By Kim J. Harmon

A cloud with a silver lining – that is basically what the Newtown High School wrestling team will be reflecting upon and dealing with following the South-West Conference wrestling tournament last weekend.

While their two top threats – Dan Maley (135 pounds) and Steve Selezan (160) – were beaten in the finals of their respective divisions, the Nighthawks finished a somewhat surprising second-place overall behind Bethel.

A cloud with a silver lining.

While Bethel was well ahead of the field and took first with 194.5 points, Newtown took second with 114 points (just a half-point ahead of Jonathan Law) with two individual second-place finishes, two individual third-place finishes, and four individual fourth-place finishes.

So, it was a good day – especially considering that Newtown was sixth overall last year and this year finished second with no individual champions, no entries at 152 pounds or 275 pounds, and with the absence of defending CIAC Class L state champion Nick Feola at 130 pounds (a spot taken over by Chris Giacalone).

Maley was stopped in his bid for a second consecutive SWC title by Anthony Corvino of Stratford. During the regular season, Maley lost to Corvino, 7-6, in double-overtime (Maley took bottom in the second OT and couldn’t escape in the allotted 30 seconds) but in the SWC finals on Saturday, Corvino dominated on his way to an 11-0 win.

Selezan was stopped in his bid for a second consecutive SWC title by Matt Palermo of Bethel. During the regular season, Selezan – who was down 2-1 but about to turn Palermo – earned an injury default win. In the SWC finals, Selezan came back from a 4-2 deficit with a strong reversal that tied the score at 4-4, but Palermo got Selezan on his back late in the third quarter to register the 7-4 win.

Of course, that was disappointing, but the Nighthawks got a nice lift a little bit earlier in the day when Jon Read (103 pounds) and Matt Sullivan (119 pounds) earned third-place finishes. Read and Sullivan were two of six Newtown wrestlers who reached the consolation finals.

Read defeated Cliff Hu of the Weston/Barlow/Masuk Co-Op, 5-0, to capture third. Read had defeated Kris Lance of Bethel (a pin in 36 seconds) in the first round of the tournament, but then lost to Ian Kessler of New Fairfield (the eventual SWC champ) to get bounced down in the consolation bracket.

“It feels good,” said Read. “Last year, this kid beat me in the consolation finals and he beat me during the regular season, too, but I knew I could beat him. I wanted to just go out there and wrestle like I’m used to wrestling.”

It was a nice finish to a strong, strong season.

“I had an okay year last year, finished fourth in the tournament,” said Read, “but I made the Connecticut National Team over the summer and that helped big time. (Today), I didn’t care if I won or lost as long as I did my best. That’s what mattered.”

Sullivan took third by beating John Lee of New Milford, 14-6. Even though he did not return to finals this season (last year he lost to Jeff Oldham of Bethel to claim second), Sullivan was nevertheless pleased with his results.

“I’m glad I won my last match at home,” he said. “It’s good to go out on a winning note.”

Sullivan, who is 26-7 on the season, opened the tournament with a pin of Matt Fuller of Pomperaug (3:17), but then lost to Kevin Gaughan of New Fairfield (who eventually lost to Oldham in the SWC finals).

“I took (Gaughan) down,” said Sullivan, “but I didn’t get any back points for it. That was the difference – but you can’t dwell on that. This is the first time I’ve left one of these things winning my last match. It’s almost as good as first because you have to wrestle back and win a couple more matches.”

John Dietter (112),  Adam Prokop (140), Tyler Miles (171) and Angelo Bodetti (215) all reached the consolation finals as well. Dietter was defeated by Nick Marinakis of New Milford (pin in 1:39) while Prokop was defeated by Steve Walling of Bunnell (8-5), Miles was defeated by Mike Lozada of Weston/Barlow/Masuk (pin in 4:35) and Bodetti was defeated by Scott Miller of Pomperaug (pin in 2:45).

The Nighthawks finished up the regular season with wins over Weston/Masuk/Barlow and Pomperaug and dropped a close one to New Milford. All of that helped the ‘Hawks run their record to 11-4 overall, 7-2 in the SWC.

The CIAC Class L state tournament will be held Friday and Saturday, February 16 and 17.

TEAM SCORES

 

1. Bethel (194.5), 2. Newtown (114), 3. Jonathan Law (113.5), 4. New Milford (106.5), 5. Stratford (103.5), 6. New Fairfield (99), 7. Bunnell (93), 8. Weston/Masuk/Barlow (87.5), 9. Pomperaug (61), 10. Foran (18).

INDIVIDUAL_RESULTS

 

103 – Ian Kessler (New Fairfield) dec. Dylan Tuz (New Milford), 17-3. Third place – Jon Read (Newtown) dec. Cliff Hu (Weston/Masuk/Barlow), 5-0.

112 – Greg Pace (Bethel) dec. Max Miesel (Weston/Masuk/Barlow), 12-1. Third place – Nick Marinakis (New Milford) pinned John Dietter (Newtown), 1:39.

119 – Jeff Oldham (Bethel) dec. Kevin Gaughan (New Fairfield), 10-4. Third place – Matt Sullivan (Newtown) dec. John Lee (New Milford), 14-6.

125 – Travis Wolf (Bethel) pinned Anthony Fischetti (Law), 3:37. Third place – Justin Under (Weston/Barlow/Masuk) pinned Brian Kearney (Bunnell), :55.

130 – Rich Mocarski (Bunnell) dec. Doug Milburn (Bethel), 3-2. Third place – Sean Caselli (New Milford) dec. Nathan Austrian (Foran), 7-5.

135 – Anthony Corvino (Stratford) dec. Dan Maley (Newtown), 11-0. Third place – Jesse McKay (New Milford) dec. Brian Donohue (Bethel), 20-2.

140 – Tom Phillips (Pomperaug) dec. Colin Wolf (Bethel), 12-3. Third place – Steve Walling (Bunnell) dec. Adam Prokop (Newtown), 8-5.

145 – Jim Bottigliero (Law) dec. Dan McAveney (New Fairfield), 17-8. Third place – Dom Yacobino (Bunnell) dec. Franco Jean (Stratford), 9-3.

152 – Ken Gennett (Law) pinned Joe DiOrio (Bethel), 4:35. Third place – Paul Fedorovitch (Weston/Masuk/Barlow) dec, Gabe Knight (New Milford), 8-2.

160 – Matt Palermo (Bethel) dec. Steve Selezan (Newtown), 7-4. Third place – Adam DuBou (Law) dec. Dave Cherniske (New Milford), 5-3.

171 – Mike Walsh (New Fairfield) dec. Pat Lewis (Law), 15-6. Third place – Mike Lozada (Weston/Masuk/Barlow) pinned Tyler Miles (Newtown), 4:35.

189 – Andre Williams (Stratford) dec. Andy Palermo (Bethel), 11-7. Third place – Tim Roarke (New Milford) dec. Pat Sullivan (Bunnell), 9-7.

215 – Graham Sisbarro (Bunnell) pinned Eugene Williams (Stratford), 3:07. Third place – Scott Miller (Pomperaug) pinned Angelo Bodetti (Newtown), 2:45.

275 – Anthony Caprichio (Bethel) dec. Jeff Bates (Stratford), 4-2 (OT). Third place – Mark Ruzbarsky (Law) pinned Mike Miller (Pomperaug), 3:19.