Hawks Tie For Second In SWC Championships As Four Hawk Grapplers Reach Finals

By Andy Hutchison

BROOKFIELD — Newtown High School’s wrestling team sent four grapplers to championship rounds as the Nighthawks tied Masuk of Monroe for second place in the South-West Conference Championships at Brookfield, February 11–12.

All four NHS finalists settled for runner-up status as the team came in second behind dominant New Milford. The champions scored 250.5 points, and Newtown and Masuk each compiled 135 to edge out Pomperaug of Southbury (125) in the 12-team tournament.

Newtown wrestlers who reached the final round were 112-pound weight division competitor Nick Crudo, 160 Will Northrop, 171 Cory Fisher, and 189 Aaron Nezvesky.

The school, in past years, has typically had only two or three team representatives in the finals, NHS Coach Alan Potter said. “We’re very happy with that,” the coach said of four grapplers reaching their pinnacle conference matches.

The Hawks would have been a little happier if Fisher’s match ended the way they thought it was going to. Down 11-9 to Karl Bradshaw of New Milford, Fisher earned a point with an escape to pull to within a point. With the clock winding down, Fisher was awarded two points, for the lead, with a takedown. Officials, however, took the points off the scoreboard, ruling that the wrestlers were not inbounds at the time the takedown was performed, leaving Fisher a point short in an 11-10 decision.

On the second day of the tourney, some of the finalists had to wait several hours from their late morning semifinal round matches until the late afternoon finals. One of those wrestlers was Crudo, who pointed out that it can get tiring just being in the gymnasium all day — competing or not.

“It’s very difficult,” Potter said. “What happens is we try to send the kids home or get them out of the gym — get them to a quiet spot, get some food in them, get some rest, and get out of the environment. But a lot of times it’s tough. They want to be there. They want to root on for their teammates.”

Sam Wiener was third at 125, Joe Pieretti was fourth at 145, and Mac Morloc was fourth at 285.

Newtown’s grapplers have at least one more weekend of tournament action ahead of them, as the Hawks compete in the Class LL State Championships at Trumbull High School. Top grapplers from the state competition will advance to the next weekend’s State Open.