody Griswold (New Milford) 13-3; 3. Ronald Thompson (Westhill) dec. Chris Flores (Greenwich), 11-4; 5. Dean Hancock (Danbury) dec. Patrick Sawyer (NFA), 6-0
171 -- Finals: Anthony Kaponis (Newington) tech fall Richie Zschoche (Danbury) 22-7; 3. Alex Uliasz (Southington) dec. James Chertkov (Greenwich), 3-2; 5. Timothy Dark (Manchester) dec. Garrett Loubier (NFA), 5-2
189 -- Finals: Nicholas Murphy (NFA) dec. Joe Laduca (Danbury) 7-1;3. Joseph Colella (New Britain) pin Lawton Arnold (Simsbury), 1:38; 5. Dan Howley (Southington) dec. Scott Christy (Masuk) 13-5
215 -- Finals: Platon Koukides (Norwalk) dec. Marcus Furze (Simsbury) 12-2; 3. Dan Pennant (Glastonbury) dec. Steven Bendrick (New Milford), 3-1; 5. Chris Vose (Southington) default Andrew Marcano (Newington)
285 -- Finals: Richard Moran (Trumbull) dec. Spencer Charette (Southington) 4-1; 3. Paul Fenaroli (Masuk) dec. Rejinal Gachelin (Greenwich) 3-1; 5. Andrew Hutchinson (Manchester) pin Mike Bruni (Amity) 4:49.
Fast fall: Richie Zschoche, Danbury (171), 3 pins in 5:23
Outstanding wrestler:
Danbury wins 11th straight Class LL title
Connecticut Wrestling Online
TRUMBULL, Feb. 17 – Earlier in the year, Danbury looked a little young and some thought they might be vulnerable. Not any more. The Hatters led from start to finish and won a record 11th straight Class LL championship by 79 points over New Milford, 237-158. "It never gets boring," Danbury coach Rick Shook told the Danbury News Times. "You like to see how far the kids have come during the year."
Danbury had six wrestlers in the finals and two won. The Hatters had 11 wrestlers win medals by placing among the top six.
After finishing second for the past two years, Danbury junior Dean Smith (145) cruised to a 7-0 championship win over Stamford’s Stefon Camacho. At 152, Danbury senior Tyler Howe earned his third straight Class LL championship with a 3-2 win over Greenwich’s Jake Clarke with a takedown with about a minute left in the third period. Howe becomes the fifth Danbury wrestler to capture three Class LL titles.
New Milford had a champion. Spiros Stefanatos (125) took advantage of an opportunity to stun Danbury’s George Madkour with a takedown in the final second to win, 5-4.
Leading by two, 4-2, Madkour intentionally gave Stefanatos a one-point escape with 9 seconds left and Stefanatos chased him down for the title. "I knew I had a shot when he cut me loose. He tried to keep away from the big points and it usually is a safe play," Stefanatos told the Danbury News Times.
Ridgefield junior Alexander Blank (103) won his second Class LL title by pinning Cheshire junior Mike Breskin late in 5:29. The final was an intense bout with Blank holding a 3-2 lead in the third period. Breskin (35-2) was on the bottom working hard trying to get a two-point reversal. But he reached back and Blank capitalized pinning Breskin with 30 seconds left.
“He wrestled very well this weekend,” Cheshire coach Don Miller said of Breskin. “In the final, he wrestled about as tough as you can. But he made a mistake and when you make an error like that, you generally pay for it.”
Blank is the only wrestler that Breskin has lost to this year. Blank pinned Breskin in 4:25 at the Southington Duals in January.
Breskin earned a spot in the finals with a tough 2-0 decision in the semifinals over Southington’s Doug Fontaine thanks to a late two-point reversal. Breskin was the only medalist for Cheshire, which finished 20th.
Blank kept his eye on the New England tournament. "This is not my goal, my goal is New England's," Blank told the Danbury News Times. "I hate getting cocky and swallowing a poison pill. I have to get ready for New England and every final I am in gives me something to critique and something to work on next week in practice."
A week after being upset in the FCIAC Tournament by a Danbury sophomore, Ridgefield’s Corey Paulish (130) easily won his second straight Class LL title with a dominate 12-0 win over Manchester’s Chris Krisatis.
* * * *
The end of the season has been cruel to Southington. At mid-season, the Knights had hopes of challenging Danbury for the Class LL championship. They lost 38-25 to the Hatters in January but were confident they could challenge in February in the tournament.
Defending Class LL champion Dave Badgley (125) became academically ineligible. Alex Uliasz (171) and Dillon Ritchie (130) missed action down the stretch due to suspension and injuries, respectively. And in the state tournament, defending Class LL champion Jeff Solomon (119) failed to make weight on Saturday morning and was eliminated from the tournament.
Still, the Blue Knights were able to finish a strong third with 149½ points as Trevor Ritchie (140) won his first state championship and Spencer Charette (285) finished second. Uliasz took third while Doug Fontaine (103) was fourth. Dan Howley (189) and Chris Vose (215) finished fifth.
Personal notes and information from the Danbury News Times used to compile this report.
