By Kim J. Harmon

With four wrestlers in the finals of the South-West Conference tournament on Saturday at Newtown High School, odds seemed in favor of the Nighthawks doing some real damage. But Steve Selezan – who was facing his own final in the 152-pound weight class – was being cautiously optimistic about an hour before the championships.

“Anything can happen,” he said sagely.

True enough. And of the four finalists, two – Selezan and Dan Maley – earned their first SWC championships.

While the finals in the 119-, 125-, and 152-pound weight classes ran true to what people would have expected (Sullivan was up against an undefeated opponent at 119, Maley was sure to be locked into a tight duel at 125, and Selezan was the clear favorite at 152), it was the finals of the 130-pound weight class which turned out rather unexpectedly.

Nick Feola was a terror in that weight class all season long, amassing a record of 30-1, and looked to be a favorite to win the title. But Mark Reher of Jonathan Law had other ideas and grabbed the title for himself.

Anything can happen.

Anything did happen.

In The Finals

Steve Selezan was an almost prohibitive favorite to win the 152-pound wrestling championship at the South-West Conference tournament on Saturday – at Newtown High School – but his time to shine under the (hanging) spotlight was so brief it was almost anticlimactic.

Selezan reached the finals with almost relative ease (with a pin, a tech fall, and a major decision) and set to square off with Franco Jean of Stratford, a wrestler Selezan had manhandled during the dual meet season.

Early in the second period, Selezan (leading 4-0 at that point) had gotten Jean in a tough hold. Although the hold was legal, Jean’s arm and shoulder were bent into a precarious angle and the Stratford coach, fearing an injury, rushed to the aid of his wrestler and quickly gave up the match.

“I like to use that move the most on tall guys,” said Selezan, who got that title that eluded him last year, as a sophomore, when he lost to Jim Bottigiliero of Jonathan Law in the finals of the 140-pound weight class.

Dan Maley, on the other hand, knew he was in for a fight because just a couple weeks ago he and his opponent, Matt Drew of New Fairfield, had tussled in one of the most thrilling matches of the dual meet season. Maley won that match in the final three seconds on a stunning reversal.

“I knew I already had one win under my belt (against him,” said Maley, “but this is one tough kid and I was real nervous.”

Maley found himself in a 2-0 hole early in the first period and then managed to steal a point on an escape. Before the first period was over, however, Maley took Drew down to grab a 3-2 lead. In the second, Drew did the only scoring – one point for an escape that tied the match at 3-3.

At the start of the third, Drew had top position but let Maley up, giving Maley a 4-3 lead. The strategy backfired when Maley then grabbed a takedown for a 6-3 lead. With about a minute left, Drew managed a reversal to trim Maley’s lead to 6-5, but Maley wouldn’t give up anything else after that.

“I just latched onto his leg,” said Maley. “I was hoping I didn’t get called for stalling.”

He didn’t, and the title was his.

Disappointment, for Newtown, came in the 130-pound class when Nick Feola was beaten for only the second time all season – this time by Mark Reher of Jonathan Law. Despite taking a 2-0 lead in the first period, Feola couldn’t stop Reher was grabbing two back points in the second period on a near pin and another two back points in the third, also on a near pin. Feola put up a monumental struggle, but couldn’t shake Reher who had slapped a vise-like leg grip on the Nighthawk co-captain.

In the 112-pound class, the odds of grabbing a title seemed to be against Matt Sullivan. Sullivan entered the match at 24-6 but his opponent, Jeff Oldham of Bethel, boasted a perfect 31-0 mark and was easily the favorite to win. Oldham didn’t disappoint his fans as he took a 4-1 lead on Sullivan in the first period and then upped it by two points in both the second and third periods to finish with the 8-1 decision.

As a team, Newtown finished sixth overall with 96.5 points. The ‘Hawks came in behind Bethel (243), Jonathan Law (149.5), New Milford (138), Bunnell (122.5), and Stratford (100), and came in ahead of New Fairfield (73.5), Weston/Masuk/Barlow (46), Pomperaug (37), Brookfield (6), and Foran (3).

The ‘Hawks finished 8-9 overall, 6-3 in the South-West Conference during the dual meet season. Now, CIAC Class L state championship possibilities loom large for Selezan, Maley, Feola and Sullivan.

Roundup

103 pounds – Jon Read beat Shaw of New Milford (p 5:43), then lost to Greg Pace of Bethel (p 1:29) to get dropped into the consolation bracket. He went on to beat Striet of Jonathan Law before losing to Hu of Weston (10-7) in the consolation final, taking fourth place in the class.

112 pounds – Matt Sullivan earned a bye, then beat Clare of New Milford (12-3) to advance to the final against Oldham of Bethel.

119 pounds – John Dietter lost of Pace of Bethel (17-2), then beat Kerney of Bunnell in his first consolation bracket match before losing to Measse of Stratford.

125 pounds – Dan Maley beat Fitzsimmons of New Milford (10-0) and Vandijk of Jonathan Law (5-4) to advance to the finals against Drew of New Fairfield.

130 pounds – Nick Feola defeated Garvette of Weston (p 1:16) and Coshigiano of Bethel (p 2:30) to advance to the final against Reher of Jonathan Law.

135 pounds – Mike Daniels was beaten by Wolf of Bethel (12-3) and then beat Peruyat of Pomperaug before losing to Shaw of Jonathan Law (12-0) in the consolation bracket.

140 pounds – No Newtown wrestler.

145 pounds – Adam Esarey defeated Donaghey of Stratford (16-1) then lost to Palmero of Bethel (p 1:23) to fall into the consolation bracket. He defeated Perreault of Pomperaug (p 0:49), but lost to Bottigliero in the consolation final (p 3:34) to earn fourth place.

152 pounds – Steve Selezan beat Wendler of Bunnell (p 0:46), Cherniske of New Milford (19-4), and Oldham of Bethel (9-1) to advance to the finals against Jean of Stratford.

160 pounds – Tyler Miles lost to Brace of Bunnell and defeated Cater of Pomperaugf in the consolation bracket, but lost to Palmero of Bethel.

171 pounds – Chris Symes lost to Schallenberg of Bethel in the first round and then Janaitis of New Milford in the consolation bracket.

189 pounds – No Newtown wrestler.

215 pounds – No Newtown wrestler.

279 pounds – Tom Denninger lost to Provenzano of Bunnell in the first round and then lost to Kearney of New Milford in the consolation bracket.