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03/04/2014 11:00 PMWrestling
Hand (40.5 points) finished 16th at the State Open on Feb. 28 on March 1 at Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven. The Tigers' highest placer was Ben Onofrio (160), who finished runner-up to Windham's Dakota Fleming by a 3-1 decision.
Onofrio defeated Ian Concascia of Montville (pin 4:38), top-seeded Brendan Butler from Xavier (5-3), and Andrew D'Amico of New Fairfield to reach the final. Elsewhere, Ashton Gyenizs (138) finished fourth after falling to David Colvin of Old Saybrook/Westbrook in the consolation bracket finale, 10-3. Gyenizs's path to fourth included besting Derby's Ryan Landona (16-0) and Cheshire's Jacob Cervero (7-0) prior to bowing out against Jacob Caskey of Montville in the semifinals (pin at 1:51). Both Onofrio and Gyenizs qualified for the New England Championship on Saturday, March 8 by finishing in the top four of their respective weight brackets.
Also competing were Owen Gottlick (145) and Justin Dwyer (195). Dwyer defeated Clayton Ahearn of Lyman Hall 7-2, but lost to Steve Ghossani from Immaculate in the next round (3-1). In the consolation round, he topped Alexander Merdinger of Shelton (4-3) before a defeat against New Britain's Alex Sawby (pin 3:50). Gottlick fell in his opening bout against Quinn Marino of Xavier (4-0) before losing a 4-3 decision versus New Haven's Ken Agosto in his consolation bracket opener.
Girls' Ice Hockey
Hand lost a hard-fought heartbreaker, 8-7 in overtime, to Branford on Feb. 24 in the SCC Division II Tournament semifinal round. Mackenzie Hilton had two goals and an assist while Morgan Connors added a pair of scores, as the Tigers won the shot battle 26-22.
With Hand down one, Branford took a slashing penalty with two minutes left in the third period. The Tigers pulled their goalie with 1:15 left and Emily Banasiak skated directly into the high slot and took a pass from Hilton which she put home to tie the game. However, the Hornets ended the game with a sudden victory goal two minutes into the extra session.
Boys' Basketball
6th-seeded Hand (14-7 overall) fell to No. 11 Branford, 50-46, at home on Feb. 27 in the first round of the SCC Tournament with Phil Crampton leading the Tigers on his 15 points.
After falling behind 6-0 to start the game, the Tigers fought back to take a one-point lead after the first quarter. From that point, Hand totaled only 10 points as Branford closed the half with a 9-2 run, taking a 23-16 lead into the half. The Hornets continued their hot shooting in the third, stretching their lead to 33-21 entering the fourth. Hand finally found its game in the final stanza, where Brendan Hughes (13 points) and Scott Braren led a comeback with a combined 13 points in the quarter. The Tigers managed to cut Branford's lead to six with 1:40 to play. After a steal and foul, Hughes cut the lead to three on a pair of free throws with 20 seconds remaining. Following another steal, Hand got the ball back with just over 10 seconds remaining. A Hughes miss was followed with an offensive rebound, which found Christian Koshgarian for an open three-pointer with three ticks remaining, but Branford rebounded the miss to secure the win.
For postseason awards, Hughes and Andre Frederick were named to the SCC All-Hammonasset Team while Hughes was named to the New Haven Tap Off Club All-Area squad. Elsewhere, Frederick was named to the CHSCA and JCC Schoolboy Classic All-Star teams and Sam Jablonski was named a New Haven Tap Off Club Scholar Athlete.
The Tigers now begin the Class L State Tournament on Monday, March 10 with first-round action.
Fencing
The Tigers faced off with Lyme/Old Lyme on Feb. 24. Wins came by way of the boys' (winning by an 8-1 decision) and girls' (7-2) varsity teams, along with the girls' JV (7-2), boys' (8-1), and girls' novice (6-3) squads. The boys' JV fought to a tough 5-4 loss and the co-ed épée team fell 6-3.