Danbury holds off Warde
Warde’s Shaughnessy named outstanding wrestler; Prep’s Tsiranides wins at 160
TRUMBULL — Another big step on the journey.
But the mission isn’t accomplished yet.
The Danbury wrestling team earned its fifth straight Class LL team championship Saturday night at Trumbull High School.
The Hatters, who won 14 straight LL crowns between 1997 and 2010, finished the two- day competition with 269 points to hold off Warde ( 227). Southington ( 151.5), Trumbull ( 138), Glastonbury ( 119) and Staples ( 105) completed the top six in the field of 25 schools.
“This LL title was hard work. Warde put together a great tournament,” said Danbury’s veteran coach Ricky Shook. “It was a good test for us. We had kids do well in wrestlebacks to get us points. All 14 of our wrestlers scored points. There are two more weeks left for us ( State Open, New Englands). We have 11 guys going to the State Open. That is great news for us.”
Saturday night’s finals started with the 220 pound division. And Danbury was scoring from the opening whistle.
DJ Donovan won by pin at 220, Jordan Agosto was runnerup at 285 and Kailan O’Dell took a major decision at 113 to get the Hatters off and running. It was sweet for O’Dell, the 2019 LL runnerup at 106.
Tyler Johnson, the 2019 LL champ at 120, took home gold at 126. And at 138, Ryan Jack won his fourth straight LL individual gold and looks for his 4th State Open title next week. O’Dell, Johnson, Jack and Donovan had captured FCIAC titles last weekend. Tyrell Jones was LL runnerup at 182.
Danbury welcomed all the points to fend off a Warde squad that has been runnerup to the Hatters in 2020, 2018 and 2016.
“We had 10 wrestlers place. We had five guys in the finals. That’s a great ledger,” Warde coach Jason Shaughnessy said. “We also had a lot of wins over wrestlers we had lost to in the regular season. We are wrestling well at the right time. We pushed Danbury a bit. To have 10 guys going to the State Open is great.”
For Warde, Will Ebert was the 145 pound champ. Lucas Coleman was the runnerup at 113 along with Nathan Cuoco ( 145) and Griffin Gallati ( 195, went 2 OT).
Warde’s Cole Shaughnessy won at 152 and was named Tournament Outstanding Wrestler.
“This is so nice. It took so much work to get here. It’s a thrilling accomplishment,” Cole Shaughnessy said. “It was a great day for the team. Having 10 kids going to State Open is
wonderful.”
At 170, FCIAC champion Thomas Mazur of Westhill stayed unbeaten this year at 35- 0 by capturing the LL crown by pinning NFA senior Theran Vanese, who entered with 127 career wins.
“This is the accumulation of so much hard work. But I knew it would come. It was bound to happen,” said Mazur, a senior who was the LL runnerup at 152 last year. “It’s so special to do this as a senior. I feel I’m reaching my peak. I’m so pleased I could represent the Westhill program in this manner.”
For Trumbull, sophomore and FCIAC champ Mike Longo repeated as LL champ at 106 while senior and FCIAC champ Jack Ryan took home gold at 138 after being fourth at 120 at LL last year.
For Fairfield Prep, No. 1 seed George Tsiranides won at 160. Staples sophomore and FCIAC champ Nick Augeri earned gold in overtime at 195.
Shelton sophomore Matt Weiner is Class LL champ at 285 by major decision.