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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).
Three Redcoats win on snow-rushed day
Saturday, December 19, 2009 7:41 PM EST
BERLIN — With the Nor’easter bearing down on central Connecticut, the general theme at Saturday’s Berlin Invitational was to grab your headgear and get ready to rumble.
With 11 teams attending from around the state and one from Long Island, coaches were almost as cognizant of beating the storm as they were of winning matches.
The weather didn’t concern Berlin 215-pounder Mason Powers. Neither did missing two weeks of wrestling practice because his role on the state championship Berlin football team kept him rather busy.
Powers used an escape to gain a hard-fought 1-0 decision over Logan Thorp of Middletown Saturday to help Berlin to a third-place finish.
Berlin crowned three champions. Shaun Sullivan (125) and Jack Banks (171) received the hardware but didn’t have to compete in a final bout. Sullivan won when Hand’s Max Flanagan couldn’t answer the bell due to an injured hand. Banks was pitted against Phil Santomauro of Harborfields, a team from Greenlawn, N.Y., that left for its Long Island home early because of the storm, resulting in a forfeit.
Will Matuszak (135) finished second after dropping a one-point decision to Hand’s John Jongbloed,
New Milford won the team title with 192 points, a slim 2.5 ahead of Hand. Berlin totaled 115.5, two points ahead of Harborfields. Berlin coach Dave Tremblay was pleased with the effort.
“It’s better than we did last year (5th),” he said. “Looking at the two teams that came in first and second, they’re top-10 teams. I’m pretty happy with a third-place finish with the competition we had here.”
Powers and Logan Thorp of Middletown battled through a scoreless first period. Thorp chose neutral to start the second and the bout remained scoreless.
Powers, opting for the down slot in the third period, needed just 23 seconds to escape and gain the only point. He was surprised that Thorp didn’t choose the down slot and go for the escape in the second.
“Yes, I was surprised because if it went to overtime, the match can go to the person who scored the first point,” he said.
Thorp said he would make the same decision if faced with it again.
“I’m not that good in the top or bottom position,” he said. “I asked my coach [Mark Fong] if I could go neutral.”
Thorp’s strategy surprised Tremblay, too.
“With a tie score I’m picking down,” he said. “If you’re good you’re going to win. It’s part of the gamble. The coach must think his weak spot was going down. It’s early in the season. We’ll wrestle them in a dual meet and it could be a whole different match.”
Powers was optimistic he would slip Thorp’s grip to take the lead.
“I knew I was going to get away,” Powers said. “I’ve really improved on the bottom over the years. It’s one of my strengths.”
Powers had to avert a stalling penalty the rest of the way.
“I tried to take control with a baseball grip,” he said. “With the baseball grip, I could take away his shot technique and could work him toward out of bounds. [The official] is more likely to hit him with stalling.”
Banks advanced to the final with a well-orchestrated 5-1 victory over Brian Richmond of New Milford. Banks was the aggressor in a scoreless first period, and then rode his foe for the entire second when Richmond chose the down position. With Banks opting for down in the third, he escaped in five seconds and gained a takedown with 46 seconds left. He finished with a takedown at the buzzer.
Powers survived a 5-2 overtime match with Dylan Lindahl in the semifinals. Trailing 2-1, he gained a penalty point, escaped and registered a takedown to clinch the win.
Matuszak settled for second place to Jongbloed when he was assessed a penalty point for stalling and droped a 4-3 verdict. Matuszak’s reversal early in the second period enabled him to shave Christian Hammon of Hand, 2-1, in the semifinals.
Dan Cirullo took third at 103 for the Redcoats.
NOTES: Former Berlin wrestler Jason Siegal coaches the Hartford magnet school co-op team composed of University High and Sports and Medical Sciences Academy. … Ex-BHS coaching legend and current athletic director Jim Day will be inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame on April 10 at Foxwoods. Day will receive a lifetime achievement award. … Jack Rudy, a Berlin heavyweight last season, is serving as a volunteer coach for the Redcoats.
Jack Banks and Chad Keyworth both won matches by forfeit for the Redcoats.
Newington finishes third at Art Powers
BERLIN — Newington was the best local team at the prestigous Art Powers Duals Saturday at Berlin High School.
Newington went 2-2 on the day, finishing third. The Indians (14-3) downed Platt and Trumbull, but lost ot Hand and RHAM. Brian Amato went 4-0 on the day at 103, while Anthony Vasile was 3-1 at 285.
Mohsin Raza (112) and Hiren Pandya (160) went 3-1 on the day. Chris Chorzepa went 2-2 against a difficult draw at 125.
Art Powers Duals
Teams: Daniel Hand, Waterford, RHAM, Newington, Trumbull, Berlin, Killingly, Platt
Finals
Daniel Hand 42, Waterford 27
Third-place match
RHAM 43, Newington 21
Consolation
Trumbull 39, Berlin 28
Mason Powers won by forfeit as the team clinched the victory, also getting pins from Will Matuszak, Chad Keyworth and Anthony Squitieri.
Ironically, Tremblay said he was most impressed with the performance of Mike Campisi, who lost 4-0 to defending state champion Aaron Cardona, a very respectable finish.
Tremblay said that Campisi avoiding the pin was a momentum swing for his team.
Shaun Sullivan, Andrew Soneson and Jack Banks won decisions and Christian Tomasiti won by forfeit.
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