A big weekend for Danbury and Warde wrestlers

Written by Dave Stewart
Monday, 14 January 2013 00:00

The Danbury Hatter and Fairfield-Warde Mustang wrestlers represented the FCIAC well at a pair of regional tournaments this weekend.

Danbury junior Kevin Jack won his second straight weight class title at the Eastern States Classic title, when he defeated New York State champion John Muldoon of Pearl River, 7-2, in the 120-pound title bout at Sullivan County Community College in Loch Sheldrake on Saturday.

Jack, the only Danbury wrestler to win a championship at the Classic, took the 106-pound title last winter.

The Hatters scored 77 points and finished fourth in a field of 100 teams. Wantagh won with 138,5 points, followed by Shenendehowa (11.5) and Westfield (102.5) in the top three.

Jack, the top seed, opened by beating Westfield’s David Aiello 10-2, before defeating Suffern’s Alex Oliveto 9-1, No. 8 seed Travis Passaro of Eastport 3-1, and No. 12 Nick Tolli of Arlington 4-2.

Danbury’s Shane Jennings also had a big meet, finishing 6-2 in the 145-pound weight class. Jennings lost his second match before posting four straight pins in the wrestlebacks.

Click here for the 2013 Eastern States Classic results

Wrestling in Merrimack, N.H., the Fairfield-Warde Mustangs rode four individual championships to their third consecutive Merrimack Hall of Fame Invitational championship this weekend.

Senior Pharoah Eaton completed a career grand slam when he won his fourth straight weight class championship, going 4-0 with three pinfalls at 132 pounds.

Eaton pinned Silas Merriam in 51 seconds, Tyler Brown in 3:23, and Josh Texeira in 4:55, before topping Jesse Batson of Nashoba, N.H., 11-4, in the final.

That championship helped the Mustangs score 219.5 points as they defeated Shelton, Ct., which scored 141, for the top spot.

Charlie Kane (126), Thomas Anaia (182), and Ahmed Hourani (285) also won weight class titles for Warde.

Kane was 3-0 with two pinfalls, including a 22-second win over Jake Barr in the final.

Anaia was 4-0 with three pinfalls, beating Noble’s Jacob Guimond, 6-0, in the title match.

Hourani, Warde’s heavyweight, went 3-0 with all three wins coming via pinfalls. Hourani made quick work of Merrimack’s Corey Little in the final, pinning his opponent in 28 seconds.

Also for Warde, Dan Ebert (120) was second, Dylan Bender (138) and Colin Ventura (160) were third, and Anthony Rotz (152) and Gabe Dias (220) were fourth.

Click here for the Merrimack Hall of Fame Invitational results