Announcement
BRISTOL — With the big clash of top 5 teams behind them, the Bristol Central wrestling squad appeared more relaxed than at any point leading up to last Saturday’s dual meets with now top-ranked New Milford and then-No. 3 Bacon Academy.
“It’s nice for the kids that they don’t have to look down that road anymore,” Central coach Brian Archibald said.
“Now that last weekend is over, the kids can regroup and refocus and work on becoming better wrestlers.”
On Wednesday, that deep breath seemed to pay dividends for the Rams as they made easy work of Berlin, 51-19, in the duo’s first official meeting as Southern Division rivals.
The Central victory was aided by three Redcoat forfeits.
“We’re not a bad team by any stretch. We’re just battling a number of injuries,” Berlin coach Dave Tremblay said. “We need to try and get healthy right now. We know that we’re not going to win too many matches when we have to forfeit four or five matches each time.”
The Redcoats currently have two grapplers out with concussions and three are unable to compete with shoulder injuries. Tremblay said that he’s not sure if any of the five will be able to return this season.
But even with that being the case, the Rams weren’t about to take Berlin (7-10) lightly.
“We knew they were pretty banged-up and we are a little banged-up too,” Archibald said. “But that’s a program with a lot of tradition and you can never take them lightly. We knew that there was going to be a couple of good matchups and there was. In the end, I just think that they were a little bit more banged-up than us.”
A Berlin forfeit in the opening bout staked the Rams (15-1) to a 6-0 advantage. They never looked back.
Joe Hoxha added four points to the Central lead on the strength of a major decision over Anthony Squiteri — although hit wasn’t easy. Squiteri closed within one point, 11-10, with under a minute remaining in the third period before Hoxha responded with seven consecutive points to close out the 152-pound bout on top 18-10.
Austin Darley (160) added six more points to the early Central advantage, needing just 55 seconds to dispose of Dan Lojko.
Not only did the Rams win the first three matches to go ahead 16-0, at no point had they trailed in a single bout.
That streak came to an end with 15 seconds remaining in the opening period of the 171-pound match as Jack Banks scored a takedown of Chris Dionne to give Berlin its first lead of any kind. Banks went on to win the contest 5-1.
The Redcoats wrestled well the rest of the way, holding a lead in five of the remaining eight bouts of the night that were decided on the mat.
The only problem for the group from Berlin was the fact that in the end it was a Ram standing with their hand raised on all but three occasions.
“Most of the kids wrestled pretty well but some could have been more aggressive,” Tremblay said. “Right now, the kids have to think about their individual goals and what they want to accomplish. They should be pursuing those goals.”
Dan Cirullo (103), Andrew Sonneson (140) and Andrew Land (215) joined Banks in the win column for the Redcoats. Land and Cirullo both won by pinfall.
After Cirullo’s victory over Matt Trelli, Central ran off five consecutive wins to put the match on ice.
Back-to-back pins from Mike Pokorny (112) and 119-pounder Joe Galvin in under a minute pushed the Rams to a 28-point lead with just four matches remaining.
Colin Lombardi earned the clincher with a hard-fought 8-6 decision over Shaun Sullivan one bout later.
Nick Cyr’s technical fall victory and a Seth Vose decision of Will Matuszak extended the Rams advantage to 51-15 before Sonneson conquered Dale Valcourt 10-0 in the final bout of the affair.
The win marked the third straight for the Rams after dropping their first match of the season on Saturday. The loss to New Milford ended Central’s state-best streak of 24 consecutive dual meet wins.
“I think we’re still in a situation where we when we smell it, we have to go for it. We’re still not doing that,” Archibald said. “But right now our focus is on states. We want to run through the rest of the season and win them all, but our No. 1 goal is to try and win a state championship.”
The Rams will travel to New York to take part in the Islip, Long Island Tournament on Saturday.
Berlin is at the Eagle Classic in Manchester.
Bristol Central 51, Berlin 19
145—Zack Cappola (BC) forfeit. 152—Joe Hoxha (BC) major dec. Anthony Squiteri 18-10. 160—Austin Darly (BC) pin Dan Lojko :52. 171—Jack Banks (B) dec. Chris Dionne 5-1. 189—Jason Andrews (BC) forfeit. 215—Andrew Land (B) pin Mason Powers 1:31. 285—DJ Sanderson (BC) forfeit. 103—Dan Cirullo (B) pin Matt Trelli 3:47. 112—Mike Pokorny (BC) pin Kevin Pirucci :57. 119—Joe Galvin (BC) pin Stephanie Cohen :55. 125—Colin Lombardi (BC) dec. Shaun Sullivan 8-6. 130—Nick Cyr (BC) tech. fall Jordan Zima 17-0. 135—Seth Vose (BC) dec. Will Matuszak 7-2. 140—Andrew Sonneson (B) major dec. Dale Valcourt 10-0.
Records: Central 15-1 (4-0), Berlin 7-10 (1-2).
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