Minutemen Youth Wrestling

It was Super Bowl Sunday and a few brave soles that didn't like Pittsburgh or Seattle decided to travel to South Windsor for the Bobcat Brawl. This tournament was a Qualifier for a Tournament in Ohio so all the brackets were tough on the day. Devon Reilly placed 2nd while Riley Greider and Sean Sullivan placed 4th. Ethan Greider was on the short of all his matches while losing two close matches.

A large group of first and second year wrestlers traveled on Saturday, February 4th to Coventry for a Novice Tournament. In the Bantam Division Michael Patterson took 1st, Nicholas Zuk 2nd, Michael Rubino 3rd and Kyle Roy 4th. Midgets Division: 2nd Place - Jimmy Bourgoin and Riley Greider, 3rd Place - Richie Schlichting and Thomas Pietruszewski. Wrestling tough on the day was Vinny Agosta in his first tournament. In the Novice Division Ethan Greider placed 3rd.

Berlin Wins 5th Annual Central Connecticut Youth Wrestling Duals The Berlin Youth program teamed up with some alumni middle school wrestlers to travel to Cheshire High School for the 5th Annual Central Connecticut Youth Wrestling Duals with five other teams. In a different format then most youth matches each team had to supply 26 wrestlers for specific weight classes and ages groups. If you did not have a wrestler for a specific weight your team forfeited that weight and points. This meant the Berlin squad would move wrester’s around to fill weight classes and sometimes wrestling older opponents. The Berlin team was able to win all five matches on the day to bring home the first place team trophy. Going undefeated on the day were: 5 Wins: Nick Mangiafico, Todd Koops, (2 pins 2 major decisions), Ryan Bisson, Chad Keyworth, Danny Hackett (3 pins) and Jack Banks. 4 wins: Brendan Butler, and Ricky Mullins (3 pins and a major decision), 3 wins: Matt Cote and Jacob Eliades. Wethersfield had to forfeit nine matches but the Minutemen didn't let up and won an additional ten matches only dropping two to the Red Eagles winning 108-9. This first match set the tone for the rest of the day.. Winning by pin for the Minutemen were: Andrew Zovich, Ricky Mullins, Tyler Cunningham, Sam Vreeland, Ryan Butler, Ryan Bisson, Chad Keyworth and Rob Sarmuk. Scott Zagorski won a close match 3-2 while Jack Banks won 5-3. Berlin then defeated Meriden 67-27. Winning by pin for Berlin were: Andrew Zovich, Matt Cote, Sam Vreeland, Brendan Butler and Danny Hackett. Winning by decision were: Riley Greider, Nick Mangiafico (OT), Ricky Mullins, Jeremy Eliades, Jacob Eliades, Todd Koops, Ryan Butler, Ryan Bisson (OT), Chad Keyworth, and Jack Banks. Rob Sarmuk picked up a win by forfeit. In what turned out to be the match for first place, the Berlin squad wrestled tough and won against Newington 61-43. Newington jumped out early lead beating, Rubino, Andrew Zovich and Patterson. Then Riley Grieder won by technical fall. Anthony Zovich and Ethan Grieder were beaten before Nick Mangiafico won by pin. After a tough lose by Jeremy Eliades the Minutemen ran off seven wins by Sean Pentalow, Jacob Eliades, Todd Koops, Scott Xagorski, Tyler Cunningham, Sam Vreeland and Ryan Butler. Ryan Butler lost a close match before the middle school wrestlers came through with wins by Ryan Bisson, Chad Keyworth, Danny Hackett and Jack Banks. In the last dual meet of the day Berlin defeated Cheshire 111-7. Winning by pin were: Nick Mangiafico, Ricky Mullins, Matt Cote, Sean Pentalow, Jacob Eliades, Todd Koops, Scott Zagorski, Ryan Bisson, Danny Hackett and Joey Harrington. Decision wins were achieved by: Andrew Zovich, Tyler Cunningham, Brendan Butler, Alex Chyra, Chad Keyworth and Jack Banks. Coach Moss said, “I never dreamed we would do as well as we did.” Berlin was able to join when last year’s champion Bristol did not return. Coach Moss added, “We have some very good wrestlers that have really progressed as the year has gone on.” This team currently has the most dual meet wins in program history with a record of 10-1 with three matches to go. They are getting ready for the CT Kid’s Tournaments at the end of February. The Novice and Middle School wrestlers will compete in a qualifier on Sunday, February 19th where the top four place finishers will advance to the State Championship in New Haven on Sunday, January 26th. On the 26th the Bantam and Midget wrestlers will also compete for state titles.

In many of these young wrestler's first tournament they showed no signs of being nervous as they all performed well on the day in Glastonbury on January 8th. In the Bantam Division Hunter Verdi took first place while Kyle Roy and Nick Zuk took 2nd. Michael Rubino placed 3rd. Andrew Luczak and Michael Patterson each placed 4th. In the Midget Division, Riley Greider and Nick Vreeland won their divisions. Michael Gurrieri, Richard Cassineri, Richie Schlichting and Andrew Mals. In the Novice Division Ethan Greider won 2nd place. Coach Roger Moss said, "This was the first tournament for many of these young wrestler's and they all performed well." He added that, "the boys are really progressing and improving each week."

It was a long day in Somers but the Minutemen did well. In the Midget Division: 1st Place - Jeremy Eliades, Todd Koops and Colin Cunningham, 3rd Place Matt Cote and4th Place Riley Greider and Richie Schlichting. The afternoon group was lead in the Novice Division by 1st Tyler Cunningham, 2nd Jacob Eliades, 3rd Nick Mangiafico and 4th Ethan Greider. Middle School Division: 1st Place Mason Powers and Ryan Bisson and 3rd Place Carla Mangiafico.