A gold medal in one weight division was the highlight of the day for the Joel Barlow wrestling team at the state Class M tournament.
While the Falcons finished 20th out of 27 teams, they did have one bright spot. For the third straight year, Scott Romano was champion in his weight class, this time placing first in the 150-pound division at Guilford High on Saturday, Feb. 17.
RHAM of Hebron was the winner with 211 points. Berlin was a close runner-up with 207.5 and Foran of Milford to0k third with 154.
The top seed at 150 pounds, Romano won his opening match a day earlier by pinning Diego Portley of Hand of Madison in just under a minute. This was followed by a 14-2 major decision over Notre Dame of West Haven’s Tyler Carliego in the quarterfinals.
Another major decision, this one by a 10-0 score, came against Shad Stewart of Fitch of Groton in the semifinals. Capping off the tournament, he defeated second-seeded Antonio Jennings of Foran by a 7-0 decision in the finals for the gold medal.
Ben Azzara faced a tough opening in his first match, getting pinned by top-seeded Ben Fournier of RHAM at 106 pounds in 59 seconds. Moving to the consolation bracket, he was pinned by Ava Gamberdella of Branford in 2:35.
After getting a bye in the round of 32 in the 113-pound class, Jake Hamlin lost by a 10-2 major decision to Guilford’s Andrew Plancon. He won by a 15-0 technical fall over Law’s Marissa Wargo in the first round of the consolation finals before losing a close 8-6 decision to Avon’s Brian White.
In the 120-pound class, Kai Lee had a 5-4 lead over Notre Dame’s Sam Markaj but was later pinned by his opponent in 2:53. Competing at 132 pounds, Rob Knob was pinned by Guilford’s Alex Uzzo in his first match before pinning Sean Franco of Derby/Oxford/Holy Cross in 3:59 in the consolation round. He finished in his next contest, getting pinned by Rockville’s Miles Tolman in 1:59.
Besides Romano, Stryder Hanson was the only other Barlow wrestler to place in the tournament. Seeded ninth at 138 pounds, he upset eighth-seeded J.P Malafronte of Notre Dame with a 7-6 decision in his first match but then lost a 1-0 major decision to Brookfield’s Danny Carozza in his next.
In the consolation round, he pinned Hand’s Jack Wiesbrock in 2:22 and then held off Rockville’s Yosuel Santiago in a 5-3 sudden victory when the match went into overtime. Losing a 6-0 decision to Foran’s Antonio Aspras in the consolation semifinals, he finished sixth.
Anthony Azzara competed in one match at 144 pounds, getting pinned by Masuk’s Dylahn Perez in 3:34. Logan Bacas opened up with a loss by pin in 5:18 to North Haven’s Elijah Ellis in the 175-pound class and then lost a 4-2 decision to Foran’s Shane Trevethan in the consolation round.
Dylan Cooke wrestled one match at 190 pounds and lost an 11-6 decision to RHAM’s Cayden Caplette. Chad Pranzo also wrestled one match, losing by pin to Masuk’s Daniel Balestriere in 1:27.
