Morgan’s Wrestlers See Some Success at the Open
Wrestling
The Morgan wrestling team was represented by a handful of grapplers who hit the mat at the State Open Championship at Floyd Little Athletic Center on Feb. 23 and 24. Louis Bradley earned fifth place for Morgan, and Austin Daley finished in sixth place for his weight class. Anthony Cimino, Trevor Follo, and Andrew Fortuna also competed at the Open for the Huskies, who scored 29 points to finish tied for 29th place at the meet.
In the 113-pound division, Bradley picked up a win by a 5-2 decision in the round-of-16 against Lowayne Harris of East Hartford. In the quarterfinal, Bradley defeated Braeden O’Brien of Bacon Academy by a 3-1 decision, after which he moved on to the semifinal and lost by a 19-3 technical fall to Fitch’s Jarod Kosman. That loss pitted Bradley against Jordan Champagne of Bristol Eastern, and he lost by pin at 1:28 in the consolation semis. As a result, Bradley faced Ben LeBlanc of Danbury in a battle for fifth place, where Bradley won by an 8-5 decision.
In the 285-pound class, Daley got started with a 7-5 victory over Jameel Salami of Xavier in the round-of-16. Next, Daley lost in the quarterfinal by an 11-7 decision and headed to the consolation bracket.
In the round-of-eight, Daley got a win by pinfall at 51 seconds against Christian Bauer of Westhill. Then in the round-of-four, Daley scored another victory with a 5-1 decision against Justin Griffin of Amity. Daley was defeated by a 4-2 decision against Richard Mullaney of Ledyard in the consolation semis, sending him to the match for fifth place, which Daley lost by a 3-1 decision to Joe Zeller of Newtown to place sixth.
In the 132 division, Anthony Cimino lost in the round-of-16 to William Mauro of Foran by a 14-13 decision. In the consolation bracket, Cimino defeated Tanner Divito of East Haven. In the consolation round-of-eight, Cimino defeated Jason Brault of Southington by a 6-5 decision. Then in the next round-of-eight, Cimino lost by pin-fall at the 2:13 mark against James Lunt of Xavier.
Follo wrestled in the 126 division, starting with a bout against Cooper Morisette of Killingly. Follo won by a 12-3 major decision to advance. In the next round, Follo lost a major decision by an 11-1 score against Keldon LaRose of Guilford to move to the consolation bracket. In the consolation round-of-eight, Follo lost by a 11-0 major decision to Newtown’s Aaron Occhipinti.
In the 152-pound division, Andrew Fortuna lost an 8-3 decision to Matthew Rothman of Amity in the round-of-16. Then in the consolation bracket, Fortuna lost his first match by a 12-1 major decision against James Guion of Northwestern.
Boys’ Basketball
The Huskies lost their final game of the year by the final score of 65-41 at Cromwell on Feb. 19. Morgan finishes its season with a 4-16 record.
Garrett Johnson led Morgan in scoring with 15 points to go with seven rebounds, while Peter Markovics had seven rebounds for the Huskies. AJ Fritz had eight points, five boards, two assists, and a steal. Tyler Newfield scored seven points and had five steals with four assists for Morgan in the season finale.
Girls’ Basketball
The Morgan girls’ basketball team is the No. 25 seed in the Class M State Tournament and will open up the tourney at No. 8 seed Granby (15-5) in a first-round contest on Feb. 26 (after press time). If the Huskies win, they will either play at No. 9 Weston or at No. 24 Plainville in the second round at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 1. The quarterfinals take place on Monday, March 5; the semis are on Friday, March 9; and the championship game takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville on either Saturday, March 17 or Sunday, March 18.