High School Wrestling: Bacon Depth Overtakes Ledyard For M Crown

In the final analysis, the Ledyard High wrestling team was probably a year away from winning its record state 18th CIAC wrestling championship.

Despite holding a five-point lead after the semifinals and sending a meet high total of five wrestlers into the finals, Ledyard could not hang on. The 6th-ranked Colonels watched defending champ and No. 4 Bacon Academy parlay its depth in the wrestleback consolation rounds that take place between the semis and finals en route to 229 points and the Class M title, 12.5 points more than second-place Ledyard (216.5)

Each contender featured two individual champs with sophomore Matt Jones (112 pounds) and senior Dean Gilbert (145) winning their first state crowns for Ledyard. Alex Manwaring (160), Brendan Sullivan (152) and Dakota Kelly (171) were runners-up in their weight classes.

The difference was Bacon collecting more thirds, fourths and fifths - an unglamorous but effective track to a title.

"This shows the importance of wrestlebacks," Ledyard coach Steve Bilheimer said. "We had a bad couple of rounds in the consolation semis and finals, which showed our youth and inexperience. Hopefully it resonates with some kids to motivate them for next year."

Nobody could dispute the better and deeper team prevailed. Ledyard, 17-1 in the regular season, beat Bacon in a December dual meet, 30-23, but the Bobcats won the ECC Tournament and now Class M. Still, Ledyard performed at near peak efficiency, placing six in the finals, taking home two titles in somewhat upset fashion.

"We knew we could hang with them but knew it would be tough to hang all the way," Bilheimer said. "If anybody told me we'd be 17-1 and finish second in every tournament, I'd say they were crazy. I think we overachieved."

Gilbert, seeded No. 4, avenged one of his two regular season losses to beat Plainville's Matt Tanner, 4-2, in the final after knocking off the No. 1 seed in the semis. Jones, No. 3, topped the No. 1 seed in the semis and cruised to an 8-3win in the final against Carl Luth.

"This is perfect," Gilbert said. "There is no better feeling ... maybe only winning the State Open would feel better. I still don't feel like I'm done. "

Gilbert's win did not come without controversy. Tanner was penalized a point for stalling, riding parallel on top. Some in the crowd felt Gilbert was stalling on the bottom trying to hold a one-point lead.  In the final 30 seconds, Plainville's coach disputed the score, Gilbert 4-2, causing a discussion for over a minute. Gilbert held on for the 4-2win, registering just one takedown late in the first period.

"It wasn't pretty, but Dean accomplished what he set out to do from Day one," Bilheimer said. "Matt finally got some confidence, beating the Bacon kid (Chris Elrod) in the semis and rode it into the finals."

Kelly ran into a physical specimen in Berlin's Mike Fiorillo, much shorter than Kelly but extremely strong, using double-leg takedowns to post a 9-3 win at 171. Mike Amorando of New Fairfield pinned Sullivan in 3:05 at 152. Devin Covone got the best of Alex Manwaring for the third time this year, controlling action in a 6-2 victory.