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02/20/2016 11:00 PMThe future looks bright for the Head Coach Eric Leiss and the Morgan wrestling squad as the young Huskies went 14-8 in the regular season and then fared well at the Class S State Championship last week. The Huskies placed 10th in a field of 32 teams by scoring 86 points during the hectic two-day event at Planville High School on Feb. 19 and 20.
The Huskies ended day one in fourth place after every wrestler advanced to the quarterfinal round. From there, several athletes made deep runs in their respective brackets with sophomore Trevor Follo ending as Morgan’s top finisher by earning a fourth-place medal in the 106-pound weight class. Another sophomore, Joe Bradley, grabbed fifth place in the 145-pound class and senior captain Malik Shipman was sixth at 126.
“We got lots of early points in the elimination round and I was really impressed with how they performed. Some guys really wrestled above their seed and that gave us great momentum heading into the semifinals on Saturday,” Coach Leiss said. “In the end, I was happy. I think we would have liked to place a little higher than we did, but we wrestled well and up to expectations.”
Follo, who went 19-9 in the regular season, began action in the 106-pound bracket as the No. 7 seed and dispatched the 10th seed, Kyle Crouse of Nonnewaug, at 1:57 in the first period to advance to the round-of-16. There, Follo met No. 2 seed Adam Ward of St. Paul Catholic and dominated the match, pinning his opponent with 1:13 left in the first period. In the semifinal, Follo faced 3rd-seeded Danny Charon of Killingly and the sophomore gave him a run for his money. After losing some points early, Follo fought back into the match, forcing a third period. Down 7-6 late in the frame, Follo was on the verge of taking the upper-hand, but ran out of mat space and slipped out of bounds as time expired. It was tough loss, but a valiant effort, and Follo went on to claim fourth place in his class.
“I though he dominated some older kids and look like he’d been there before. He has a lot of confidence and will only get better,” Coach Leiss said of Follo. “The loss in the semis was a heartbreaker because he had the kid on the ropes and ran out of time, which was unlucky. In all, it was a positive day and he’s just a sophomore.”
In the 145-pound class, Joe Bradley (23-7 on the season) entered as the No. 4 seed and defeated Michael McNamara of Coventry 4-1 in the round-of-16, then bested Michael Maloney of Somers in the quarterfinals. After that, he had a tough slate and lost to top-seeded eventual champion Cullen Contos of Windham by pin in the first period. Bradley fought back to beat the No. 3 seed with a pin late in the match before losing to the 2nd-seeded Austin Concascia of Montville. Bradley came back to earn his fifth-place finish by posting victory via pin against Bolton’s Franklin Falcon at the 4:12 mark.
“Bradley did a great job and, for a young wrestler, he’s technically sound,” Coach Leiss said. “I’ve never heard of anyone having to go against the 1, 2, and 3 seeds in one day before, so he did very well.”
One of only two seniors on the Morgan squad, No. 3 seed Shipman (26-3) placed sixth in the 126-pound class. He made quick work of Matt Jobaggy of Terryville with a pin at 4:08 in the round-of-16, then defeated Patrick Sutherland of East Windsor on points, 7-1. Next, Shipman faced No. 2 seed Roderic Grant of Portland in the semifinal and lost 17-6, ultimately finishing in sixth place.
“Malik wrestled good, but didn’t do as well as he wanted,” Leiss said. “He qualified for the State Open and he will work hard this week and be ready to give his all.”
Among the other wrestlers for Morgan were 10th seed Anthony Fortuna, who advanced to the round-of-16 in the 120-pound class, losing to 7th-seeded Jason Jacaruso of Griswold 7-4. In the 132-pound bracket, sophomore Chad Davenport pinned Hayden DiMaio at 1:17 to advance to the quarterfinals and lost by pin to No. 2 seed, Terryville’s Fred Ellegard. He would later defeat Sam Burdick of Killingly 7-0 in the third period before losing to third-place finisher Matthew Jenkins of Haddam-Killingworth, 10-0. Senior captain Robert Consiglio advanced to the quarterfinals in the 170 division as the No. 6 seed after pinning Travis Boone of Plainville at the 1:35 mark, then lost 6-3 to Dillon Knupp of Killingly. Junior captain Ivan Villanueva (21-12) advanced to the quarterfinals at 182 after defeating James Pelehach of Canton with a pin in the first period. He later lost a 12-4 decision to 3rd-seeded Emanuel Diaz of Montville. In the 138-pound class, Tim Smith made it to the round-of-16, as did Isaac Eriksen (152), Kyle Neumann (160), freshman Matthew Luchuk (195), Steven Hansen (220), and sophomore Austin Daley (285).
“We have a very young team with only two seniors with lots of freshman and sophomores,” said Coach Leiss. “I think the future looks solid with this core we have and we can be one of the top programs for the next few years if we continue to work hard. I was really impressed with Austin Daley’s progress and the younger guys are locked in. I have great assistant coaches, so we are excited for the future and couldn’t be happier.”
From the Sidelines
Head Coach Eric Leiss is in his ninth year at the helm of Morgan wrestling.
Leiss was a member of Morgan’s only state championship squad in 1999 and he also won an individual state crown that same year in the 145-pound weight class.
Morgan’s assistant coach is Marvin Meyer and the Huskies also have two volunteer coaches in Ken Grass and Gary Sklaver.