2013 Class S tournament
At Higgnaum (HK)
Team scores -- 1. Windham 238½; 2. Haddam Killingworth 135½; 3. Terryville and Oxford 131; 5. Montville 127½; 6. Derby 120; 7. Nonnewaug 118; 8. Somers 109; 9. Canton 92; 10. Griswold 88½; 11. Morgan 85; 12. Portland 82; 13. Plainville 77; 14. Seymour 56½; 15. Old Saybrook-Westbrook 56; 16. Gilbert 54; 17. Holy Cross 47; 18. Killingly 39; 19. Housatonic 37½; 20. East Catholic 35; 21. East Windsor 31; 22. Thomaston 28; 23. Rocky Hill 28; 24. Windsor Locks 27; 25. Old Lyme 26½; 26. Hartford Classical/Capital Prep 22½; 27. Stafford 19; 28. Granby 19; 29. Goodwin Tech 15; 30. Enfield 15; 31. Weston 13; 32. Hale Ray 13; 33. East Granby 8; 34. Northwest Catholic 4; 35. East Hampton 4; 36. O'Brien Tech 3; 37. Northwestern 3; 38. Career 3; 39. Notre Dame 0
Individual results
106
Championship: Sebby Ruffino, Windham dec. Josh Russell, Derby, 7-0; Third: Nate Fair, Haddam Killingworth pin Darius Sanchez, Housatonic, 0:48; Fifth: Moonis Ansari, Gilbert dec. Christian Andrade, Somers, 11-4
113
Championship: Mike Ruffino, Windham pin Kieran Duggan, Nonnewaug, 0:53; Third: Lyiam Mathis, Old Lyme pin Joe Rainville, Montville, 2:05; Fifth: Patrick Miko, Derby dec. Hunter Frasca, Somers, 5-2
120
Championship: Elliott Wilion, Terryville dec. Tyler Dobek, Derby, 6-0; Third: Dylan Martel, Griswold dec. Mackay Revis, Haddam Killingworth, 12-4; Fifth: Brian Taylor, Morgan dec. Connor Reinsch, Portland, 9-1
126
Championship: Mason Rambarose, Portland dec. Nick Zachary, Somers, 2-1; Third: Zac Cassidy, Griswold dec. Tom Wynosky, Montville, 2-0; Fifth: Xavier Vidal, Seymour dec. Sam Ferreira, Terryville, 21-6
132
Championship: Jake Caskey, Montville dec. Dane Christiansen, Seymour, 11-2; Third: Janos Lobb, Oxford dec. David Parmelee, Haddam Killingworth, 10-6; Fifth: Peter Harris, East Catholic dec. George Andrews, Terryville, 4-3
138
Championship: David Colvin, OSW dec. Avery Ellegard, Terryville, 8-3, 2 OT; Third: Ryan Henderson, Haddam Killingworth pin Seb Hernandez, Derby, 4:03; Fifth: Austin Caffrey, Killingly dec. Joseph Adams, Goodwin Tech, 4-2
145
Championship: Josh Fontanez, Portland dec. Bryan Burnette, Holy Cross, 6-4; Third: Dakota Fleming, Windham dec. Mike Rose, Osw, 3-0; Fifth: Kyle Dombrowski, Griswold dec. Logan Smith, Gilbert, 5-3
152
Championship: Steve Persson, Oxford dec. Rigon Gilani, Thomaston, 7-0; Third: Jake Gonzalez, East Catholic dec. Dan Folino, Terryville, 5-0; Fifth: Chris Vandebogart, Canton dec. Connor Oakes, Plainville, injury default
160
Championship: Khamri Thomas, Windsor Locks dec. John Dagostino, Nonnewaug, 3-0; Third: Mischa Hoffman, Plainville dec. Ben Corbett, Canton, 8-4; Fifth: Jacob Schmalz, Montville dec. Richard Jarnot, East Windsor, 9-3
170
Championship: Devyn Petsa, Windham dec. Matt Nicolari, Derby, 3-1; Third: Zachary Roth, Haddam Killingworth pin Martin Simon, Oxford, 1:31; Fifth: Brendan Sullivan, Holy Cross dec. Dylan Houle, Canton, 2-1
182
Championship: Spencer Hill, Windham dec. Chris Young, Rocky Hill, 2-1; Third: Alex Mardis, Oxford dec. Marcus Slivinski, Plainville, 5-1; Fifth: Fjoralb Cekici, Nonnewaug pin Ethan Pace, Stafford, 4:00
195
Championship: Kyle Foster, Somers dec. Xavier Kernozek, Windham, 9-0; Third: Chris Samboy, Classical dec. Tim West, Plainville, 1-0; Fifth: Chris Mutch, Canton dec. Andrew Temple, Oxford, Injury default
220
Championship: Nick Poulin, Windham pin Skylar Lang, Canton, 0:37; Third: Adam Patsun, Somers pin Jermaine Frazer, Griswold, 4:46; Fifth: Hunter Aiona, Morgan pin Mike Kampartas, Gilbert, 1:20
285
Championship: Wolfg Fiasconaro, Windham pin Ryan Murtha, Montville, 2:30; Third: Dan Carbonaro, Oxford pin Broden Wells, Haddam Killingworth, 0:50; Fifth: Josh Zitnay, Nonnewaug dec. Luke Hart, Hale Ray, Default
Outstanding wrestler: Kyle Fosters, Somers (195)
Fast fall: Mike Ruffino (113), Windham, 4 pins in 5:50
Dominant Windham wins first Class S title
By GERRY deSIMAS, JR.
Connecticut Wrestling Online
HIGGNAUM, Feb. 16 – There hasn’t been this kind of domination by one team in the Class S tournament in over a quarter century. Windham High, which was second in Class M a year ago, made their debut in the Class S tournament in smashing style.
The Whippets brought 14 wrestlers to the tournament and everyone won at least one match. Eight wrestlers finished among the top six to qualify for next week’s State Open wrestling championships and seven earned spots in the finals. Six Whippets won, three by pin.
It helped Windham win their 10th state championship banner with a 100-point win over host Haddam Killingworth,238½ to 135½. It’s the second largest margin of victory in Class S history. Only a 117½ win by Pulaski High of New Britain in 1976 was larger.
The Whippets previously won five Class L and four Class M championships. It’s most recent title came seven years ago in 2006.
“The one thing we pride ourselves on is our conditioning,” Windham coach Patrick Risley said. “We may not be the most technical team but we will wear you down. That is our signature – constant pressure. We constantly keep coming at you. That is how we got some our pins (in the finals).
Senior Mike Ruffino (113) won his third straight state title with a 53 second pin of Nonnewaug freshman Kieran Duggan. Ruffino got the initial takedown and a two-point near fall but Duggan was able to fight off his back and get a reversal of his own.
But he had little time to enjoy that. Ruffino kept the pressure on, got a reversal and finished the match within a minute.
At 220, Nick Poulin got Canton’s Skylar Lang on his back early and never let him breathe with a 37-second in. At 285, Windham’s Wolfgang Fiasconaro won his second straight state title with a pin over Montville’s Ryan Murtha.
Windham’s Sebby Ruffino (106), Devyn Pesta (160) and Spencer Hill (170) also won titles for the Whippets. Hill wrestled with a broken foot he suffered late in the high school football season.
With the finals beginning at 160 pounds, Risley and Windham had wrestlers in seven straight weight classes. The only loss in the run was Xavier Kernozek’s 9-0 loss to two-time Class S champion Kyle Fosters of Somers at 189 pounds. Foster was named the tournament’s outstanding wrestler.
“To be sitting in that chair for seven straight matches was something special,” Risley said. “The kids worked hard to get here.”
It will be an adjustment for the Whippets in Class S. “This is where we will be for the next few years,” Risley said. “My kids are competitors. They would rather be in Class M to compete with Ledyard and only because it’s Ledyard.”
Windham’s only loss this season was a three-point loss to the Class M champion Colonels. And he isn’t keeping his team’s expectations on just a Class S title.
“I wanted to see our expectations higher than a Class S championship this year,” he said. “We always battle and wrestle tough.”
For the rest of Class S, it will be a time to adjust or get left behind.
“This is what we should aspire to be,” Terryville coach Peter Veleas said. “It’s good to have them here. It’s good to see what a real good team is like up close and personal. Kids and teams can see what it is like to wrestle with a team that can contend at the State Open.”
“Windham is consistent. They’re aggressive and they’re a very efficient team,” Nonnewaug coach David Green said. “They’re solid from top to bottom and their kids wrestle hard.”
It was the biggest win in the tournament since Avon won by 73 points over Berlin in 1987.
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Oxford’s Steve Persson (152) is the only wrestler in his team’s brief history to win a state championship. The junior won his second straight on Saturday with a 7-0 win over Thomaston’s Rigon Gilani.
Gilani had beaten Persson (33-3) with a last-second victory, 10-9 earlier this year.
In the final, Persson took command immediately with a quick 4-0 lead with a takedown and a near fall. He never let Gilani (24-3) back into the match.
“He was really ready to perform today,” Oxford High coach Ben Blue said. “It was a simple, basic type of domination. He is very determined.”
* * * *
Persson was one of six Class S champions to win multiple state titles. Windham’s Mike Ruffino added a Class S title to a pair of Class M titles in won in the previous two seasons. Poulin and Fiasconaro won their second straight titles along with Somer’s Kyle Foster.
Old Saybrook/Westbrook’s David Colburn (38-2, 138) had go to into double overtime to secure his second straight Class S title. Colburn was facing Terryville’s senior Avery Ellegard and led 3-2 after two periods.
But Ellegard battled and got an escape with 11 seconds left in regulation to tie the bout and send it into overtime. After a scoreless first OT session, Colburn took a 5-3 lead with a reversal in the second OT. After a second reversal and a penalty point, Colburn had a commanding 8-3 lead.
* * * *
For the first time ever, Portland High had two individual champions with Mason Rambarose beating Somers’ Nick Zachary, 2-1 at 126 pounds and Josh Fernandez outlasting Holy Cross’ Bryan Burnette, 6-4 in the final at 132 pounds.
Portland has had just two previous state champions and the most recent state titlist was Nick Nicholson, who won the second of two Class S titles in 1996.
Rambarose, a sophomore and a New York State sectional placewinner a year ago, was the third seed and is now 36-2 on the year. Fernandez got a key takedown with 1:19 left in the match to secure the win. Fernandez was second at 132 a year ago.
* * * *
Windham is just the second school since 1976 to win state titles in three divisions. Berlin was the first team to win a Class S, M and L championship. … The second place finish was the best-ever finish for H-K, which fielded its first team seven years ago in 2006. …
