2012 Class L tournament
At Bristol Central
Team scores -- 1. Hand 233, 2. New Milford 178, 3. Farmington 173½, 4. Bristol Eastern 134, 5. Fairfield Warde 123, 6. Middletown 118½, 7. Bristol Central 117, 8. East Lyme 107½, 9. Newington 106½, 10. RHAM 98, 11. Fairfield Ludlowe 97, 12. Shelton 95½, 13. Masuk 92, 14. Darien 71, 15. Maloney 67½, 16. E.O. Smith 58.5, 17. New Canaan 52, 18. Pomperaug 47, 19. Norwalk 46½, 20. Wethersfield 35, 21. Fitch 34, 22. Wilton 32, 23. Harding 17, 24. Notre Dame-West Haven 13, 25. (tie) Windsor and Bunnell 9, 27. Kennedy 5, 28. Naugatuck 0.
Individual results
106: Championship: Kareem Small (East Lyme) dec. Matt Elias (Hand) 7-3; 3rd place: Mark Failla (Shelton) dec. Ben Batulanon (Fairfield Ludlowe) 6-0; 5th place: Tim Orrell (Farmington) pin Halim Bourjeli (New Milford) 2:51
113: Championship: Connor Kirkegard (New Milford) dec. Brian Amato (Newington) 4-0; 3rd place: Kevin Hall (New Canaan) dec. Eric Suhre (Farmington) 3-1; 5th place: Eric Kirchgasser (Fairfield Ludlowe) won by default over Nick Perrotta (Fitch)
120: Championship: Will Crisco (Hand) dec. Andrew Carignan (Middletown) 15-0; 3rd place: Peyton Soucy (Bristol Eastern) dec. Mike Burgos (Masuk) 10-5; 5th place: Matt Trelli (Bristol Central) dec. Niko Stefanatos (New Milford) 13-3
126: Championship: Sean Kellett (Shelton) dec. Henry Wales (Fairfield Ludlowe) 11-9; 3rd place: Christian Zotti (Newington) dec. Brian Flanagan (Hand) 7-4; 5th place: James Turgeon (RHAM) dec. Jacob Quirk (E.O. Smith) 9-7
132: Championship: Pharoah Eaton (Fairfield Warde) dec. Chris Catanzaro (RHAM) 8-3; 3rd place: Justin Elias (Hand) won by default over Edward Hunt (Shelton); 5th place: Garrett Hastings (Farmington) pin Tyler Burrow (Bristol Central) 2:22
138: Championship: Ray Laudato (Masuk) dec. Tucker Macgregor (Hand) 7-4; 3rd place: Ian Curtis (New Milford) pin Craig Sassu (Bristol Eastern) 2:08; 5th place: Ryan Rigney (Farmington) dec. Connor Hayes (Bristol Central) 2-0
145: Championship: Jake Savoca (Hand) dec. Anthony Terlizzi (New Milford) 6-5; 3rd place: Jesse Lusa (E.O. Smith) dec. Mauricio Xocoy (Fairfield Ludlowe) 15-3; 5th place: Colin Davis (RHAM) dec. James Paigo (Farmington) 2-1
152: Championship: Kameron Bradshaw (New Milford) dec. Randy Boyne (Bristol Central) 7-5; 3rd place: Kevin Kollar (Fairfield Warde) dec. Mason Yancey (Farmington) 6-1; 5th place: Jophy Nieves (Maloney) dec. Michael Calo (Pomperaug) 17-1
160: Championship: Thomas Anania (Fairfield Warde) dec. Randy Hale (Middletown) 3-2; 3rd place: Malcolm Kiplinger (Darien) pin Jacob Kelleher (East Lyme) 4:33; 5th place: Ryan Larson (Maloney) won by default over Matthew Marquis (Bristol Eastern)
170: Championship: Chris Chorzepa (Newington) dec. Alex Cusano (East Lyme) 6-2; 3rd place: Kevin Wivell (Hand) dec. John Forlivio (Darien) 2-0; 5th place: Michael Berlandy (Farmington) dec. Nery Ceron (Norwalk) 5-0
182: Championship: Devon Carrillo (Middletown) pin Sean Doneias (New Milford) 0:23; 3rd place: Geri Hoxha (Bristol Central) dec. Harry Pacheco (Farmington) 1-0; 5th place: Jimmy Mcdunnah (Wethersfield) pin Carter Chatillion (Hand) 1:19
195: Championship: Brandon Riggins (Norwalk) dec. Mike Cassin (Bristol Eastern) 21-6; 3rd place: Cy Mcintosh (Bristol Central) dec. Thomas Stevens (Farmington) 3-1; 5th place: Pat Gravelle (Masuk) dec. Nick White (New Canaan) 8-7
220: Championship: Eric Tucker (Masuk) dec. Ian Jones (Pomperaug) 2-1, 2 OT; 3rd place: Vinny Cancelmo (East Lyme) pin Travis Salois (RHAM) 4:30; 5th place: Brett Akerly (Bristol Eastern) dec. Camillo Venegas (ND-West Haven) 10-6
285: Championship: Joseph Demichele (Hand) pin Mike Money (Fairfield Warde) 1:39; 3rd place: Brandon Marquis (Farmington) dec. Joseph Fraccaroli (Wilton) 3-1; 5th place: Dallas Beltran (E.O. Smith) dec. Bimael Acevedo (Maloney) 9-8.
Outstanding wrestler: Devon Carrillo, Middletown (182)
Fastest fall winner: Devon Carrillo, Middletown, 182, 4 pins, 7:45
Hand captures first state title since 1995
Connecticut Wrestling Online
BRISTOL, Feb. 18 – With five finalists and three individual champions, Hand broke through and won its first state championship since 1995 with a decisive 233-178 win over defending champion New Milford at the Class L championships at Bristol Central.
Hand’s Joe DeMichele (285) and Jake Savocca (145) each won their second straight Class L crown while teammates Will Crisco (120) also came home with a state championship. Matt Elias (106) and Tucker MacGregor (138) each finished second for the Tigers.
“From start to finish, for two days, these guys wrestled real tough, top to bottom,” Hand coach Blair Tugman told the New Haven Register. “We couldn’t have done it without every single one of the kids on the team. Not just the 14 guys that wrestled, but the 30 other guys that are wrestling behind them and pushing them in the [wrestling] room, and everybody that supports them, friends, family, everybody. We appreciate all the support.”
* * * *
It was an emotional afternoon for the New Milford High wrestling team. The Green Wave were looking to defend a state title. They finished second with five finalists and two individual champions.
Conor Kirkegard (113) won his third straight Class L title with a 4-0 decision over Newington’s Brian Amato. Kirkegard improved to 37-0 on the year and 165-9 in his scholastic career.
Teammate Kameron Bradshaw (152) beat Bristol Central’s Randy Boyne, 7-5 for a while that brought Bradshaw to tears. It was a year ago when his older brother Karl saw his senior season end when he was disqualified for what his teammates and coaches thought was an incidental bite. "He was crying pretty hard," Kameron told the Danbury News Times. "We were both crying. I love him to death. He's the best big brother I could ask for. I'm so blessed."
Three other Green Wave wrestlers finished second. Anthony Terlizzi (145) lost to Hand’s Jake Savocca, 6-5 while Sean Doenias (182) also finished second. Ian Curtis (138) was third while Niko Stefanatos (120) and Halim Bourjeli (106) were each sixth.
* * * *
Farmington finished third with 173½ points for its best-ever finish in a CIAC tournament. The Indians will take 10 wrestlers to the State Open but they did it the hard way – through the consolation bracket. Farmington had no finalists and only five wrestlers in the consolation finals. Brandon Marquis (285) finished third while Eric Suhre (113), Mason Yancey (152), Harry Pacheco (182) and Thomas Stevens (195) each finished fourth.
Tim Orrell (106), Garrett Hastings (132), Ryan Rigney (138) and Mike Berland (170) each finished fifth with James Paigo (145) taking sixth. “We’re a team, a team that is solid. We didn’t have the great stars. I think that’s the way we represented at the L’s. We wrestled tough,” Farmington coach Eric Misko told the Farmington Patch.
* * * *
With four pins in 7:45, Middletown’s All-American wrestler, Devon Carrillo collected plenty of hardware. Not only did he win his third Class L championship at 182 pounds but he also collected the outstanding wrestler award and the fast fall award. He won the title by pinning New Milford’s Sean Doenia in 23 seconds – in the finals! “He’s the best kid I’ve had in 18 years,” Middletown head coach Mark Fong told the Middletown Press. “I’ve had a lot of good kids, but none of them have combined athletic ability with the ability to wrestle. He’s very good at all three positions, top, bottom and neutral.”
* * * *
Norwalk High wrestler Brandon Riggins (195) rolled through the tournament to win his second straight Class L championship. Riggins, now 35-0, won the title by tech fall after a 21-6 win over Bristol Eastern’s Mike Cassin.
Newington’s Chris Chorzepa (170) won his first Class L title by ripping off six straight points in a 6-2 win over East Lyme’s Alex Cusano, who got the first takedown of the match. A year ago, Chorzepa dropped a one-point decision in the finals. “I’ve wanted this ever since I started wrestling in the fourth grade,” Chorzepa told the New Britain Herald. “It feels good.”
* * * *
The championship finals in the Class L wrestling tournament was a few hours away and Pomperaug senior Ian Jones was in pain.
Three weeks ago, he had severely sprained an ankle in practice. He was able to finish the season with a 23-4 record and advanced to the finals in the Southwest Conference tournament.
Jones looked strong in his first two victories in the Class L tournament at 220 pounds with pins in 38 seconds and 1:40. But in the semifinals, he re-injured the ankle on a match-winning escape in the final 15 seconds against Camillo Vemegas of Notre Dame-West Haven. Jones won, 7-6.
Pomperaug head coach Mike O’Keefe was considering forfeiting the championship final. But Jones wouldn’t consider it. His opponent was his long-time rival Eric Tucker of Masuk-Monroe. This was the sixth match between the two in the last two seasons.
O’Keefe said that Jones told him, “He doesn’t just get first place. He has to earn it from me. He needs to win it.”
And it took Tucker nearly seven minutes to win a championship. A one-point escape in the third overtime lifted Tucker to a 2-1 victory over Jones in the Class L final Saturday at Bristol Central.
“They are mirror images of each other,” O’Keefe said. “They wrestle the same way. They both look for openings that aren’t there. This time, it was Tucker’s turn.”
Jones prevailed in a dual meet in January by a 5-1 score but Tucker won at last week’s SWC final, 5-0. A year ago, Jones won two of three matches taking the dual meet and winning the SWC title, 3-1 in OT. Tucker beat Jones, 2-1 in overtime in the Class L semifinals.
In Saturday’s final, (28-6) Jones was a bit more aggressive with five attempts to get a takedown. Tucker had one attempt. It wasn’t enough for either wrestler to win in six minutes.
Material from personal notes, the New Britain Herald, Farmington Patch, Danbury News Times, New Haven Register and Middletown Press used to compile this report.
