The Guilford wrestling team entered the SCC Championship in the midst of a solid season, and Head Coach Craig Vedrani was eager to see how the Grizzlies would fare against the other squads in the conference. Guilford wound up having a great day by finishing in fourth place when the SCC meet took place at Xavier High School on Feb. 5.

The Grizzlies scored 104 points as a team to take fourth place at the SCC Championship. Guilford saw two of its wrestlers claim first place in their respective weight classes with two grapplers placing second and one athlete finishing in third. Overall, Coach Vedrani felt that his team performed well at the SCC meet, which was bumped up by one week.

“The SCC meet was initially scheduled for Feb. 12, but due to COVID, if a kid had contract tracing at any point during that meet, they wouldn’t have been able to compete at the State Tournament, which is taking place the week after Feb. 12,” Coach Vedrani said. “I’m happy that it got pushed ahead, and we did pretty well, all things considered.”

Guilford’s two individual winners came in the 182- and 195-pound divisions. Senior captain Brent Strand, who entered the meet at 21-0 on the season, took first place in the 182-pound weight class by winning a 7-6 decision against Fairfield Prep’s Connor Smith in the championship bout. Strand had a first-round bye and then won his quarterfinal and semifinal matches via pinfall to make it to the final.

At 195 pounds, senior captain Chris Murphy grabbed the gold for Guilford by winning a 18-3 technical fall over Branford’s Nate Mathis in the championship. Murphy had a first-round bye and then advanced to the final with a pin and a forfeit victory in the semis.

“Brent and Chris have been strong leaders for us all season, and their respective performances at SCCs were tremendous,” said Vedrani. “Chris is an All-American wrestler, and he competed at Nationals last year, so I expected nothing less from him. It was good to see both of these guys come away with a first-place result.”

Guilford’s second-place finishers came in the 113- and 160-pound divisions. At 113 pounds, senior John Fernandes, who was 17-6 entering SCCs, had a first-round bye and then earned two wins via pinfall to reach the final, where he lost a 17-1 technical fall versus Maximum Morse of Xavier.

In the 160-pound division, senior captain Eddie Barlage, who was undefeated coming into the meet, had a first-round bye and then advanced to the championship match with wins via pin in the quarters and semis. In the title bout, Barlage lost a 9-4 decision to Xavier’s Charles Weidman from Xavier.

Guilford’s third-place finisher was junior Alejandro Colberg, who competed in the 170-pound division. Colberg opened with a first-round bye, won his quarterfinal bout by pin, and then lost a 5-3 decision in the semifinals. Colberg bounced back with two victories in the consolation bracket to claim third place overall. Colberg won his semifinal match by pinfall and then won a 9-1 majority decision over Cheshire’s Rome Smith in the third-place bout.

The other athletes who wrestled for Guilford at the SCC Championship included freshmen Owen Pelletier at 113 pounds, Colton Deboda at 126 pounds, Elijiah McDermott at 132 pounds, and Logan Murphy at 285 pounds. Seniors Ryan Halas (138), Jaiden Bioty (145), Ali Sabea (152), and Michael Van Keuren (220) also competed for the Grizzlies in the meet.

Prior to the SCC Championship, Guilford hosted Xavier for a regular-season meet and took a 58-21 defeat to the Falcons. Colberg, Strand, and Murphy earned pinfall victories, while Barlage won a 7-6 decision for the Grizzlies.

Guilford, which has a dual-meet record of 11-4, will finish its regular season with a matchup against Branford this week. After that, the Grizzlies will compete in the Class L State Championship at Wilton High School on Friday, Feb. 18 and Saturday, Feb. 19.

“I’m really looking forward to the State Tournament. We have some really experienced guys who are wrestling really well. I’d love to see us take home some individual titles,” Coach Vedrani said. “We have the biggest gap between high-level wrestlers and beginners. I feel like all our sophomores are freshman, because our season got canceled last year, and the experienced guys we have are next level. Coaching this season has been a challenge for that very reason. You have to develop practices that will meet every kid’s needs.”

There will be some differences between this year’s state meets in comparison to previous seasons after the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the cancellation of the 2021 campaign. Nevertheless, Coach Vedrani feels happy about the fact that Guilford’s wrestlers will get an opportunity to shine on the state stage for the first time in two years.

“Entering the State Tournament, it’s going to be really difficult to seed kids, because they haven’t wrestled for almost two years. The way states used to work was you got points for how you did in previous years, but because no one has competed, the seeding is going to be solely based on records this season,” said Vedrani. “At the end of the day, the cream always rise to the top, and we will see what we are made of at states.”