Congrats State Wrestling Champions Eddie And Joe!

After two days of tough wrestling at the New Haven Athletic Center, two Tigers stood after their final match and had their hands raised by the referee to be declared the State Open Wrestling Champion in their weight class.

At 285, junior Joe DeMichele capped his undefeated season by pinning Bethel’s Chris Valenti in just one minute, and at 130 senior Eddie Carroll held on to a one point lead over Miguel Calixto of Windham to win 6-5.  

As a team Daniel Hand finished second to Class S Champion, Bacon Academy 98 to 95.  This was the third second place finish for Hand in as many weeks.  New Milford was third at 86.  SCC and Class LL Champion Xavier finished sixth at 62 points.

On Friday night four of seven Hand wrestlers advanced to the semi-final round.  The other three lost their opening bout, but won their next match in the consolation bracket.  So, when wrestling resumed on Saturday morning all seven Hand wrestlers were still in the tournament.  This was about to change.

Hand wrestlers eliminated from consolation bracket

At 125, Tucker MacGregor lost his opening match with the number-one seed and defending champ, Tyler Tilbe of Nonnewaug.  In the opening round of the wrestle-back he faced Neil Hosking of Xavier and won 6-2.   On Saturday he went against Pharoah Eaton of Fairfield Warde.  With less than one minute remaining in the match MacGregor scored a reversal to cut Eaton’s lead to 3-2, but with time running out he had to let Eaton up and give him one point for the escape so that he could attempt to tie the match with a take-down.  Eaton successfully countered MacGregor’s attempts and the score remained 4-2.  With a second loss MacGregor was now eliminated from the tournament.

At 140, Welles Sakmar drew Casey Mitchell of South Windsor and lost to the eventual champion in the opening round 8-4.  In the wrestle-back opener he pinned William Durant of Holy Cross.  On Saturday he faced Ryan Butler of Xavier and lost a 4-1 decision.  

At 152 Kevin Wivell lost his opener to Brandon McNeil of Griswold 2-1.  He then won the next match against Robert Voisine of Plainville 3-1.  On Saturday he lost to James Cummiskey of Greenwich 3-1.

And just like that... all the Hand wrestlers were eliminated from the consolation bracket. 

Time for the semi-finals

Then it was time for the semi-finals.

 At 103, Will Crisco opened the tournament with a pin over Saylee Phongsamphanh from Ellis Tech and then earned a tech fall over Kevin Jack of Danbury 15-0.  In the semi he was paired against a familiar opponent, Will Chowanek of Xavier.  Crisco then won this battle of Wills 6-5 to advance to the final.

At 130, Eddie Carroll earned his spot in the semis by beating Josh Fontanez of Portland by tech fall 23-6 and then won by major decision over Chris Chapparo of Westhill 16-4.  On Saturday Carroll met Sean McAllister of Bacon Academy and pinned him at the 3:59 mark.

At 135, Jake Savoca won his first two rounds with a pin over Bill Novack and an 8-4 decision over Mike Devalle of Brookfield On Saturday he met the 1 seed and eventual champion, Brandon Walsh of Griswold.  Walsh took the decision 6-2 and sent Savoca down to the consolation bracket.

At 285, Joe DeMichele pinned his first two opponents, Dillon Harrison of Goodwin Tech in 51 seconds and Kevin Spence of Plainville in 1 minute 54 seconds.  In the semi-final Dylan Kriska of Bacon Academy would prove to be tough enough to last the distance with DeMichele, but he wouldn’t have enough to win.  DeMichele took the decision 4-1.

The mid-afternoon matches finished the consolation round.  At this point the only wrestler who could score points for Hand in that bracket was Jake Savoca.  Savoca won his first wrestle-back 10-5 over Alek Smith of Gilbert.  He then met Benjamin Anderson of Trumbull in the 3/4 final.  Anderson won the match 8-3 and Savoca ended with a fourth place finish. 

Final matches start

The final matches started at the 135 pound weight class.  After several matches it was time for the first of the three Hand finalists, Joe DeMichele.   DeMichele had wrestled Valenti earlier in the year and came away with a pin in 31 seconds.

Valenti, a senior from Bethel is no pushover and he is accomplished in many ways. He is an all-state football lineman who is headed for Harvard in the fall.  Most observers expected that he would more cautious in this match and keep Joey at arms length away.  Unfortunately for Valenti, DeMichele had a plan of his own.  DeMichele was able to get in close right away and wrap Valenti’s upper body in a bear hug.  A quick trip and DeMichele brought him right down to his back.  Valenti tried to squirm free but at the one minute mark, it was all over.  Joe DeMichele would be the 285 State Open Champion!

The very next bout would feature a re-match of the 103 Class L Championship, Conor Kirkegard of New Milford vs. Will Crisco.  The match was very close, 0-0 after one period, no take-downs.  In the second period Kirkegard was able to escape from the bottom for a one point advantage.  In the third Kirkegard would have to ride out the entire period to maintain the slim lead.  Kirkegard did so until the last seconds of the match where it looked like Will was about to gain a reversal or at least an escape to tie it, but time ran out.  Kirkegard’s one point lead would stand.

Last match of the night

The last match of the night featured Eddie Carroll vs. number one seed Miguel Calixto of Windham.  This match was voted most exciting of the night.  Two very good wrestlers went all out.  The lead changed back and forth until the final moments.  Eddie Carroll was holding a 6-5 lead and the wrestlers were in the neutral position (both upright).  In the last seconds Carroll made a take-down attempt, Calixto countered and almost looked like he had an advantage, but time ran out.  Carroll’s lead would stand and he would be the 130 State Open Champion!  
Daniel Hand would finish second in team points.  The final ten were: Bacon Academy 98, Hand 95, New Milford 88, South Windsor 64.5, Glastonbury 63, Xavier 62, Bristol Eastern 61, Griswold 50, Conard 49, Shelton and Fairfield Warde tied at 47.5.

Next week, Hand will send four wrestlers to the New England Championship which will be held at the New Haven Athletic Center.