Sports
Tigers Win On Senior Night 46-25
The third ranked Daniel Hand Wrestling Team defeated Shelton 46-25 on Tuesday night at Polson Gym. The Senior members of the squad were honored before their last home match of the season.
The Tiger wrestlers wear a T-shirt during warm-ups with the word "FINISH" emblazoned on their backs. This is intended to remind them of how close they were last season when they finished just shy of a State Championship. This year the Tigers want to close that gap and finish in first place. On Tuesday night the Tigers "finished" their home schedule undefeated, taking their first step towards that goal.
Before the match the eight Senior members of the team were introduced with their parents. Captains Joe Demichele and Max Flanagan, Ned Berky, Victor Buchetto, Justin Elias, Tucker MacGregor, Matt Mahoney and Trevor Miller.
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Matt Mahoney got things started at 145 with a 6-4 win over Nick Pogaesas (S). At 152, Jake Savoca (H) pinned Jordan Garcia (S) in 1:36. Connor Carroll (H) recorded a major decision over Liam Cummings 8-0 at 160. At 170 Kevin Wivell (H) pinned Scott Cataudella (S) in 1:37. Hand opened the match with a 19-0 lead.
At 182 Mac Thompson recorded the first win for Shelton, pinning Carter Chatillion (H) at the 2:52 mark. Senior Ned Berky won a hard fought 195 match over Will Dimeo (S) 9-4. Hand forfieted the 220 match to Alex Mendinger (S). The team score was now Hand 22, Shelton 12.
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At 285 Captain Joe Demichele pinned Geoff Russo (S) in 1:04. At 106 Mark Failla of Shelton defeated Matt Elias (H) 11-1 for a major decision. At 113 Jonah Lewis (H) recorded the fastest fall of the night pinning Scott Plucernik (S) in 40 seconds. Shelton forfeited the 120 weight class to Kevin Mallon (H).
Captain Max Flanagan, newly returned to the lineup after having his appendix removed earlier this season, wrestled Sean Kellett (S) at 126. Flanagan was leading 3-2 going in to the third period, but Kellett was able to score on a reversal and a near fall to take the match 6-3. At 132 Justin Elias (H) was pinned by Ed Hunt (S) at 2:53. Going in to the last match the score was now Hand 40, Shelton 25.
At 138 Tucker MacGregor (H) finished the night with a 57 second pin over Mike Chernesky (S) to make the final team score Hand 46, Shelton 25. Shelton's record is now 7-8 for the season.
Despite winning the Ridgefield Challenge Tournament this past Saturday, the Tigers dropped one place in the Coaches Poll. Captain Joe Demichele won his fourth title at this event that includes teams from Connecticut and New York. He is the first wrestler in the history of this tournament to accomplish this.
The Tigers will put their 18-0 record on the line this week against the toughest competition of the year. This Saturday they will travel to the New Fairfield Duals where they will match up against the number one ranked team in Connecticut, Danbury. And on next Wednesday the Tigers will travel to Middletown to face the Xavier Falcons who just replaced them as the number two team in the Coaches poll. Xavier won't be looking at any rankings for motivation in this SCC rivalry. They will be looking to avenge last year's loss at Hand. In that , Hand came back from a 30 point deficit to win 34-30.
