Minutemen Youth Wrestling

Berlin's first tournament a huge success. On Sunday, January 16th the Berlin Minutemen hosted their first USA Wrestling Tournament at Berlin High School. The tournament was attended by over 300 wrestler's from 25 different teams from Connecticut. Head Coach Roger Moss said, "the tournament ran very smoothly and everyone who attended was happy with the way the day ran." He added, "If it weren't for the Berlin parents, High School Wrestling Team members, Middle School Wrestling Coach Bryan Polona, High School Assistant Coach Barb Breslin and many others we wouldn't have been able to have such a great event." The locals faired well as the following wrestlers' placed in the tournament: Bantam: 3rd Place, Andrew Zovich Midget: 1st Place, Nicholas Mangiafico, Jacob Eliades and Brendan Butler. 2nd Place, Anthony Zovich. 3rd Place, Tood Koops. 4th Place, Andrew Mals and Colin Cunningham Novice: 1st Place, Ricky Mullins, Will Matuszak, Tyler Cunningham, Ryan Butler, and Mason Powers. 2nd Place, Sam Vreeland. 3rd Place, Sean Pentalow and Anthony Scacca. Middle School: 1st place, Ryan Bisson and Ryan Vujs. 4th Place Ian Vujs. Thanks for everyone who help us run a great tournament. It went very well and people were very happy with it and know next year we will have even more wrestlers. I would like to really say everyone who helped throughout the day did a fantastic job. The concessions went great where we sold 48 pizzas and all the other ziti that people made. Attached are the tournament results for anyone wishing to view the information. They are in a PDF format.

The Berlin Youth Wrestler's took to the mat again this time at Southington High School held on Sunday, January 9, 2005. Berlin was represented by 18 young wrestler's with the following results: Bantam: 1st Place, Jeremy Eliades and 3rd Place Andrew Zovich Midget: 1st Place, Brandon Butler and Jacob Eliades, 2nd Place - Matthew Cote, Colin Cunningham, Nicholas Mangiafico and Anthony Zovich. While Tood Koops and Andrew Mals wrestled hard they did not medal on the day. Novice: 1st Mason Powers and Tyler Cunningham. 2nd Anthony Scacca and Sam Vreeland. 3rd - Ricky Mullins and Sean Pentalow. Middle School: 2nd Kevin Moss and 3rd Place Brandon Solek. The highlight of the day was Sam Vreeland's 2OT win in which he escaped with third seconds to go for the win. The next tournament will be hosted by the Minutemen at Berlin High School on January 16th.

BERLIN, CT - On April 2nd a group of the Berlin Minutemen traveled to Portland Maine to compete in the Marshwood New England Kid’s Championships. The 27 wrestlers were broken down by grade division and the 3 and 4 grade division were crowned champions with 154.5 points beating out 36 other teams. In the Kindergarten through 2nd grade Midget Division three wrestlers all placed finishing in 11th place out of 34 teams. In the 48 lb division Andrew Zovich pinned his first two opponents in a total of 48 seconds. In the finals Andrew lost 4-0 to take 2nd place. In the 62 lb. Division Sean Sullivan won his first match 9-3 then dropped a 4-1 decision in the semi-finals. He then pinned his next opponent in 27 seconds and won an exciting consolation final 8-6. The final wrestling in this division was Jeremy Eliades in the 64 lb weight class. Jeremy pinned his first two opponents before beating Nicholas Hemm of Colchester 7-6 for 1st place and the Minutemen’s first New England Champion. The 3rd and 4th Graders had the largest group of wrestler’s which help lead them to a team title. The first wrestler was Anthony Zovich in the 54 lb weight class. Anthony lost his first match 9-0 to the eventual champion. Not to have his day end quickly, Anthony pinned his next opponent, then won 9-2 before winning by pin for 3rd place. Wrestling for Berlin from Newington’s Blackhawks was Brian Amato in the 58 lb division. Brian won his first match 6-3 then dropped a tough 4-3 decision in the semi-finals before winning by technical fall and pin for 3rd place. Ricky Mullins wrestled in a tough 66 lb division. Mullins won his first match 15-0 before dropping a 6-0 decision to Colchester’s Matt McAllister the eventual champion. Ricky then won by tech fall before dropping a heartbreaking 10-8 decision to finish in 4th place. In the 67 lb. Division Colin Cunningham wrestled against opponents that were all taller than he. Colin lost his first match 6-2 then won by pin before losing by pin to his Danbury opponent. Berlin had two wrestlers in the 68 lb. Division. Todd Koops wrestled the best tournament of his young career pinning his first two opponents. Sean Pentalow the other Berlin wrestler had a tougher time winning twice by a 3-2 score. In the all Berlin final Pentalow got the best of Koops pinning him late in the third period to become Berlin’s second Champion while Koops settled for second. In the 71 lb. Division Jacob Eliades won his first match 14-1 and pinned his second opponent. Looking to finish off an outstanding season, Jacob lost in the final 2-0 to Shane Jennings of Danbury. At 80 lbs. Was Wojtus Zak who wrestled in his first tournament. Losing his first match 5-3 Wojtus came back to win his next 2-0 before losing his last match by pin, one win away from medalling. At 73 lbs. Anthony Scacca worked hard through the tournament winning his first two before dropping the final to Chris Eanniello of Danbury 8-0. At 83 lbs. Brendan Butler started with a pin before dropping a 6-2 decision. Brendan then won 7-1 and pinned his last opponent in 29 seconds to place 3rd. The final wrestler at 97 lbs. Was Lucas Muntz from Newington. Lucas pinned his first opponent and won 10-2 before losing in the final seconds of the final 3-2 to finish in 2nd. The Novice Division for grades 5th and 6th finished 12 out of 41 teams. First up was Paul Germano and Conor Scalise from Newington. Paul dropped his first match 3-0, won his second 8-0 before losing by pin in his final match. Conor lost his first match to the eventual champion. He then wrestled tough winning 8-4, then by pin and squeaking out the consolation final 13-10 to bring home 3rd. At 68 lb. Was Tanner McKelvey also of Avon. Tanner lost his first match 6-1, won 7-2 before bowing out by a 5-2 score just out of placing. In the 79 lb division was Tyler Cunningham. Tyler pinned his first opponent before dropping a tough 9-2 decision in the semi-finals. Tyler then lost 8-0 in his final match. At 85 lbs. was Sam Vreeland. Sam lost his first match 3-0 then won 7-4 before losing to a tough final match. Ryan Butler wrestled at 87 lbs. winning his first match by pin before losing 6-0 in the semi-finals. Ryan then won 9-5 and by pin in the Consolation Final for 3rd place. Andrew Alessi won his first match 10-0 before losing two matches in the 101 lb class. Mason Powers went undefeated winning two closes matches on his way to being crowned champion in the 105 pound weight class. In the Schoolboy division Berlin had four wrestlers. Two from Berlin and two from Newington. Representing Berlin in the 105 lb division was Kevin Moss. Moss pinned his first opponent and was on his way to the finals when he was defeated with seven seconds to go in his match. He then lost his next match 3-0 to the eventual 3rd place finisher. At 121 lbs Ethan Berube in his first year of wrestling won his first match 5-0 before running into Tucker Schaefer of Danbury the eventual champion. Berube lost his second match 4-0.

The Board of USAWCT has discussed this matter several times and the board has made a commitment to the athletes of our state. USA wrestling requires coaches to become members of USA wrestling as coaches and we will now require all coaches to display their card at mat side in the coaches area. They have purchased well over 100 lanyards, which will be able to hold the coaches card securely and protected. Sarah Jadach, membership director, recently has been sending the lanyards with the coaches cards and we expect the coaches to use them. We will have more at the tournaments and will enforce the wearing of the card on the mat at all tournaments. We expect the tournament directors to support this effort and should assign some staff to enforce this safety issue. Officials will be instructed not to answer any questions on a call or interpretation of a rule during a match from anyone that does not have the proper coaches card displayed on the mat. The person in violation will be asked to leave the mat and this must be enforced by the tournament Director. This will begin at the first tournament and will not change until the States, where a copper certification is required to be on the mat.

The first youth tournament of the season was held on Sunday, January 2, 2005 at Bristol Central High School. Berlin was represented by 19 young wrestler's with the following results: Bantam: 1st Place, Jeremy Eliades and 2nd Place Andrew Zovich Midget: 1st Place, Brandon Butler and Jacob Eliades, 2nd Place - Colin Cunningham, and Anthony Zovich. 3rd Place Matthew Cote, Todd Koops and Nicholas Mangiafico. 4th Place Andrew Mals in his first tournament. Novice: 1st Mason Powers. 2nd Ricky Mullins, Sean Pentalow and Sam Vreeland. 3rd - Ryan Butler and Tyler Cunningham. Middle School: 1st Ethan Berube (1st Tournament), 2nd Ryan Bisson and Kevin Moss. The 19 wrestlers recorded 30 pins on the day. The next tournament will be held at Southington High School on January 9th.