Minutemen Youth Wrestling

By KEN LIPSHEZ, Staff Writer January 19, 2003 BERLIN -- When the moment came that Chris D’Angelo had to summon all his strength, the 189-pounder had help from spirits of Southington past. D’Angelo was locked in mortal combat with Steve Welch of Waterford when his practice time with former Blue Knights Bill and John Lee kicked in. D’Angelo rebounded from apparent disaster to pin Welch in overtime Saturday to propel seventh-ranked Southington past No. 8 Waterford, 46-30, in the championship match of the Art Powers Duals at Berlin High. Southington has won the Powers Duals three years running. "We’ve been fortunate," Southington coach Pete Sepko said. "There have been good teams here but we’ve had good teams to compete with them. This isn’t the strongest team I’ve had here in the last three years but they got the job done and I’m very pleased with their performance." No. 9 Berlin, beaten by Waterford in a heart-wrenching 37-36 semifinal, whipped Ledyard, 37-18, to garner third place. Fitch slapped Hand, 44-27, in the battle for fifth place, while Stamford avoided a winless day by slamming Bristol Central, 42-33. Southington defeated Hand (52-25), Stamford (50-26) and Ledyard (48-28) en route to the title match. Berlin began by bouncing Bristol (51-18) and flogging Fitch (47-15) for the second time in a week. With six bouts remaining, D’Angelo’s was key. Southington (13-2) was nursing a three-point lead when he locked arms with his equally powerful foe. After a scoreless first period, D’Angelo chose the down slot and engineered a reversal. He was assessed a penalty point for stalling, then Welch escaped to tie the bout in the third. His strength ebbed and thoughts of fatigue entered his mind, but the extra training that he’d done with the Lee brothers took over. Welch got behind him in overtime and appeared ready to gain sudden victory via a takedown when D’Angelo swung him in front and pinned him in one motion at 6:37. "I’ve been practicing with Bill and John Lee the past couple weeks," D’Angelo said. "They would get behind me and when I wouldn’t try to get out they would beat on me more and make it all the worse. I knew as soon as he got behind me I had to blow right out of there before he got some points or else I was dead. I didn’t really think about it." The victory was D’Angelo’s fourth pin of the day, raising his season mark to 16-3 with 13 falls. "I didn’t know Chris could move that fast," Sepko said. "They almost got the takedown on him. He somehow got out of it and put the kid to his back. That was a nine-point swing." D’Angelo had plenty of help. Four teammates also went unbeaten on the day -- Brandon Taricani (112), Jon Vose (215/275), Andy Liseo (160), Paul Sasso (119) and yet another of the wrestling Lees, 135-pound Chris Lee. Jeff Fontaine (103) went 3-1. Vose, coming off two weeks of inactivity, recorded four pins to boost his season mark to 13-2. St. Pierre, now 17-0 on the season, won three by fall and a fourth by injury default. "Jon was just chomping at the bit to get back in the lineup," Sepko said. Berlin’s loss to Waterford stemmed from an illegal slam. A bout that would have gone Berlin’s way ended in default when the Waterford wrestler couldn’t continue and the point swing proved fatal. Nonetheless, Berlin coach Jim Day felt the Powers Duals once again served their purpose in the Redcoats’ march toward the postseason. "Overall I saw a lot of growth today," Day said. "Our kids had to bear down against solid competition all day long so I got out of this day what it was designed for." Justin Giarnella (152) and John Russo (275) were the big winners for Berlin (14-4). Giarnella, taking down opponents almost at will, stretched his season record to 19-1. Russo has now won all 20 of his bouts, 16 by fall and four by forfeit. Dan Madey (119), B.J. Madey (130) and C.J. McCormack (140), Eric McCurdy (160) and Nick DiSalvo (171) all won three of four. Carl Ciarcia (145) battling his way back from a thumb injury, won both of his bouts. "Danny Madey wrestled his heart out and really emptied his tank," Day said. "(McCormack and B.J. Madey) had great days. They dropped matches by a point or overtime to defending state champs." McCormack lost to Chris Coppolo of Fitch, 4-3, after beating Coppolo the previous Saturday in overtime. B.J. Madey dropped a 10-8 overtime decision to J.P. Gilbert of Fitch. Ken Lipshez can be reached at Klipshez@newbritainherald.com or by calling (860) 225-4601, ext. 222.