Newtown High School's wrestling team, behind a pair of weight division winners, earned third place in the Class LL state championships, at Trumbull High School. The two-day event took place February 17 and 18.

Danbury won the competition with 272.5 points, Xavier of Middletown was runner-up with 191, and Newtown edged Southington for third, scoring 181 to Southington's 179.5. Host Trumbull rounded out the top five, scoring 169.5 points.

Newtown's Ed Lovely won the championship in the 145 pound weight division, and Joe Accousti won the title at 170.

Lovely scored a 10-6 decision over Trumbull's Michael Mirmina in the pinnacle bout. Lovely, after a pair of byes, scored a trio of triumphs via pinfall, each in 26 seconds or less, to advance to the pinnacle bout.

Accousti won via technical fall, 16-0, over Fairfield Prep's Evan Titus in the championship round. Accousti picked up three wins via pin on his way to the finals.

Alex Stavola placed second at 152, falling in a 3-2 decision to Southington's Austin Abacherli in the final round. Stavola earned a trio of victories by pinfall.

Tom Long placed second at 220; Long was edged 4-3 by Danbury's Andrew Marquis in the championship round after winning two rounds via pin and coming away with a 6-5 victory over Southington's Richard Rivera in the semifinals.

Aaron Occhipinti placed third in the 132 bracket, defeating Southington's Shaun Wagner 2-1 in the battle for third. Owen Walsh beat Conard's Adrian Ardon 8-2 in the fifth-place bout.

All of Newtown's weight division grapplers earned at least one victory during the tournament.

"Everybody contributed to the effort," Newtown Coach Chris Bray said.

Evan Rooney had a bye and a win before being bumped into the loser's bracket where he picked up one more victory at 106.

Nik Accousti had two wins, including a victory in the loser's bracket, at 113. Aidan Occhipinti picked up a win in the 120 division. Justin Bogdanoff came out on top in a match at 126. David Petrini had two victories, including one in the loser's bracket, at 160. David Berquist picked up a win in the 182 division. Jacob Cribbs won a decision at 195. Joe Zeller earned two wins, including one in the loser's bracket, via pinfall at 285.

Long said that although the Nighthawks didn't achieve their team goal of winning a state championship this winter, it has been a strong season, which continues with the State Open, February 24 and 25 at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven..

"As seniors it feels good to go out on a high. We had a lot of kids step up. It's all about the experience. All of the kids that are young are getting good experience," Long said.