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02/23/2019 11:00 PMWrestling
The East Haven wrestling squad was represented by three athletes when the State Open Championship took place at the Floyd Little Athletic Center on Feb. 22 and 23. Senior Victor Garcia competed in the 113-pound weight class, junior Alec DiVito grappled in the 132-pound weight class, and senior captain Armando Castaneda wrestled in the 285-pound division for the Yellowjackets. As a team, East Haven scored six points to finish in 65th place out of 99 schools at the State Open. Danbury won the title with 158 with points scored, while Xavier finished second by scoring 109 points.
Garcia squared off against Elias Sturdevant of Woodland in the first round of the 113-pound bracket and won a 12-2 major decision. In his next bout, Garcia lost an 8-5 decision versus Drew Currier from Hall. Garcia went to the consolation rounds, where he lost to Ben Gorr of Southington via forfeit. Prior to the Open, Garcia had taken first place in the 113-pound division at the SCC Championship and finished third in the Class M State Championship.
DiVito had a first-round bye and lost to Tristan Julian of Stafford by a 3-0 decision in his opening bout of the 132-pound division. He then lost an 10-8 decision against Newington’s Jacob Zotti in his first consolation match. DiVito had recently placed fourth at SCCs and second at states for the 132-pound weight class.
Castaneda started off action in the 285-pound bracket by winning a 5-3 decision over Eric Facey of Bristol. Castaneda advanced to the second round, where he took a loss by pin against top-seeded Henry Schrecengost of Avon at the 1:28 mark. In his first consolation bout, Castaneda won by a 3-0 decision against Domonic Zuccalo from Somers. He later took a pinfall defeat against Ben Falivene of Valley Regional at the 2:16 mark. Earlier in the postseason, Castaneda earned a victory at the SCC meet and then took fifth place for the Class M meet in the 285-pound division.
Boys’ Basketball
The Yellowjackets completed their season by earning a 75-39 home victory over Platt Tech on Feb. 18. East Haven finished with a record of 7-13 on the year.
East Haven connected on 15 3-pointers on the night and held Platt Tech scoreless during the final quarter on its way to the victory. Senior captain Nate Furino scored 20 points for the Yellowjackets, while Ian Reynolds drilled five 3-pointers to finish with 15 points. Senior Hunter Santana added 13 points for East Haven in the win.
Cheerleading
After recently posting an eighth-place finish in the All-Girl Division at the SCC Championship, the East Haven cheerleading team is gearing up to compete at the State Championship this week. The meet will take place at Floyd Little Athletic Center on Saturday, March 2.
Boys’ Ice Hockey
The East Haven-Old Lyme-Old Saybrook-East Hampton-Morgan-Valley Regional boys’ ice hockey team lost its final two games of the regular season to finish with a record of 8-10-2. The Yellowjackets will open play in the Division II State Tournament by playing a first-round game on Monday, March 4.
The Yellowjackets hosted Branford on Senior Night and took a 4-1 defeat at DiLungo Rink on Feb. 21. Old Lyme junior Alec Speirs scored the goal on assists from East Haven senior Chris Giglietti and Valley Regional senior Ricky Persico. East Haven junior Logan Hamilton made 42 saves in net for the Yellowjackets, who were outshot 46-22 for the game.
Two nights later, East Haven dropped a 4-1 road game against Haddam-Killingworth in its regular season finale at Northford Ice Pavilion. Hamilton recorded 37 saves in the defeat. East Haven sophomore Dave Amatruda scored the Yellowjackets’ goal on an assist by Persico.