2016 NHSCA National Championships
April 1-3, 2016
Virginia Beach, VA
By GERRY deSIMAS, JR.
April
3 – Newtown’s Anthony Falbo became the first
Connecticut wrestler to win back-to-back National High School Coaches
Association (NHSCA) national championships when he beat Nevada’s Andrew Berreyesa, 4-3 to win a national title at 170 pounds in the
NHSCA Junior National tournament on Sunday in Virginia Beach, Va.
Falbo is just the second Connecticut
wrestler to ever win a NHSCA title. A year ago, he won the NHSCA’s Sophomore
Nationals at 160 pounds. Ledyard’s T.J. Hepburn won a Junior National
title in 2006.
Falbo (56-0, 6-0 NHSCA) was one of eight
Connecticut wrestlers to win All-American honors by finishing in the top eight
of their respective weight classes at this weekend’s NHSCA national
championship tournaments.
Jon
Errico, a senior at Brunswick School in Greenwich,
finished second in the Senior Nationals at 145. In the Junior Nationals, E.O.
Smith’s Robert Hartling (106) was fourth while
Newtown’s Joseph Accousti (160) was sixth. In the
Sophomore Nationals, Danbury’s Jakob Camacho (113) finished fourth while at the
Freshman Nationals, Xavier’s Jesse Polansky (285) was fifth while Danbury’s
Kyle Fields (120) finished eighth.
Falbo was outstanding as he went through
a challenging weight class. In his six victories, he beat four All-Americans.
His last four matches were against eventual All-American wrestlers.
“I
came in focused and ready to go,” Falbo said. “I had
a game plan for each opponent and I knew what I was up against. I knew it would
be tough. It was great competition. I had some great battles.”
Falbo wrestled for Newtown at 182 pounds
this winter but he decided to drop to 170 for the nationals.
In
six matches, he gave up just one takedown and had 17 of his own. “I felt very
comfortable,” he said. “You have to take risks. You have to wrestle to win. You
can’t hold anything back.”
After
his first two wins in the tournament, Falbo beat
Frankie Guida of Pennsylvania, 7-2 in the round of
16. Guida would wrestle back to finish seventh. In
the quarterfinals, Falbo pinned Oklahoma’s Alexander
Kauffman in 5:56.
Kauffman
finished eighth in the tournament.
In
the semifinals, Falbo trailed 2-1 with 56 seconds left
in the second period to Casey Cornett of Kentucky. But Falbo
escaped with 31 seconds remaining in the period and took a 4-2 lead with a
takedown with 10 seconds left in the period.
Cornett
cut the lead to one with a third period escape but Falbo
took command with a takedown with 51 seconds remaining for a 6-3 lead. Falbo held on for a 6-5 victory.
In
the final, Berreyesa, the Nevada state champion from
Reno, took a 1-0 lead in the second period with an escape. But Falbo took a 2-1 lead with a takedown with 25 seconds
remaining.
In
the third period, a reversal with 1:05 left in the bout gave Falbo a 4-1 edge. Falbo lost a
point due to stalling and gave up an escape with one second left but the
victory and the national championship was his with a 4-3 victory.
“It
feels amazing, especially with the bracket I had,” he said. “It’s pretty
awesome. I’ve been working hard every day.”
Falbo spent plenty of time the past few
weeks at Iowa Style, a club he trains at in Somers, N.Y.
Errico had a splendid tournament winning
five straight bouts before dropping a 3-1 decision to Luke Webber of Montana in
the championship match. Tied at 1-1, Webber got a takedown with 1:24 left in
the third period to take the lead for good.
Errico got to the final with a 9-4 win over
Rian Burris of South Carolina in the semifinals and a
9-4 win over New Jersey’s Austin Scrivani in the
quarterfinals.
Accousti wrestled a tough tournament,
winning five close matches and taking sixth at 160 in the Junior Nationals. He
beat Ohio’s Quentin Thatcher, 6-4, in the round of 64 with a takedown with 1:25
remaining. Accousti earned a 7-5 win over New York’s
Morgan Seller with an escape with 1:15 remaining and followed that with a 5-3
win over Oklahoma’s Tanner Johnson. After a loss in the quarterfinals, Accousti beat Virginia’s Stanley Smeltzer
with a two-point near fall in the second OT to earn a 5-4 win.
Hartling (47-4, 4-2 NHSCA) got a reversal
with 1:03 remaining to beat New York’s Ryan Mock in the quarterfinals, 9-7 at
106 pounds. After losing his semifinal bout to Jake Ferri
of Massachusetts, 19-7, Hartling beat New Jersey’s
Kenny Kerwin by pin. Hartling
finished fourth after losing to Florida’s Elijah Varona,
9-6.
In
the Sophomore Nationals at 113, Danbury’s
Jakob Camacho (50-5, 6-2 NHSCA)
won his first three bouts before falling 3-1 in the quarterfinals to Missouri’s
Cam Fusco, giving up a takedown in OT.
In
the consolation round, Camacho won three straight bouts. He had an escape and
takedown with six seconds left to beat New Jersey’s Antonio Mininno,
12-9. In his next bout, Camacho had a takedown with 1:20 left in a 5-3 win over
Louis Newell of Pennsylvania. Camacho finished fourth after a 6-4 loss to
Michael McAteeno of Missouri.
At
the Freshman Nationals, Xavier’s Jesse Polansky (285) advanced to the
semifinals before losing his first match. He finished fifth overall. Danbury’s Kyle Fields (120) won three straight consolation round
matches to earn All-American status and finish eighth overall.
Several
Connecticut wrestlers picked up multiple victories in the tournament. At the
Freshman Nationals, Danbury’s Ben LeBlanc (106) went 4-2 with three straight consolation
round victories.
In
the Sophomore Nationals, Montville’s Noah Caskey (113),
New Milford’s Mel Ortiz (120) and Xavier’s Ryan Devivo
(152) each went 3-2 in the tournament. Devivo fell
one win shy of All-American honors.
In
the Junior Nationals, Foran’s Gino Esposito (113) and
Newtown’s Ed Lovely (138) were each 4-2 and one win away from All-American
honors. Esposito won four straight consolation round matches. Joey Rossetti
(138) of Phillips Exeter and Somers’ Jason Rheault
(182) each went 3-2.
At
the Senior Nationals, Somers’ Jacob Berry Parker (170) went 4-2 and fell one win
shy of All-American honors. Danbury’s Jeremy
Fields (138), Nonnewaug’s Kieran Duggan (152) and Notre Dame-Fairfield’s
Hakim Fleming (285) each went 3-2 in the tournament.
In
the team competition, Connecticut finished 10th in the Junior Nationals with three
All-Americans led by Falbo. Connecticut was 21st in
the Senior Nationals, 20th at the Sophomore Nationals and 19th at the Freshman
Nationals.
MIDDLE
SCHOOL
Danbury’s Ryan Jack (95)
and New Milford’s Javon Priar (119) earned All-American honors for the second
straight year in the Middle School Division.
After
dropping an overtime decision, Jack won three consolation bouts in a row including a
pair of one-point decisions to earn All-American honors. Jack finished eighth.
A year ago, he was seventh at 85 pounds.
Priar (119) went 4-1 in the tournament to
finish third. He dropped a 3-1 match in the semifinals but won two consolation
round matches by a combined score of 12-1 to take third. A year ago, he was
fourth at 105.
Danbury’s A.J. Kovacs (135)
finished fifth with a record of 5-2.
NHSCA Tournaments
Connecticut
entrants
Seniors
Joey Hulse, 120, Danbury, 0-2
Alex
Starr, 120, Lyman Memorial/WT, 1-2
Matthew
Dowler, 126, St. Bernard, 0-2
Roger
Moyer, 126, Lyman Memorial/WT, 0-2
Austin
Sherman, 126, Fairfield Ludlowe, 2-2
Dante
Montanaro, 132, Trumbull, 0-2
Matt
Conte, 138, Westhill, 0-2
Jarrett
Debowsky, 138, East Hampton, 0-2
Bryan
Rojas, 138, New Milford, 2-2
Jeremy Fields, 138, Danbury, 3-2
Jordan
Baker, 145, Middletown, 1-2
Kieran
Duggan, 152, Nonnewaug, 3-2
Brett
Leonard, 152, New Milford, 4-2
Samuel
Lindblom, 152, Waterford, 1-2
Jacob
Berry Parker, 170, Somers, 4-2
Mitchell
Laflam, 170, Lyman Memorial/WT, 2-2
Matthew Adam, 182, Danbury, 0-2
Austin
Caffrey, 182, Killingly, 3-2
Daric
Johnson, 220, Ledyard, 0-2
Robert
Newton, 220, Norwich Tech, 0-2
Hakim
Fleming, 285, Notre Dame-Fairfield, 3-2
Dylan
Renshaw, 285, Norwich Tech, 0-2
Josh
Angel, 285, Killingly, 0-2
Juniors
Robert
Hartling, 106, E.O. Smith, 4-2, 4th
Bo
Nguyen, 106, Ledyard, 1-2
Nicholas
Arborio, 113, Berlin, 2-2
Gino
Esposito, 113, Foran, 4-2
Kasim Khan, 113, Fairfield
Prep, 0-2
Jack
Pelley, 113, East Windsor, 0-2
Christopher
Doran, 126, Norwich Tech, 0-2
Shaun Williams, 126, Danbury, 0-2
Joel
Morth, 126, Montville, 2-2
Charles Schultz, Jr., 126, New Milford, 0-2
Anthony
Devanny, 132, Ellis Tech, 2-2
Matthew
Pangle, 132, Pomperaug, 0-2
Ed
Lovely, 138, Newtown, 4-2
Rodric Grant, 138, Portland,
0-2
Joey
Rossetti, 138, Phillips Exeter, 3-2
Cole
Davidson, 145, Lyman Memorial/WT, 0-2
Michael
Ross, 145, Foran, 2-2
Jacob
Millbach, 152, Ledyard, 0-2
Joseph Accousti, 160, Newtown, 6-3, 6th place
Jared
Rufo, 160, Ellis Tech, 0-2
Emanuel
Diaz, 170, Montville, 1-2
Anthony Falbo, 170, Newtown 6-0, 1st place
Danny
Contino, 182, Ledyard, 1-2
Jason
Rheault, 182, Somers, 3-2
David
Verizzi, 182, Lyman Memorial/WT, 1-2
Matt
Gray, 220, St. Paul, 1-2
Gavin
Thuotte, 220, Ellis Tech, 0-2
Sophomores
Brandon
Leonard, 106, New Milford, 1-2
Jakob Camacho, 113, Danbury, 6-2, 4th place
Noah
Caskey, 113, Montville, 3-2
Mark Hartmann, 113, Hand, 1-2
Nicholas Savo, 113, Danbury, 0-2
Gabe Knittel, 120, East Hampton, 0-2
Mel Ortiz, 120, New Milford, 3-2
Luke Schell, 120, New Milford, 0-2
Christopher Austin-Schultz, 120, New Milford,
0-2
Jacob Colley, 126, New Milford, 2=2
Aaron Occhipinti, 126, Newtown, 1-2
Sebastein Stultz, 126, Windham, 1-2
Jesse Walker, 126, Ridgefield, 0-2
Collin
Beahn, 132, East Windsor, 0-2
Sam
Kury, 132, Montville, 0-2
Camron
Louis, 132, Ellis Tech, 1-2
Simon
Preston, 138, Ridgefield, 0-2
Jeff
Suschana, 138, Somers, 2-2
Alex
Richardson, 145, New Milford, 0-2
Gino Baratta, 152, Danbury, 1-2
Zach
Caffrey, 152, Killingly, 1-2
Ryan
Devivo, 152, Xavier, 3-2
Mason
LaFlam, 152, Lyman Memorial, 2-2
Dakota
Grover, 182, Ledyard, 1-2
Lachlan
Rosato, 195, Brunswick, 1-2
Freshmen
Sean
Johnson, 106, Ellis Tech, 1-2
Nic Kelly, 106, Portland,
0-2
Troy
Anderson, 106, Foran, 0-2
Ben LeBlanc, 106, Danbury, 4-2
Jacob
Marselli, 106, East Catholic, 1-2
Ben
Smart, 106, Ridgefield, 1-2
Sam
White, 113, Norwalk, 0-2
Stephen
Eiss, 113, Portland, 1-2
Kyle Fields, 120, Danbury, 5-3, 8th place
A.J. Caba, 120, Danbury, 2-2
Jake Graziano, 120, Ledyard, 0-2
Ian Anderson, 126, Montville, 0-2
Gabriel
Reyes, 126, New Milford, 2-2
Jackson
Archer, 132, Lyman Memorial/WT, 0-2
Nickolas
Richardson, 138, E.O. Smith, 0-2
Jesse Polansky,
285, Xavier, 3-2, 5th place
Middle
School
C.J.
Shea, 90, Milford, 2-2
Ryan Jack, 95, Danbury, 4-3, 8th place
James
Lunt, 105, Colchester, 2-2
Javon Priar, 119, New Milford, 4-1, 3rd place
Brian
Showstead, 135, Ridgefield, 1-2
A.J. Kovacs, Danbury, 135, 5-2, 5th place
