Hatters Make Strong Showing in Opening Rounds of LL Tournament

The Hatters wrestling team got out to a strong start at the Class LL State Tournament Friday at Trumbull High School, advancing 12 wrestlers to the quarterfinal round scheduled to begin today at 10 a.m.

Wrestling in the first round on Friday and starting things off for the tournament was Danbury 112-pounder Zach Tepper, who defeated Christian Bowles of Southington 8-2.  Tepper then went on to face Joey Battinelli of Stamford.  This tougher match tested Tepper, but he was able to upset the 7-seeded Battinelli by a 3-0 decision.  In the quarterfinals, Tepper will be looking for another upset, this time over the 2-seed Johnny D’Elia of Greenwich.

Also wrestling in the first round was Hatter Will Jack, who defeated Amity’s Xurog Liu in the 189-pound weight class with a pin at 3:19.  Jack dominated the match and went on to defeat Andrew Marino of Trumbull to earn a shot in today’s quarterfinals.

Jevon Pegues, Danbury’s heavyweight, won both of his opening round bouts, including a stunning second round upset over the number three seed, Gus Garcia of Platt Tech/West Haven. 

As the 12-seed in the 160-pound weight class, Danbury’s Wesley Spears advanced to the quarterfinals with an opening round victory over Simsbury’s Aleksandr Malayev and an upset win over Newtown’s William Northrop, the weight class’ 5-seed, in the second round.

The rest of the Hatters advancing to today’s quarterfinals were helped by a first round bye, including 171-pounder Tyler Hancock.  Hancock dominated his Manchester opponent, William Canning, to earn a quarterfinal bid.  Hancock jumped out to a 16-5 lead in the third period before pinning Canning in 4:20.  He said after his match that the first round bye isn’t quite the advantage some might think.

“It’s all the same, really,” Hancock explained.  “The first round, you don’t really wrestle the ‘good’ kid anyway.  It’s more of a warmup match.”

Captain Dylan Bryant is perhaps the Hatters’ best chance to take down an individual title, and he showed why with a dominant 15-0 tech fall victory over Staples’ Alex Brown after receiving a first round bye.

Danbury’s 103-pound wrestler Kevin Jack earned a trip to the quarterfinals with a second period pin over Manchester’s Ryan Jurewicz.  The Hatters freshman took down the FCIAC title last week and is looking for another championship performance.

Tommy Gaboardi, wrestling in the 145-pound weight class for Danbury, defeated Fairfield Prep’s Joseph Roberts in an 11-3 major decision victory, and will wrestle in today’s quarterfinals.

At the 152-pound weight class, Danbury’s Ryan Peterson received a first round bye and squared off against Southington’s Don Rinaldi in the second round.  Rinaldi went the distance with Peterson, but was unable to get a point on the board as the Hatter won by a final score of 4-0.

Today’s quarterfinals will be followed by consolation rounds, and the semifinal round will commence at 5 p.m.  Finals are slated for 7 p.m.

“It’s a long, grinding, tournament,” said Hatters Head Coach Ricky Shook as the day's action was winding down.  “We’ve got a long way to go, today’s just the beginning.  There’s no easy matches from here on out.”