Trumbull’s Joey Ryan, who won last year’s 170-pound championship, is expected to be among the top wrestlers at this year’s championship. — Dee Sllenberger photo
The FCIAC boasts many of the top wrestlers in the New England region and this weekend, they’ll battle for the conference championship as New Canaan High School hosts the annual Joe Sikorski FCIAC wrestling tournament.
The HAN Network will carry all 15 weight class finals live beginning at 4 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 13. You can watch the meet in streaming HD on HAN.Network and our affiliate websites.
The Danbury Hatters are the dominant force in the FCIAC, having 28 of the last 29 conference championships, a dynasty interrupted only in 2010, when Fairfield Warde took the crown. Since then, the Hatters have won five straight titles.
Danbury’s Jakob Camacho, left, won the 106-pound title in the 2016 FCIAC Championships. This year he is expected to be among the top wrestlers in the 113-pound class. — Dave Stewart photo
Danbury enters this year’s tournament as the prohibitive favorite. The Hatters are ranked No. 1 in the state coaches’ poll as compiled by the Norwich Bulletin and, last week, they beat No. 2 New Milford, 43-16.
Several teams could challenge Danbury and contend for a top spot, including Warde and Trumbull, who are ranked Nos. 6 and 7, respectively, and the Fairfield Ludlowe Falcons.
A large number of returning weight class champions and finalists will be back on the mats this season.
The 106-pound class is built for young wrestlers. Three of the best are Danbury’s Ben LeBlanc, Warde’s Noah Zuckerman and Trumbull’s Matt Ryan.
Trumbull’s Desmond Washington is one of the top wrestlers at the heavyweight class. —Dee Sllenberger photo
The 113-pound weight class is stacked, with Danbury’s Jakob Camacho and Trumbull’s Tristan Haviland the favorites to reach the final. Those two met in last year’s 106-pound final, with Camacho winning via pinfall in 1:16. With one more win, Haviland will teach 100 for his career. He is a junior.
Kyle Fields of Danbury highlights the 120-pound weight class.
The 126-pound class includes several contenders, with Warde’s Alex Steele, Ludlowe’s Austin Sherman, and Danbury’s Joey Hulse leading that group.
Danbury’s Jeremy Fields , who won the 120-pound title last year has moved up to 138 pounds for the 2016 championship. — Dave Stewart photo
Danbury will also feature Jeremy Fields at 138 pounds, moving up two weight classes after taking the 120-pound title last year. His prime opposition includes Westhill’s Matt Conte, Trumbull’s Dante Montanaro, Warde’s Jack Price, and Ridgefield’s Colin Storm.
Warde’s Kane brothers — Tim and Charlie — are contenders to win their second straight championships, with Tim at 132 pounds and Charlie at 145. Their top challengers appear to be Danbury’s Peterson Sousa at 132, and Danbury’s Justin Peterson and Ludlowe’s Bobby Clark at 145.
The 152-pound class is highlighted by Ludlowe’s Marcus Sherrod and Danbury’s Jarek LaPlant.
Chase Lind, who recently became Ludlowe’s all-time winningest wrestler, will be battling for the 160-pound FCIAC championship after winning at 152 last winter. He’ll likely receive a strong challenge from Trumbull’s Joey Ryan, last year’s 170-pound champ, with Greenwich’s Mike Ceci in the hunt as well.
The heavier weight classes are wide open, but Ludlowe’s Lee Stenlid-Johansen and Warde’s Jon Ocana stand out at 195; Danbury’s Andrew Marquis is the headliner at 220; and Trumbull’s Desmond Washington and Danbury’s Michael Gaboardi are the leaders at heavyweight.
The tournament will begin at 4:30 p.m., Friday, and will continue into the evening. Saturday’s matches will start at 10 a.m., with the weight class finals capping the day at 4 p.m.
How to watch
The HAN Network live broadcast of the game can be seen on our homepage, HAN.Network, and on affiliate websites including FCIAC.net. The stream usually begin 10 minutes before the event is scheduled to begin. Rob Adams and crew join you five minutes before the contest begins. Keep in mind that start times are subject to change (teams often share venues and schedules can fall behind). Keep an eye on our Twitter feed for the latest updates.
It’s easy to watch HAN Network broadcasts on your smart televisions or with Apple TV and Google’s Chromecast.
• Watch the 2016 FCIAC Indoor Track & Field Championships
• Watch the 2016 FCIAC Cheerleading Championships
Upcoming games and more
The HAN Network’s winter season schedule includes many FCIAC teams in boys and girls ice hockey, boys and girls basketball and wrestling. Some facility restraints have prevented us from covering swimming and gymnastics so far this season. We’ll also be covering much of the FCIAC postseason playoffs and most championships.
Next week brings some live boys ice hockey as we near the end of the season and get ready for the playoffs. Check out the complete broadcast schedule here.
The HAN Network, formerly known as Hersam Acorn Newspapers, is the exclusive FCIAC broadcast partner through the spring of 2018. HAN Network’s broadcasting division replaced HANRadio.com with a new focus on live video streams of high school athletics along with the Network’s news and lifestyle programming.
Along with Connecticut high school sports contests, HAN broadcasts a daily news program, Coffee Break, focusing on southwestern Connecticut at 11 a.m. and a sports talk show, Nutmeg Sports, Monday-Wednesday. You can watch all the shows at live.HAN.Network or on demand at live.HAN.Network/han-on-demand/.
You can check out more of the winter schedule at this link. And be sure to follow the HAN Network on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates.
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