Simsbury’s Zach Johns (152 pounds), right, finished second in Saturday’s New England wrestling championships in Providence. He was Simsbury’s first finalist since 2016.
It was over in an instant or at least it looked that way.
Simsbury’s Zach Johns was battling undefeated Rawson Iwanicki of Saint John’s Prep from Danvers, Mass., in the finals of the New England championships at 152 pounds.
Iwanicki got a takedown with 26 seconds left in the second period only to see Johns escape eight seconds later to tie the bout at 5-5. But when Johns battled Iwanicki for a takedown, he stopped and rolled to the mat injured.
Johns couldn’t continue and Iwanicki improved to 58-0 with his first New England championship. Johns was one of five Simsbury wrestlers and seven Farmington Valley wrestlers at the first New England championship meet since March 2020 on Saturday (March 5) in Providence, R.I.
Johns, who won the State Open championship a week ago, was one of two Farmington Valley wrestlers to win medals. Canton High’s Ethan Titus became just the second Warrior, and the first since 1999, to ever win a medal in this event by finishing fourth at 120 pounds.
Johns (36-3) was looking good until he got hurt. He pinned Joseph Tully of Carver, Mass., in 31 seconds and beat Lucien Perla of Nashoba Valley, Mass., 13-2 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Johns shutout Rhode Island champion Justin Hood of Ponagansett, 7-0 to become the first Simsbury wrestler to make the finals since Jasper Stone in 2016.
Simsbury had five wrestlers that qualified to compete at the New England meet. State Open champion John Mairano (145) went 1-2, getting a pin in his opening match but then dropped two straight including an overtime decision to Brent Nicolosi of Haverhill, Mass.
Sophomore Chad Mairano (160) went 2-2 and fell one win shy of earning a medal, After losing his opening match, Chad Mairano beat Maine champion Shea Farrell of Mt. Ararat/Brunswick by pin (4:24) and got two takedowns in the third period to beat Paul Barrett of Longmeadow, Mass., 6-3.
Chad Mairano was eliminated by Newtown’s Fisher Stiles, 10-4.
Simsbury’s Cael Finn (132) and Benny Kulyyev (285) each went 0-2 in the tournament.
Titus was the first Canton wrestler to qualify to compete at the New England meet since 2014 and just the sixth in school history.
Titus, who was second at last week’s State Open, had a challenging tournament – facing state champions from Rhode Island, Maine and Massachusetts.
Titus (34-4) rebounded from a tough start to win his opening match over Jacob Motyl of Minnechaug Regional from Wilbraham, Mass., near Springfield. Motyl took a 5-0 lead with a two-point takedown and three-point near fall in the final 15 seconds of the first period. Titus got a late escape to cut the lead to 5-1.
In the second period, Titus got a takedown and a two-point near fall to tie the match at 5-5. A two-point reversal and another two-point near fall with 28 seconds left gave Titus a 9-5 victory.
In the quarterfinals, Titus beat Jack Callahan of Tewksbury, Mass., 7-0 before dropping a 9-2 decision to eventual champion Jacob Joyce of Ponagansett, Rhode Island in the semifinals.
Canton’s Ethan Titus became the second wrestler in school history to earn a New England championship medal by finishing fourth at 120 pounds.
Titus beat Maine champion Cole Albert of Mattanawcook Academy, 4-2 to earn a spot in the consolation final but he lost to Massachusetts champion Matt Botello of Hingham, 14-3 to take fourth. Botello, a freshman, had four takedowns in the win.
The last medalist for Canton in the New England tournament was Kacy O’Connor, who won a New England championship in 1999.
Avon’s Isaiah Adams, who won the State Open title at 113 pounds last week, went 2-2 in the tournament.
Adams (32-4) won his first match with a pin but was pinned by eventual champion Isiac Paulino of Montachusett, Mass., in the quarterfinals in 3:00. Adams beat Ridgefield’s Dominic Barrella in his first consolation round contest by pin (4:20) but was eliminated by Maine state champion Ayden Cofone of Windham by pin (1:55).
Xavier, which won their first State Open title since 2012 a week ago, had three medalists – Jackson Heslin at 120, Thomas Lunt (220), who finished fifth and Kyle Levesque (126), who finished sixth. The Falcons had 82 points but St. John’s Prep, which won the Massachusetts’ All-State tournament a week ago, had 95 to win the title – the first Massachusetts team to win the event since 2007.
Fairfield Warde was fifth with 58 points with Danbury (54) finishing sixth and Killingly (53) finishing seventh.
2022 New England championships
At Providence, R.I.
Top 25 results – 1. St. John’s Prep-Danvers, MA 95, 2. Xavier 82, 3. Ponaganset RI 77, 4. Coventry RI 71½, 5. Fairfield Warde 58, 6. Danbury 54, 7. Killingly 53, 8. Mattanawcook Academy-Lincoln ME 51, 9. Nashoba Valley Tech (MA) 48½, 10. Bishop Hendricken- Warwick RI and Timberlane Regional-Plaistow NH 48, 12. Hingham MA 43½, 13. Central Catholic-Lawrence MA 42½, 14. Algonquin Regional-Northborough MA 42, 15. Montachusett Regional Tech-Fitchburg MA 41, 16. Norwalk High 38, 17. Spaulding VT 37, 18. Shawsheen Valley Tech-Billerica MA 36½, 19. Guilford 35, 20. Bonny Eagle-Standish ME and Minnechaug Regional-Wilbraham MA 34, 22. Mt. Ararat/Brunswick-Topsham ME and Simsbury 33, 24. New Milford 31, 25. Milford MA and Scituate MA 30
Other Connecticut teams: t27. East Hartford 29, t32. New Fairfield 26; t42. Fairfield Prep 20, t55. Newtown 16, t58. Canton 14, ; t69. Shelton and Trumbull 10, t73. Avon and Southington 9; 82. Ridgefield 7½, t83. Branford and Ledyard 7; t86. RHAM and Haddam-Killingworth 6; t94. Seymour 5; t100. Brookfield and Suffield/Windsor Locks 4; t112. Nonnewaug, Plainville and Windham 3; t129. Berlin and Waterford 1; t134. Montville and Derby/Oxford/Holy Cross 0
2022 New England championships brackets and results (FloArena)
2022 New England championships brackets (PDF)
