The Trumbull High wrestling team celebrated Senior Night with a 56-13 victory over Westhill from Stamford on Wednesday night.
Cross Cannone, Adam Angelucci, Stephen Briganti, Stephen D’Amato, Jovaro Cucuta and Dorian Washington were honored in pre-match ceremonies, along with team managers Claire Deegan, Helena Kizildag, Sara Massaro, Sarah Miller and Kaitlyn Pelak.
Then, coach Niko Filippakis’ Eagles took the mat and made short work of the Vikings.
The match of the night came at 182 pounds, when Cucuta took on Westhill’s Kristian Cepeda and rallied back to win a 9-8 decision.
“I’m glad it wasn’t easy, Cucuta said. “This is a good way to remember senior night. It was an emotional rollercoaster — from being on my back one moment to taking the lead and then holding on to the victory.
“This is a brotherhood. I’ve played all sports, but wrestling is the best.”
Trumbull’s dominance began at 106 pounds, where Tristan Haviland took an 8-0 lead into the second period and then pinned Evan Torres in 22 seconds.
Alex Greco followed suit, going up 5-0 with three back points at the first-period buzzer, before the 113-pounder got the fall on Jacob Appel in 34 seconds.
Michael Mirmina extended Trumbull’s lead to 16-0 with an 11-2 major decision at 120 pounds. He led Denver Dorsianvil 2-0 after one period, controlled things from the top in the second session, and ran off seven points after scoring a reversal in the third to win going away.
Dante Montanaro defeated Andrew Blum, 8-2, in the 120-pound bout. Montanaro posted takedowns in the first two periods and countered a reversal with one of his own to take a 6-2 lead into the third period.
Westhill’s 132-pound Brandon Chejin put his team on the board with an 11-6 win over the Eagles’ Adam Giammattei.
Trailing 6-0, Giammattei reversed things and used a head lock to gain three back points, just missing the pin call at the second-period buzzer.
Giammattei fought off a cradle, gave up three back points, but escaped to gain the neutral position with 59 seconds remaining.
Chejin got the next takedown to take the score to 11-6.
Cannone was next up and Trumbull’s outstanding 138-pounder overwhelmed Jessy Pedraza in 1:01.
Michael Greco scored a 59-second fall in his 145-pound match with Dylan Martin to boost Trumbull’s lead to 31-3.
Angelucci used a takedown and two back points to control his match before pinning the Vikings’ 152-pound Miguel Montoya in 1:09.
Briganti went on top 5-0 just 19 seconds into his 160-pound bout before he pinned David Bolanos in 1:38.
Joey Ryan made it 46-3 with a 9-1 major decision over Jordan Goins at 170 pounds.
At 182, Cucuta battled off his back midway through the first period. Down 5-0 to Cepeda, he escaped and got the takedown to make it 5-3 after one.
He sat out to escape and then switched from a two-on-one leg drive to a deep waist takedown to grab the lead at 6-5. A penalty point at the buzzer was awarded to Cepeda because of a full nelson.
Cucuta opened the third with two back points, but Cepeda quickly reversed to deadlock the match at 8-8.
Cucuta escaped to take the lead in the third, and then kicked clear of a takedown attempt and attacked from the neutral position to run the final seven seconds off the clock.
Trumbull’s Matt Alegi ran into a buzzsaw whose given name is Davonte Jeffers at 195 pounds, with the Viking taking the lead and countering ever manuever thrown at him to win 11-1.
Westhill’s Dillian Gonzalez won by forfeit at 220 pounds.
D’Amato, Trumbull’s heavyweight, concluded the match with a quick 1:29 pin of Adrian Fabe.