The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Xavier collects third straight crown
Falcons dominate field with six individual champs
GUILFORD — For the third season in a row, No. 1 Xavier is the Class L wrestling champion.
Xavier finished first with 293.5 points, thanks to six firstplace finishes and three-second place finishes, edging out New Milford’s 269 pints. Xavier had 12 wrestlers qualify for the State Open next weekend while New Milford had a school record of 13.
“We have a standard and the kids are buying into it,” Xavier coach Michael Cunningham said. “The expectations are high but these kids want to do the work and it seems to be working so far.”
Simsbury finished third, putting together 211 points with with 11 wrestlers qualifying for the State Open while fourth-place Newtown had 204 points behind four first-place finishes, sending eight wrestlers to the State Open.
Xavier dominates... again
No. 1 Xavier was yet again prominently featured in the Class L championship with nine individual wrestlers competing in finals, six of which ended up taking home gold medals.
Raekwon Shabazz was the only Xavier wrestler to individually repeat as a champion at 106 pounds, defeating New Milford’s
Alex Oberc by technical fall in 5:32.
“It is just another year for me, winning was something that was on my list of things to do,” Shabazz said. “I just kept working towards that goals and looking forward to State Opens, but it is a goal that I am happy to be able to accomplish again.”
Xavier’s other winners were Braylon Gonzalez (113), Kevin Kasperowski (120), Kyle Levesque (132), Anthony Basile (138), and Charles Weidman (182).
“Rakewon wrestled great,” Cunningham said. “He is having a fantastic year and I am happy for him. Other than him, all the other winners were new.”
Last season Levesque had placed second at 126 pounds, Basile finished second at 132 pounds, and Widman finished third at 160 pounds.
“I knew coming in here that New Milford was tough,” Cunningham said. “It was going to be tooth and nail. They are not a top team in the state for nothing, but we had to put in some work and get some wins in the finals in order to clinch it.”
Xavier will now turn its focus to State Opens, where it will look to repeat as champions as well.
“The State Open is a totally different monster, but I think this really prepared us,” Cunningham said. “With us and New Milford battling it out, we are battle tested.”
Depth spurs New Milford
With only one individual first place-wrestler, New Milford’s depth carried it to a second place finish with a program record of 13 athletes qualifying for the State Open.
“I figured coming into the tournament that (Xavier was) going to have more finalists than us,” New Milford coach Chris Piel said. “But I thought we could wrestle back pretty well, and the kids showed it.”
The lone gold medalist was Khalil Bourjelli at 160 pounds, who defeated Newington’s Zachary White in the final with a pin 1:16 into the match.
Bourjelli was a Class L state champion as a freshman, but between the lost season due to the pandemic and missing last season with double shoulder surgery, he reclaimed his title as a senior.
“He has epitomized what New Milford wrestling is all about,” Piel said. “He started when he was young, he has come through the program, and for him to come full circle to come back full circle is just so awesome.”
New Milford had three second-place finishers in Alex Oberc (106), Tynan Lim (132) and Adam Oberc (195). New Milford’s four third-place finishers were Braden Olmstead (138), Ryder Langlois (145), Brennan Botelho (152), and Christopher Reiss (220).
“Those were huge points and they were pinning their way back, so they are scoring a ton of points” Piel said. “And then we had a bunch of guys that came back for
fifth and sixth. All around it was a great day and I don’t know where else we could have done much better. There were a few things that did not go our way, but overall I am really proud of the way we wrestled.”
Newtown crowns four champs
While Newtown finished fourth overall, the team had an impressive showing in the championships rounds with all four of its finalists becoming state champions.
“I am really excited, four champions is big,” Newtown coach Christopher Bray said. “We had a great day.”
Luca Manfredi won an individual title for a second straight year, defeating top 152 pound seed Matthew Ferrucci from Xavier in a 3-1 decision.
“It feels amazing, just like last year,” Manfredi said. “I had lost to this Xavier guy during the regular season and I knew I would have to face him again. I just had to shoot, I finally did it and took him down and that eventually led me to win the match.”
Manfredi was joined by teammates Marc Maurath (145), Fisher Stites (170) and John DaSilva (285). Stites had finished fifth overall at 160 pounds last year, but his championship bout this season was also his 100th career win in his two year career.
“That was a massive win at the very end by John (DaSilva),” Bray said. “And it was a revenge match, because he had lost to (his opponent) last week in the SWC tournament.”
Payback for Duhancik
Stratford finished fifth overall with 139 points, but it was the team’s top wrestler, James Duhancik, who finally earned his Class L title.
“It means everything, I’ve wanted this ever since freshman year here when I first started,” Duhancik said. “That year I placed third here. I love the atmosphere here and this is my Cinderella story coming back”.
After falling just short in the 220 pound final last season to Thomas Lunt of Xavier, the GameTimeCT 2022 All-State honorable mention earned that elusive goldmedal, defeating Fitch’s Naszier Matthews at 220 pounds in a 9-2 decision.
“I came here pretty confident, knew what I wanted to do,” Duhancik said. “Conquered it, just like I wanted to.”