Class LL State Wrestling—

Fisher, Morlock Fourth, Earn State Open Berths

By Andy Hutchison

TRUMBULL — With their high school careers winding down, two Newtown High School seniors ensured they will have another week of competition. Newtown High School wrestling team captains Cory Fisher and Mac Morlock each earned fourth place in the Class LL State Championships at Trumbull High School, February 17 and 18. By finishing among the top six in their weight divisions, the NHS duo solidified a spot in the State Open, which brings the best grapplers of all of the state’s class sizes together February 24 and 25 at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven.

The Nighthawks finished 12th as a team, with 70.5 points, among 27 squads. Xavier, with 242 points, earned ten more points than Danbury to claim the team title.

Fisher, who competes in the 170-pound weight division — and was fresh off his South-West Conference championship — was pinned by Danbury’s Tom Gaboardi in 4:45 in his final match. In the 285-pound weight division, Morlock lost to Danbury’s Jevon Pegues when he was pinned in 3:21.

Newtown Coach Dan McIlrath was excited to have two of his wrestlers in battles for third place at the end of the second day.

“It feels great to get here,” Fisher said just before his last match of the tournament. “I definitely wish I could have gotten a little bit further, but it is what it is. I’ll look to do some damage at opens next week and try to make the best of it there — continue the season as long as possible.”

Morlock overcome a case of mononucleosis late in the campaign and, because he missed some practice time, has been fighting a bit of an uphill battle in the postseason. The No. 1 seed in his weight bracket at the LL championships, Morlock got deep into the second day of competition and knows he’ll have to work hard and perform at a high level to attain the same kind of success at the State Open.

“There’s always really good competition there. I’m just going to work harder in practice and get my strength back up,” Morlock said.

McIlrath is confident his team representatives will do well considering they’ve had a taste of the State Open. Last year, Fisher and Morlock each lost their only two Open matches.

“It’s the second time going. Hopefully they can have a better showing at opens this year than they did last year,” the coach said. “I think they’re going to be more prepared.”

Newtown had strong representation throughout the weight classes in the LL championships. The team had several freshman grapplers in their first state championships setting. “They’re just amped up. They’ve never been here so they’re just itching and they’re ready to go,” McIlrath said. Collectively, they did quite well too — with several of the youngest Hawks getting some wins under their belts.

In the 106-pound weight division, first-year high schooler Luca Crudo won two matches. Fellow freshmen Ryan King, at 113, and Forest Speed, in the 160-pound division, got their first sampling of state championship wrestling. Senior captain Nick Crudo, a 120-pound grappler, had a first-round bye, earned a win, then was eliminated in the wrestlebacks bracket. At 126, freshman Matt Gonzalez earned his first three state championship match wins. At 132, junior Austin Barzetti earned a win. Freshman James Leuci had three wins in the 138 bracket and freshman Ed Lajoie had a win at 152. At 195, sophomore Patrick Carello earned a win. Junior Max Temple competed in the 182 division, and sophomore Dom Scarangella competed at 220.