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Falivene Takes It to His Competition on the Mat

Sophomore Ben Falivene is putting together quite an impressive résumé on the wrestling mat for Valley Regional. Ben, who wrestles in the 220-pound weight class, recorded a fourth-place finish at the Shoreline Shuffle during the recent regular season and then capped his campaign with a seventh-place performance in the Class S State Championship.

Most recently, Ben competed at the Middle Athletic Wrestling Association District Championships, where he placed second in the 220-pound Advanced Division. Ben’s finish landed him a spot at the Regional Championships, which will take place in Easton, Pennsylvania on Sunday, April 23.

Aside from his accomplishments as a wrestler, Ben also earned his varsity letter as a member of the Valley-Old Lyme football squad last fall.

Ben is in an interesting situation since Valley Regional doesn’t have its own wrestling program. In order to compete in high school, Ben travels to Clinton each day during the winter to practice with the Morgan wrestling squad. Then at the matches, Ben wrestles with Morgan, but not for Morgan, because his victories don’t count toward the Huskies’ point total. However, that never stops Ben from supporting his teammates.

“I cheer on my teammates just like they do for me,” says Ben, who finished with a record of 12-10 for the high school season. “At long tournaments, sometimes you only get to wrestle for 10 minutes and you’ll be there for eight hours, so it helps everybody.”

Ben isn’t just an asset for Morgan at the team’s matches; he’s also an immense help to the Huskies during their practices. Ben often squared off against Morgan junior Austin Daley, so they could practice their moves on the mat. Daley competes in the 285-pound weight class, while Ben wrestles 220, thus creating a mismatch. However, Ben has improved a lot as a result of wrestling against Daley, saying, “He pushed me to be the person who I am today.” Morgan wrestling Head Coach Erik Leiss believes the pairing has proved hugely beneficial for both wrestlers and feels happy to have Ben affiliated with his program.

“He held his own with Austin all year. I think it helped both of them. Austin had to be a little bit faster from wrestling Ben, and Ben had to contend with Austin’s extra weight,” says Leiss. “At first, I wasn’t sure about having Ben on the team since he could take time away from our wrestlers, but after having him around with his work ethic and great personality, he proved to be a huge asset to our program. We love Ben.”

Ben, an Essex resident who grew up in Haddam, has been wrestling for a good portion of his life. Ben was encouraged to start with the sport by Matt Thomas, his coach at Haddam-Killingworth Middle School, where Ben was named captain of the wrestling team in 8th grade. Although Ben has been wrestling for the last few years, he feels that his sophomore season was truly special. The campaign culminated with a solid showing at the Class S State Championship as Ben won two matches to place seventh and score points on behalf of Valley Regional.

“I started wrestling in 5th grade, but I feel like this year, I really started to get it and wrestle to my full potential,” says Ben.

The wrestling mat isn’t the only place where Ben is seeing success at Valley. As a sophomore in a quality football program, Ben felt that he’d have a difficult time making the varsity squad last year. However, as the season wore on, it became apparent to Ben’s coaches that he could help out the team. Head Coach Tim King wanted to get Ben some experience on the varsity gridiron and so he had him play the line on extra point attempts. Halfway through the season, offensive coordinator Kevin Woods started using Ben in packages that allowed for additional linemen.

“He was like our sixth man in basketball,” says Coach King. “This year, he’s gotten so much bigger and stronger. He’s pound for pound one of our strongest players. I have no doubt with his work ethic that, as a senior, he’ll be on a lot of our weightlifting charts.”

Just like Coach King, Ben feels that he’s improved a great deal throughout his first two years on the football field.

“Last year, I didn’t play any varsity. This year, I was on the demo team. I felt like I was doing a lot better because I was going against players who were a lot better,” Ben says. “I got into some games this year and got my varsity letter, so that felt really good.”

Ben says that some of the things he’s learned from wrestling have played a big part in his progression as a football player.

“I think wrestling helps with my footwork,” he says. “On defense, it helps me with tackling. It teaches you to wrap and not to just hit high and think you’re going to take someone down. It also helps keep me in shape with the conditioning.”

Ben extends great gratitude to his coaches, teammates, and family for helping him do well throughout his athletic career. Of course, Ben still has to put in the work in order to improve, and Coach King has noticed how hard Ben works while trying to better himself in all areas.

“Besides being a heck of a wrestler and a heck of a football player, he’s a heck of a kid,” says King. “I don’t want him to get too big of a head, but he’s a pleasure to have in the classroom and on the team.”

Of course, Ben wants to win even more matches on the wrestling mat in his junior year. However, he also has a goal of being part of more offensive packages as a first-string player on the football team.

“It’s anybody’s position until the name is put down on the paper,” says Ben. “Just like anything, you have to put your work in, and try your best to get the position.”