Jackets pass 1st major test

— Gilbert overwhelmed Northwestern 44-27 in an early-season battle of Berkshire League wrestling titans Tuesday night at The Gilbert School.

Both teams benefit from a surge of experienced youth from the Northwest Corner’s Hurricane Wrestling program, which turned out its first highschool class last year.

“We only lost one wrestler to graduation and our young guys make us better,” Northwestern coach Andrew Schwartz said before Tuesday’s match.

Thanks to that and their sixth-place finish in Class S last year, the Highlanders were dubbed the league’s team to beat, seeming to prove it with a 54-30 win over perennial league power Nonnewaug last week.

But Gilbert, too, flexed its sophomore muscles a week ago with an easy 56-28 win over Terryville, the Berkshire League’s other recent power team.

Tuesday’s meet was an early test for dominance between this year’s league co-favorites.

Gilbert flew out of the gate. Starting in their power wheelhouse at 195 pounds, Yellowjackets Kevin Sullivan, Andrey Zhovkly, Bajram Gutic and Cameron Merritt stunned the Highlanders with four straight pins, building a 24-0 lead before Northwestern scored its first points on a forfeit at 113.

Gilbert sophomore Devin Matthews was up next against Northwestern stalwart Angelo Folino, a junior.

“Last year, Folino beat him twice,” Gilbert coach Darek Schibi said.

Not this time. In a raging

battle that saw the lead go back and forth for three periods, Matthews scored a reverse late in the third and hung on for an 11-9 decision.

Still without a win on the mat, the Highlanders scored on another forfeit at 126. Then Gilbert spun off another pin, by Nick Barber, and a major decision by Will Hubbard.

Down 37-12, the Highlanders stormed back with a decision by Gavin Duncan and back-to-back pins by Liam Smith and Josh Schwartz. With two final pins and point deductions looming against Gilbert for a flagrant foul after one of the heated contests, the Highlanders were within winning distance, 37-27, heading into the last two matches.

Devin Matthews’ twin brother, Kyle, ended all doubt at 170 pounds. In a third-period reverse, he scored a pin 19 seconds before the end of his match, sealing the Yellowjackets’ win.

“I was expecting a different kid,” Kyle Matthews said. “I was planning to go with outside shots, but I had an opening to go inside. Having a twin brother gets us pumped up. We started (with the Hurricanes) in sixth grade and we called ourselves a brother duo.”

Torrington’s sisterbrother two-person wrestling team, Alexis and Mark Zavatkey, traveling with Gilbert, know that feeling. Alexis, a Red Raiders junior, scored an 11-5 decision against Northwestern. Mark, a sophomore, followed with a 6-4 decision.

Gilbert’s Alex Smith put

the icing on the cake with a major decision in the main contest’s final bout at 182 pounds.

Andrey Zhovky won his second match of the night with an 8-6 overtime decision over Will Fallin, Housatonic’s one-man team traveling with the Highlanders.

It completed a night of misery for Schwartz.

“We had no good performances in the whole group,” he said. “My new kids did what we thought they would; my middle kids did a little less; my best kids did way less. I thought we’d walk away with all the wins in the Berkshire League. Now I’ll have to rethink.”

“It went better than we thought,” said Schibi, at the end of a perfect sendoff for his team’s trip to the Disney Duals in Florida, today through Sunday.

“We’ve been fundraising

for a whole year. We’ll take 19 kids, with nine matches scheduled with teams from all over the country.”

Here at home, the Yellowjackets are on top.