Newtown High School’s wrestling team crowned four champions at the Class L State Championships, at Guilford High School on February 18. Marc Maurath took first in the 145 pound weight division, Luca Manfredi won at 152, Fisher Stites came out on top at 170, and Jon DaSilva earned the top spot at 285.

Four more Nighthawks earned spots on the podium and a spot in the State Open: Tommy Milligan, third at 106; Kenna Gioffre, third at 113; Henry Terifay, sixth at 138; and Charles Dunn, fourth at 195.

As a team, the Nighthawks scored 204 points to place fourth. Xavier of Middletown was first with 293.5, New Milford second with 269, and Simsbury third with 211. There were 23 schools to score points in the tourney.

Maurath posted two first-period pinfall victories, then outlasted Amity of Woodbridge’s Cooper Macnevin with a pin in 5:16, before edging Xavier’s Maximus Morse in a 4-3 decision. With the win, Maurath dethroned a returning state champion.

Manfredi won a trio of bouts via pinfall, then defeated Xavier’s Matthew Ferrucci 3-1, avenging a loss a few weeks earlier in the Greater Hartford Open finals.

Stites also worked his way to the finals with three pinfall triumphs, then defeated Simsbury’s Chad Mairano 11-5. In beating one of the top-ranked wrestlers from Simsbury, the Newtown junior earned his 100th career victory, reaching this milestone in only two seasons as the impact of the coronavirus canceled his freshman campaign.

DaSilva won each of his competitions via pin, capping things off with a pin of Bunnell of Stratford’s Carl Mullings in a time of 2:29. DaSilva got redemption having lost to Mullings in the South-West Conference Championships the week before.

“I was very pleased with the guys’ performance as a whole. We converted all of our four finalists into champions, which was huge,” said Newtown Coach Chris Bray, noting that it was quite an accomplishment for the four winners and all eight of Newtown’s place finishers. “We didn’t quite meet our team placement expectations, but then again we were right in the mix with the best teams in the state. We’re looking forward to The Open tournament this weekend and advancing as many of our eight [place winners as possible] to New Englands.”

The State Open takes place at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven on Friday and Saturday, February 24 and 25.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.