Minutemen Youth Wrestling

A special thank you to Mark MAngifico, Janet and Fred Orde, Michael and Mike Patterson, Pete, Lisa, Daniel, Josh and Zachary Veleas for spending 4 hours moving our equipment out of our our Middletown location.  It was a lot of heavy moving and cleaning to get us out before Wednesday, November 15th.  We still have more to move.  If anyone knows someone looking for a living room set let me know as we have one that is in decent condition that I would hate to just throwout.

Don't for get to send in your registration forms.  The season will be here in three weeks. 

Coach Moss 

Those tournaments with a * will have at least one coach attending.

On Sunday, March 2nd a small group of Minutemen traveled to Hillhouse in New Haven for the USA Youth State Tournament. The four Minutemen that competed were in two brackets two in each. Hoping they won’t meet each other early in the tournament they took the mats seeking gold. In the Intermediate Division Nicholas Koops and Isaac Cortes both wrestled in the 65 pound weight class. Niko was the first on the mat where he faced Braden Olmstead of New Milford. Olmstead was the eventual 4th place finisher as he topped Koops 10-1. Niko dropped his second match to Luke Pagano-Walley of Wilton 10-3 to end his tournament run. Isaac Cortes dropped a tough 3-1 decision to Nathan Blaha of Ridgefield (the eventual sixth place finisher) before beating Melakai Maddox of New London with a reversal at the buzzer to win 7-6. Next was Ryan Leung of Wilton who beat Isaac and finished the tournament in 5th place. In the 95 pound bracket, Marcus Kelly-Johnson advanced with a bye to face Jacob Marasco of the Windham Silverbacks. Marcus got caught on his back and the eventual 2nd place finisher pinned Marcus. Marcus then faced Raphael Vogt of Montville and again at the buzzer was able to score three points to beat him 8-7 before losing to eventual third place finisher Charley Bartro of Redding. The final Minuteman was Jordan Sackschewsky who qualified as a first year wrestler. His first match was against eventual champion Jamikael Lytle of NE Elite, he then had a bye before facing Bartro of Redding who had also beaten Marcus Kelly-Johnson. Coach Roger Moss said, “These four young wrestlers gained some valuable lessons today that I hope they will apply as they move forward in wrestling. At this level it is tough and getting tougher each year to advance and place as the talent in the State of Connecticut gets better. I am proud of each and everyone of them for their effort today, they didn’t quit and worked hard.” Zachary Skinner traveled down to the tournament in hopes of getting in as an alternate in the 70 pound Intermediate Division. Unfortunately there were no scratches and Zachary was left cheering on his teammates. Coach Moss wanted to thank Mark Mangiafico, Fred Orde and Tim Bisson who also attended the tournament and coached the Minutemen. There was success from Berlin residents Daniel Veleas wrestling for KT Kidz. Daniel won three matches before dropping a 9-2 decision in the final against Chase Parrott of Stamford to finish second. Brother Joshua Veleas wrestled in the 105 weight class where he placed 3rd avenging an earlier loss on the day to Cara Broadus of NE Elite 3-0.

This code of conduct has been established to ensure that there is a defined method for the handling of unacceptable conduct by coaches at USAWCT sanctioned wrestling events.  The responsibility of the assigned officials and the USAWCT Board of Directors is described in this document. 

Symbolic Yellow Cards will be given to a coach by the official if a coach is issued a Warning. Warnings are given for:      1) Questioning Judgment 2) Improper Action of a Coacho   As described by the current season tournament guidelines, policy on harassment and abuse or other applicable state or national guidelines.

Symbolic Red Cards will be given if a Coach is issued a Flagrant Misconduct.   If a Coach is issued a Red Card that Coach will not be able to participate in the next USAWCT tournament that their team is attending.Flagrant Misconduct is:  1) An act the Official judges serious enough to remove offender from the premises  2) As described by the current season tournament guidelines, policy on harassment and abuse or other applicable state or national guidelines. 2-Yellow cards in the same day will be considered a Red Card in which the Coach will not be able to participate in the remainder of the current or the next tournament that their team is attending. 3- Yellow cards during the season will be an automatic Red Card in which the Coach will not be able to participate in the next tournament that their team is attending following the day the third yellow card is issued. If the Coach received 2 Red Cards in the same season this will be grounds for an Automatic Due Process Hearing as defined in the USAWCT Bylaws.  If the Coach refuses to participate in the Due Process Hearing their coach’s card will be automatically suspended for an entire year without appeal.Officials will fill out a form explaining the reason for either a yellow or red card.Each club will be asked to designate a Head Coach for each Session of the Tournament for that Day. This will be done at registration. Head Coach will be the point of contact regarding the conduct of their staff and fans.

The sun was shining on Sunday as the Berlin Minutemen traveled to Southington High for their State Qualifying Tournament.   Nine members of the team were looking to place in the top four to move on to next week’s State Tournament at Hillhouse High in New Haven.

In the Intermediate Division Nicholas Koops and Isaac Cortes both wrestled in the 65 pound weight class. Zachary Skinner wrestled in one of the largest brackets in the tournament at 70 pounds.  Zachary won his first match 5-4 before dropping a heartbreaking 7-6 decision in the quarter finals.  He then went on a run winning two before losing a tough match to his Plainville opponent.  This dropped him into a match for 5^th place where he pinned his opponent from Fisheye Wrestling to become an alternate for next week’s tournament.  Rory Mayer at 75 pounds finished  4^th and qualified for next week. There were three Minutemen in the 95 pound bracket. Marcus Kelly-Johnson placed 2^nd and Jordan Sackschewsky placed 4^th both qualifying for next week.  First year wrestler Johnny Rosario worked hard on the day and finished 5^th.  In the Novice Division Sadie Boyer wrestled in the tough 70 pound bracket and did not place. Finally in the Middle School Division Tyler Jones wrestled in the 175 division giving up ten pounds to his opponents and finished 5^th on the day.

Head Coach Roger Moss said, “The nine wrestlers we brought today worked hard and represented us well.  We competed in the largest of four qualifiers in the state and with some of the best competition as well.  I am happy for those who will be moving on to the state tournament next week.”

Also competing from Berlin were Daniel Veleas placing 1^st in Middle School 70 division and brother Joshua Velease who placed 2^nd in the Middle School 105 division. Ryan Devivo placed 4^th in his middle school bracket.  All three now wrestle for KT Kidz and qualified for next week.