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Plenty of new faces on the mat this year for Canton

Canton senior Trey VandeBogart, left, made it to the finals at 145 pounds in Saturday's Derby Invitational.

Canton senior Trey VandeBogart, left, made it to the finals at 145 pounds in Saturday’s Derby Invitational. (Photo courtesy Bill Brewster)

DERBY, Dec. 19 – There are a lot of new faces on the mat for the Canton High wrestling team this season. There are six freshmen on the 17-person squad that includes a new head coach.

Due to growing work commitments, Josh Kaplan has stepped down after four years. He’ll be helping out as a volunteer as his work schedule allows but the new head coach is Josh Bristol, a 2004 Canton High graduate and former Warrior wrestler.

Bristol was a Class S finalist in 2004 and a two-time NCCC champion. He was a starter on the 2002 Canton High team that won a NCCC championship.

Bristol does have a few experienced wrestlers on his squad. Senior Trey VandeBogart is back and on Saturday, he finished second at 145 pounds at the 37th annual Derby Invitational. VandeBogart won two close decision to earn a spot in the final but dropped a 12-5 decision to Joe Bradley of Morgan.

Canton freshman Grace Mates wrestles in Saturday's Derby Invitational. (Photo courtesy Bill Stewart)

Canton freshman Grace Mates wrestles in Saturday’s Derby Invitational. (Photo courtesy Bill Brewster)

Senior Julian Adams (170) finished third by pinning Oxford’s Connor McDonnell in 40 seconds. Adams lost in the semifinals in a back-and-forth match with eventual champion Rob Consiglio of Morgan. Adams won two consolation bouts. Freshman Donovan Macklin was fourth at 106 pounds.

Junior Hayden DiMaio (138) had a good day. After advancing to the semifinals with an impressive win against Derby, he lost a close semifinal match to Wyn Vega of Hamden Hall and lost an overtime match against East Catholic’s Enrique Claudio in the consolation semifinals.

With five finalists and three individual champions, East Catholic won the Derby Invitational for the first time ever with a 158-143 decision over Morgan. Jacon Marselli (106), Oliver Topitzer (160) and Jack Desautels (285) each won for the Eagles with pins. It is the best tournament finish for East Catholic since taking third in the Skip Arden Invitational in 2000. Canton finished 10th in the field of 11 teams.

Canton (0-1, 0-1 NCCC) dropped its season opener to Granby earlier in the week, 40-36. The Warriors return to the mat on Wednesday, Dec. 23, when they host SMSA/University High/Hartford Classical co-op team at 6 p.m.

Kaplan coached four seasons for the Warriors, posting a career record of 40-55. His best season was in 2014 when the Warriors finished second in the NCCC behind Avon and 10th at the Class S championships. Canton was 14-14 and 7-1 in the league in 2014. Kaplan led Canton to two top 10 finishes in Class S. In 2014, Skylar Lang won a Class S championship, took third at the State Open and wrestled in the New England tournament.

Derby Invitational
At Derby
Team results – 1. East Catholic 158; 2. Morgan 143; 3. Derby 95; 4. Darien 89; 5. Gilbert 87; 6. Hamden Hall 83½; 7. Oxford 81; 8. Rocky Hill 71; 9. Choate 31½; 10. Canton 31; 11. Valley Regional 8
Individual results
106 Jacob Marselli (East Catholic) pin Muhammed Bilall (Rocky Hill) 5:28; 3. Trevor Follo (Morgan) pin Donovan Mackin (Canton) 3:22
113 Matt Cuomo (Choate) tech fall Noah Vail (East Catholic) 18-3; 3. Riley Arthur (Gilbert) pin Brandon Ives (Oxford) 2:43
120 Ryan Dexter (Oxford) dec. Jordan Stefancin (Derby) 6-4; 3. Johnnyer Paida (Morgan) dec. Dylan McNamara (Hamden Hall) 4-0
126 Malik Shipman (Morgan) dec. Laszlo Gendler (Hamden Hall) 7-6; 3. Tyler Duplin (Gilbert) dec. Sam Madden (Choate) 7-5
132 Nu-kuan Fair (Hamden Hall) pin Zac Bouthillier (East Catholic) 1:04; 3. Chad Davenport (Morgan) pin Frankie Bourdier (Rocky Hill) 0:59
138 Liam Smith (Gilbert) dec. Wyn Vega (Hamden Hall) 16-2; 3. Tim Smith (Morgan) dec. Enrique Claudio (East Catholic) 10-8
145 Joe Bradley (Morgan) dec. Trey VandeBogart (Canton) 12-5; 3. Austen Appleby (Darien) pin Sam Teerlinck (East Catholic) 2:40
152 Dan Herold (Oxford) dec. Tyler Machowski (East Catholic) 13-7; 3. Alex Lundgren (Gilbert) pin Zach Cerreto (Derby) 2:22
160 Oliver Topitzer (East Catholic) pin Gilberto Rivera (Oxford) 0:58; 3. Belall Matar (Rocky Hill) pin Oliver Smith (Darien) 0:15
170 Rob Consiglio (Morgan) win by injury default Logan Smith (Gilbert) 3. Julian Adams (Canton) pin Connor McDonnell (Oxford) 0:40
182 Mike Szwaja (Derby) dec. Ivan Villenueva (Morgan) 6-2; 3. Granit Hoti (Darien) pin Will McCarthy (East Catholic) 0:59
195 Charlie Sampson (Derby) pin Jack Thatcher (Darien) 1:28; 3. Zach Progosa (East Catholic) dec. Matt Luchuk (Morgan) 13-1
220 Santiago Santana (Rocky Hill) pin Brandon DelGatto (Darien) 1:10; 3. Sungyup Ryu (Hamden Hall) pin Ben Falivene (Valley) 0:54
285 Jack Desautels (East Catholic) pin Spencer Stovall (Darien) 1:26; 3. Anthony Slowik (Derby) pin Austin Daley (Morgan) 1:53
Fastest Pin — Belall Matar 160 Rocky Hill 0:15; Outstanding Wrestler Jacob Marselli 106 East Catholic

Since 2009, the Collinsville Press has been providing award-winning coverage of sports and news in the Farmington Valley and across Connecticut.

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