Adam Israel, Staff Editor
The Newtown High School Varsity Wrestling team has taken the school and the state by storm by winning tournaments and matches. They have improved greatly, and are currently ranked high in the state. The NHS squad is made up of a lot of returning players making them very experienced which will continue to help them throughout the season.
Newtown went through a big change this offseason with the hiring of their new coach, Chris Bray. Bray was a former longtime coach of the youth wrestling program and coached a lot of the current varsity wrestlers when they started off in the Newtown Youth Wrestling Association.
Newtown opened their season at home against Bunnell and shut them out with a final score of 67-0. Soon after the huge victory, they came out victorious in the Fairfield Ludlowe Wrestling Invitational as a team and crowned Luca Crudo, James Leuci, Mike Long, Logan Walsh and Anthony Falbo as individual winners.
“This is the first time in history that a coach has led a team to the top ten in the state in his first year of coaching. Coach Bray has done an amazing job and I think he is helping us strive for greatness,” NHS junior captain James Leuci said.
Newtown has continued to extend their success throughout the season and have continued to build as a team and come out of their matches victorious.
“We have played really well so far and we hope to keep up our success and continue to go out there and win,” NHS senior and wrestling captain Mike Long said.
Freshman, Anthony Falbo, has been a key factor in the team’s success. Falbo has gone undefeated so far in his first matches as a high school student athlete. In the match against Bunnell, Falbo gained 15 points for the team in one match and led the team to victory. Falbo was trained in a wrestling club in New York and has been wrestling since he was young.
“Falbo is a monster. It’s so much fun watching him wrestle because he never loses and he has great technique,” NHS junior and wrestler Connor Lemay said.
The Newtown High School wrestling program has a very promising future and even more successful times are ahead. The team plays their home matches in the NHS main gymnasium, so stop by and support the team.
Photo credit to www.dumais.us/newtown/blog.
