Hand Wrestling Overcomes Slow Start to Pin Guilford

Thanks to its 19-0 record and No. 2 ranking in the state, the Hand wrestling team is used to taking opponents' best shots right on the chin. Against their crosstown rival Guilford Indians, the Tigers took some early lumps, but got up, dusted themselves off, and pummeled the Indians in a fashion expected by many.

Hand traveled to Guilford on Jan. 25 for a Southern Connecticut Conference interdivision match-up and the Tigers had to overcome an early surge by Guilford before four straight pins and 10 straight overall wins sealed the 57-15 victory.

"We knew we all had to wrestle our very best; we knew they were going to come out fired up," said Hand senior Joe DeMichele. "We knew we had to wrestle every single match like it was our last and we came out and dominated."

The match opened at 170 pounds, pitting the Indians' lone senior Ray Sherwood against Kevin Wivell. Sherwood was honored as part of Senior Night for Guilford (9-10) festivities and was wrestling at 170 for only the second time this season. In was a grind-it-out type match that saw Sherwood take an early 2-0 lead, then Wivell tie the score at 2-2. Wivell grabbed a hold of Sherwood's leg at one point in the third period, sending the senior down to the mat with an apparent ankle injury. But Sherwood fought through fatigue and pain, winning the bout in a 3-2 decision.

"We don't panic when we come through that part of the lineup; we stay confident that we are going to get some wins," said Hand Coach Blair Tugman. "Our heavier guys have been working hard and doing a great job so I don't want to say they haven't been doing a good job; they just had some tough opponents tonight."

Hand's Carter Chatillon made quick work of Colton Schilling at 182, earning a pin just 28 seconds into the bout, which set up the most exciting match of the day.

Guilford's Tony Dinse and Victor Buschetto squared off at 220 in a bout that came down to the final second. Buschetto built an early 6-0 lead and held a 6-2 edge heading into the third period, but Dinse never quit battling and cut the advantage to 6-4 before flipping and pinning Buschetto with one second left in the match. Guilford's only other bout win came at 195, where Mark Lisitano pinned Mike Berky with 1:30 remaining in the second period.

"We are really pleased with Buschetto-he is a football player in his first year wrestling and he came out at the 195 spot for us this year and has been a good sport bumping up to 220," Tugman said. "He is working hard and we expect big things from him in the postseason."

But Hand's strength rested in its heaviest and lightest competitors starting when DeMichele, a heavyweight, got the Tigers back on track by starting a run of 10 straight wins when he pinned Guilford's David Cooper in just 20 seconds.

Said DiMichele: "I got pretty fired up after we got pinned a couple times so that stuck in my mind and I just went out there and wrestled my match."

The Tigers followed the pin by DeMichele with three more pins as Matt Elias (106) defeated Colin Pittorie, Jonah Lewis (113) defeated Brandon Hallaway, and Kevin Mallon (120) pinned Nate Monte.

"We were telling our guys all week to not take these guys lightly; last year they gave us a pretty close match," Tugman said. "This was a big match-up for SCC seeding for individuals so we motivated our guys with that and the rivalry is big."

Hand's Tucker MacGregor (138) defeated Josh Malamud, pinning him with 28 seconds remaining in the first period, and Jake Savoca (145) had the Tigers' final pin, beating Nate Misbach 1:28 into the second period.

At 126, the Tigers' Andrew Kennally bested Jake Lundberg by the final bout score of 10-4. Additionally, Hand's Justin Elias earned a win over Kevin Carregal at 132 with a technical fall, Ben Onofrio won a 9-1 bout for the Tigers over Brendon Carney at 152, and Connor Carroll earned the final win for Hand at 160 with a 6-0 defeat of Scott Primavara.

"Guilford has been our rival town so we take that all into play and go out and wrestle them," DeMichele said. "We have a lot of love for these guys, but when it comes to game time, we don't like them at all."