Wrestling: Maloney Ends Platt's Six Year Crosstown Winning Streak

Maloney (15-13) ended two streaks that they were more than happy to see go when they defeated Platt (15-14) in a battle for Meriden bragging rights Wednesday night at home. It was the Spartans’ first win over Platt in six years and first win in the Central Connecticut Conference (South) in three years.

On senior night, captain Darrin Bookey was pleased to go out on a positive note.

“I’ve wanted to give coach a Conference win for years now and we finally gave him one,” said Bookey. Bookey pinned Platt’s Jacob Skalski with 36 seconds left in the second period during the 145 lb. match. Bookey will be attending Norwich University in the fall.

In a match that saw five lead changes and three overall ties it came down to the tenth criteria for tiebreakers to determine a winner. When Platt’s Kristion Neysmith defeated Maloney’s Dan Ortiz in the 152 lbs. matchup by a score of 3-1, it tied the overall team score at 34-34.

The confusion quickly began as to who the rightful winner was. After the referee and head coaches both consulted the official rulebook it was determined that the Spartans had won on the tenth tiebreaker which are near-falls. Near-falls are when one wrestler puts his opponent’s back to the mat. After consulting the scorebooks it was determined that Maloney had done this more.

Bryan McArty, Platt’s 20-year head coach was still pleased with his team’s performance. “I’m not frustrated, not at all,” said McArty. “We have a young team and we still have a lot to learn.”

Third-year head coach Joe Ferrira was happy to secure a Conference victory after a long drought, but wished it could have come in a better way.

“I would have liked to have won on the mat, but sometimes things don’t work like that,” said Ferrira.

The Spartans celebrated 3 other seniors' careers at Maloney in what was their last match at home. Fellow senior captain Jon Davenport pinned Platt’s Tyler Miries in the 130 lb. division in just over a minute into the match. Davenport would like to attend Springfield College in the fall.

Heavyweight Benji Carrion was not as lucky in his matchup. He was pinned by Platt’s Nick Demanche with 1:25 remaining in the second period. The final senior honored was Dermot Morgan, who was injured and unable to wrestle, but will be attending Lasalle College in the fall.

Maloney also acknowledged Platt seniors Antonio Toro, Julian Melendez, and Tyler Riberio.

While Toro did not compete, Melendez was defeated by Maloney’s Jon Foster in the 171 lb. matchup when he was pinned with 58 seconds remaining in the third period. It went no better for Riberio who was pinned a minute into his match by Maloney’s Alex Tresselt.

Both high schools begin their Conference tournament on Saturday.