The Minutemen traveled to nearby Meriden to competing in the highly competitive team duals. The team consists of Bantams, Intermediate, Novice and Middle School wrestlers who compete as a team against another team similar to that of a high school match. The Minutemen teamed up with five Cheshire wrestlers to help fill out the line-up on the day.
The first match was against Mayo Quanchi from Rhode Island. The Minutemen took an early lead with wins by Isaac Cortes and Trevor Graham. JP Gorneault kept things going with a pin. Riley Hanson dropped a close match at the 60 lb. weight class. Nathan Orde had a tough loss to Mike Elrod but Eli Watson got the team back on track with a Technical Fall. Luke Mangiafico won by Forfeit and Daniel and Josh Veleas both picked up wins. Pins by Nick Aborio and Kevon Bradley pushed the Minutemen out to a 41-18 lead. Tough losses by Ronnie Watson, Calvin Johnson and Marcus Alleyne closed the gap. Jared Zima picked up a win as did Seth Pelletier but with three forfeits and other loses Mayo Quanchi pulled out a 71-59 win.
The second match pitted the Minutemen against Warwick PAL, RI. Wins by Trevor Graham, JP Gorneault, Josh and Daniel Veleas, Nick Aborio, Marcus Alleyne, Jared Zima and Seth Pelletier were not enough as Warwick topped the Minutemen 72-48.
In their third match against an always tough Bristol team the Minutemen had wins by Trevor Graham, JP Gorneault, Riley Hanson, Josh Veleas, Nick Aborio, Marcus Alleyne, Jared Zima and Seth Pelletier but were topped by the Gladiators 84-46.
In the final match on the day Southington was just too much as well, topping the Minutemen 72-53. Winning for Berlin were Eli Watson, Daniel and Josh Veleas, Nick Aborio, Marcus Alleyne, Jared Zima and Seth Pelletier.
Winning all their matches on the day were Nick Aborio, Josh Veleas and Jared Zima. Coach Moss said, “This is a very long and tough day of wrestling that gave our young wrestlers a full day of quality matches.” He went on to say “Losses now will prepare us for the State tournament in about a month.”
The Junior Minutemen will be home Friday, January 20 at 6 p.m. against Glastonbury. It is open and free to any wrestling fans. The address is 20 Tuttle Place, Middletown.
Junior Minutemen
Friday the 13th ended up being a lucky day for the Minutemen who traveled to Southington for thier first match of the season. The Minutemen brought mostly first year wrestlers and came away with a 23-16 win.
Winning twice on the night was JP Gornault, Graden Boyer, Serge Duquette, Calvin Johnson,Eli Watosn and Nick Aborio. Winning once were Isaac Cortes, Cayden Hill, John Newman, Trevor Graham, Zachary Skinner, Sadie Boyer, Marshall Alleyne, Riley Hanson, Marcus Johnson, Vinny DeFrancesco and Ronnie Watson.
Wrestling well in their first matches were Will Turgeon, Adam Rossignol, Gabriel Nazario and Blake Sartor.
Coach Moss said, "I'm pleased with the progress our wrestlers have made. Those who have been wrestling for a while showed signs of their hard work and our first year wrestlers really did a great job against some outstanding opponents."
