The News-Times/Chris Ware
Danbury
High‘s Tyler Howe defeated Franklin‘s Matt Bakairs, 14-6, in the
130-pound championship match during the Danbury Holiday Tournament
Friday night.
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DANBURY — In what has become a December tradition, the Danbury High wrestling team clinched the title at its annual Holiday Tournament before the final matches started and defeated second-place Franklin High of Massachusetts by 56 points.
"It was a little harder this year," said Danbury coach Ricky Shook. "This is 18 out of 19, but we had some tough competition."
Though the Hatters had seven champions, they didn't wrap up the title until the consolation round, a little later than past years.
"Franklin High is here and Amity added some tough kids," Shook said. "Look at New Milford. They were second last year and they're fourth this year. Fourth with a good team that is top 10 in the state. We added some tough teams to the tournament this year."
The additions of
Franklin — the top-ranked team in Massachusetts — and Amity were all
part of the coach's plan to prepare his young team for the road ahead.
It is a journey that has final expectations of state and New England
championships. Last year, the Hatters scored more points in the state
tournament than any other team in history. However, that was with five
key seniors. This year, there are plenty of new faces and challenges on
the schedule, including a battle against New England powerhouse Mount
Anthony of Vermont on Jan. 16.
The News-Times/Chris Ware
Danbury’s
Kyle Rodgers, top, wrestles New Milford’s Jamie Pisano in the 152-pound
final at the Danbury Holiday Tournament Friday. Rodgers won a 10-2
major decision.
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In the meantime, it is clear to Shook from the turnout of schools at the Holiday Tournament there are some doubters about the Hatters' talent this year.
"I always ask teams to come, but we had to turn teams away this year," Shook said. "They may have heard we were young. This year, we had 11 place in the top four. Sometimes we have 10 kids in the finals, this year we had seven.
"We had some trouble getting there," added Shook, "but we wrestled much better in the finals."
However, Danbury's youth proved not to be a hindrance against some tough competition.
In the 95-pound non-scoring division, eighth-grader Brian Jennings gave several schools a view of the Hatter future as he pinned Noah Smutnick of Woodstock at the 3:22 mark of the championship match.
Several minutes later, Danbury sophomore George Madkour won the 112-pound class with a quick pin of Alex Camacho of Stamford.
"Last year, I didn't win because I went up against a senior," said Madkour. "This year I pinned my way through the tournament. We are not as good as last year, but lots of kids are improving faster than expected."
At 130 pounds, undefeated junior Tyler Howe (10-0) squared off against undefeated Massachusetts state medalist Matt Bakairs (16-0) in the final. Howe, who wrestled at 112 last year, started slowly and spent much of the opening period trying to escape. The junior then found a weakness in the second period, picked up a quick seven points in less than 30 seconds and cruised from there for a 14-6 major-decision victory.
"Once I got on top and turned him the first time, I just went from there," Howe said.
Hatter senior Frank Cammisa then battled Wade Getchell of Franklin in the 140-pound final. In the semifinals, Getchell collected his 100th career victory and improved to 16-0 on the season. Cammisa, 10-0 himself, was undaunted by his opponent's credentials and cautiously went to work. The Hatter co-captain finally gained leverage in the final period and pinned Getchel at the 4:13 mark. Cammisa earned the tournament MVP award for his performance.
After Hatter co-captain Kyle Rodgers won the 152-pound match over Jamie Pisano of New Milford the stage was set for what became the match of the night in the 160-pound championship between Danbury's Richie Zschoche and Bob Eisenhaur of Franklin.
Zschoche, the FCIAC champion at 119 as a freshman in 2004, did not wrestle last year. As if jumping seven weight classes to wrestle this season was not enough of a challenge, the junior faced a 2005 Massachusetts finalist in Eisenhaur. No matter the odds, Zschoche got out to a 4-0 lead on takedowns and held on for a 4-3 victory.
"I felt secure with the lead," said Zschoche. "When I had 30 seconds left, the coaches were telling him to let me go. I just held on for dear life."
Zschoche's win was followed by another Hatter victory, this one by co-captain Jeffrey Esposti over Lane Kirshe of Franklin in the 171-pound final. That ended Danbury's perfect night in the finals with seven matches and seven titles.
"We lost a lot of good wrestlers," Zschoche said. "It is nothing that we didn't make up for in other areas. From 135 up, we may be better than in the past decade."
Team scores: 1. Danbury 220.5, 2. Franklin 164.5, 3. Amity 130.5, 4. New Milford 113.5, 5. Southington 101.5, 6. Stamford 69, 7. Trinity-Pawling 65, 8. Morgan 53, 9. New Fairfield 49, 10. Brookfield 43, 11. Hartford Public 39.5, 12. Newtown 22, 13. Woodstock 18, 14. Shepaug 13, 15. Danbury B Team 7.
95 (non-scored) — Championship: Brian Jennings (Danbury) pinned Noah Smutnick (Woodstock), 3:22. Consolation: Frank Navaro (Old Saybrook) def. Dave Meyer (Newtown), forfeit.
103 — Championship: Mike Battinelli (Stamford) pinned Nesstor Rivera (Hartford Public), 5:03. Consolation: Mike Medeiros (Danbury) def. Anthony Amorando (New Milford), 6-5.
112 — Championship: George Madkour (Danbury) pinned Alex Camacho (Stamford), 0:50. Consolation: Joe Reissman (Shepaug) def. Stephen Krohley (Amity), 6-2.
119 — Championship: Tucker Grass (Morgan) pinned Mike Katz (Amity), :50. Consolation: Jeff Soloman (Southington) pinned Mike Healy (Franklin), 0:33.
125 — Championship: Dave Badgley (Southington) def. Zeb Levine (Woodstock), 11-4. Consolation: Spiros Stefanos (New Milford) def. Tucker Schaefer (Danbury), 6-3.
130 — Championship: Tyler Howe (Danbury) def. Matt Bakairs (Franklin), 14-6. Consolation: Matt Kozak (Brookfield) def. Dillon Ritchie (Southington), 7-0.
135 — Championship: Ryan Donovan (Franklin) def. Stephon Camacho (Stamford), 8-5. Consolation: Dean Smith (Danbury) def. Drew Gewirtz (Amity), 10-1.
140 — Championship: Frank Cammisa (Danbury) pinned Wade Getchell (Franklin), 4:13. Consolation: Mike Bellagamba (New Milford) def. Kyle Palmer (Trinity-Pawling), 12-4.
145 — Championship: Shane Yahulke (New Fairfield) def. Ian Raposa (Franklin), 12-0. Consolation: Cody Griswold (New Milford) def. Tommy Scott (Danbury), 8-5.
152 — Championship: Kyle Rodgers (Danbury) def. Jamie Pisano (New Milford), 10-2. Consolation: Joe Wabshinak (New Fairfield) def. Eric Raposa (Franklin), 7-1.
160 — Championship: Richie Zschoche (Danbury) def. Bob Eisenhauer (Franklin), 4-3. Consolation: Ryan Roddy (Amity) def. Brandon Macarz (Morgan), 6-2.
171 — Championship: Jeffrey Esposti (Danbury) def. Lane Kirshe (Franklin), 8-1. Consolation: J.R. Krotta (Amity) def. Ben Hadden (Brookfield), 7-4.
189 — Championship: Rob Damon (Trinity-Pawling) def. Brian Cramer (Morgan), 23-8. Consolation: D.J. Lombardo (Amity) def. David Kennedy (Danbury), 3-0.
215 — Championship: Luis Padilla (Hartford) pinned Max Connolly (Southington), 5:58. Consolation: Matt Vernik (Amity) def. Max Beaury (Brookfield), 6-2.
275 — Championship: Tom Ferrell (New Milford) pinned Paul Mancuso (Trinity-Pawling), 5:51. Consolation: Matt Sidebottom (Franklin) def. Spencer Charrette (Southington), 9-2.