With 3 conference wins, Canton wrestlers even record at 4-4

Canton’s Mike Schomburg controls SMSA’s Giovanni Starinolo at 113 pounds. Schomburg won 11-7

CANTON, Jan. 10  – After a rough start to the season in December, the Canton High wrestling team has been enjoying some success with three straight dual meet victories and a second place finish at the Northwestern Regional Invitational.

After finishing December at 1-4, Canton has earned North Central Connecticut Conference victories over Granby, Sport Medicine Science Academy and Enfield and are now 4-4.

“We’re a young, inexperienced team,” second-year coach Josh Kaplan said. “But we’re starting to see things pick up. They are starting to click. I’m pleased with how they’ve been wrestling the past few weeks.”

Against Granby, Canton trailed by 16 points after first three matches. But the Warriors won five of the remaining six contests to earn its second win with a 46-19 decision over Granby. Dylan Houle (160) and Devin Glasson (182) won with pins while Patrick Lawler (152), Ben Corbett (170), Chris Mutch (195) each earned decisions to lift the Warriors.

Canton did take advantage of the fact that Granby gave up 18 points in forfeits.

Last week, the Warriors traveled to Hartford and beat SMSA by a 57-12 score with six pins, four in under one minute. Skylar Lang (120), Noah Korner (138), Chris VandeBogart (152) and Dan Delos (170) each won by pin in less than a minute. Delos pinned his opponent in 12 seconds. Corbett (160) and Mutch (195) also won with pins while Mike Schomburg (113) earned a hard-fought 13-7 decision.

Against Enfield, Canton prevailed, 47-21. Due to forfeits on both teams, there were only seven actual matches and the Warriors won five of them. Joey Joslin (132), Corbett (160), Dylan Houle (170) and Delos (182) won by pin. Julian Adams (113) won by technical fall with a 15-point win.

At the Northwestern Invitational, the host Highlanders set up a round robin tournament in each weight class to enable each wrestler to get up to five matches. Round robin tournament are common at the youth wrestling level but rare in high school.

Teams earned points for each win and pin by individual wrestlers. Plainville won the event with 136 points while Canton was second with 109. E.O. Smith was third with 92 points.

Houle (160) and Lang (220) each went 4-0 to win their respective weight classes. Devon Glasson (182) was second with a 4-1 record along with teammates Joey Joslin (132, 4-1), Chris VandeBogart (152, 4-1), Ben Corbett (160, 4-1) and Quintin Parmenter (285, 3-1).

“Our team still needs some work and there is plenty of room for improvement,” Kaplan said. “As long as we’re getting better, that is what we want to see.”

Canton hosts four teams on Saturday beginning at 9 a.m. at the high school. The Warriors will wrestle against Gilbert, Derby, Seymour and Weston.

Canton 47, Enfield 21
At Enfield
106: Ryan Therrien (E) forfeit; 113: Julian Adams (C) tech fall David Pino, 16-1; 120: no match; 126: no match; 132: Joey Joslin (C) pin Vincent Marco, 0:26; 138: Noah Korner (C) forfeit; 145: Bryan Murphy (E) forfeit; 152: Jarrey Maloney (E) dec. Chris VandeBogart, 8-6; 160: Ben Corbett (C) pin Richard Wages, 5:09; 170: Dylan Houle (C) pin Jason Davis, 4:56; 182: Dan Delos (C) pin Zac Vincent, 0:46; 195: Chris Mutch (C) forfeit; 220: Skylar Lang (C) forfeit; 285: Mejia Enrique (E) pin Caiden Permenter, 2:26
Records: Canton 4-4, 3-1 NCCC; Enfield 0-7, 0-4 NCCC

Records: Canton 3-4, 2-1 NCCC: SMSA/University 2-7, 0-4 NCCC