Hatters Win FCIAC Title

The FCIAC wrestling world is back to normal.

The Hatters won the league title Saturday at New Canaan High School, recapturing the FCAIC crown after surrendering it to Fairfield-Warde in 2010.  Warde’s upset victory last year snapped a 23-year championship streak for the Hatters.

Saturday though, the final round was simply a formality – with a 35-point lead over their nearest competitor Greenwich, Danbury already had the tournament won.

“Our wrestle-back guys won it for us, really,” Head Coach Rick Shook said after the tournament.  “And that lets our guys in the finals just wrestle without any pressure.”

That lack of pressure produced three Danbury champions of their five finalists.  The Hatters had more finalists and champions than any other team.

The first match of the finals, at the 103-pound slot, featured Hatter Kevin Jack, who propelled to the championship with pins against all of his opponents.  The top-seeded Pascal Medor of Westhill challenged Jack, but the Danbury freshman prevailed in an 11-6 decision.

“I was kind of nervous before,” said Jack, “but in the middle of the match, I just started to get ok again.  It was just like another match."

Danbury captain Dylan Bryant was an early favorite to bring home the bacon for the Hatters at the 119-pound weight class, and he left no doubt as to why.  After receiving the number one seed and a first-round bye, Bryant went on to win both his quarterfinal and semifinal match by technical fall.  When he faced Cliff Magloire of Stamford, it was business as usual as Bryant dominated the entire way, earning a 15-0 technical fall victory less than halfway through the second period.

Danbury sophomore Shane Jennings won the 130-pound championship for the Hatters, defeating Evan Fraser of Fairfield-Warde with a third period pin.  Jennings was also the top seed in his weight class, and won by first period pin in both of his earlier matches.

There would be no more individual champions for Danbury on the evening as Tyler Arsenault was pinned by top-seeded Lars Remole of Darien High School in the 140-pound final, and 171-pounder Tyler Hancock was pinned by Ridgefield’s top seed, Travis Tiger.

The next stop for the Hatters is the Connecticut State LL Championship Tournament this Friday at Trumbull High School.  They’ll be looking to claim their 14^th consecutive state title.

“Xavier and South Windsor are the two teams that will push us with Greenwich and Trumbull,” Shook said.  “That’s who I expect, we’ll see though.”

So how does Coach Shook feel about reinstating the Danbury dynasty?

“It was never gone,” he laughed.  “You can’t win everything, you know?  Last year’s FCIAC loss was the best thing for our team this year.”