I believe that the race for the Class M title will be between 3 schools in the end. I think I say this a lot, but it is going to boil down to which school of these 3 does the following 2 things the best. First the team that has wrestlers who outperform their seed positions and more importantly, the team whose wrestlers continue to point in the Consolation Brackets will be on top at the end of Saturday. My 3 picks, in what should be a close back & forth, are Killingly, Foran and Joel Barlow. Each of those teams has Potential Finalists as well as other wrestlers that will be disruptive in the consolation brackets. Following those 3 front runners are Waterford, East Haven, Avon and Ledyard (in no particular order). Watching results all season, I haven’t seen East Haven rise up in a tournament where there were 3 or more very good teams. Killingly has 2 wrestlers that I believe will be in the finals in Danny Charron – 106 and Turner at 170. Waterford most likely sends Smith – 113 with Zane, both Harshbergers, Concasia and Radack who should be in action late on Saturday. JB has LiCastri-182 Brault-106 and several 4-7 seeds who should be wrestling late on Saturday. East Haven has Garcia–113, Rao–195 and both DeVito’s 120 & 132. Foran outperformed EH at the SCC’s, I have to figure they will do it again in Guilford. Other schools with disruptive wrestlers but not a stable full of place-winners are Ellis Tech, Branford, and Guilford. I think they’ll finish as follows: 1 Foran 2 Killingly 3 Joel Barlow 4 Waterford 5 Avon 6 Ledyard 7 East Haven 8 Ellis Tech 9 Branford

ECCs to the Finals. It's Killingly's tournament to lose.

My Predicted ECC Champions (Yes I am a Ledyard Fan): 106 - D. Charron Killingly 113 - Smith Waterford 120 - Powell-Keaton N.L. 126 - D. Charron Killingly 132 - Miller Ledyard 138 - DiRico Ledyard 145 - Swett Lyman-WT 154 - Vanase NFA 160 - Grim Ledyard 170 - Crawford Ledyard 182 - Commander N.L. 195 - Falco Griswold 220 - McKenzie N.L. 285 - Roark St. Bernard Team - Ledyard

Brackets are Posted on Floarena

Excellent point, but the thread here was about the ECC, not the Opens. 106 in the ECC looks like Charron(KLY) - Concasia(WTF) - Doran(LED) - Chapman(MNT). Concasia and Doran should be an excellent match - IF THEY MEET in the Semi-Finals. If everyone subscribed to your mindset, Sweep, then just pass out the Open's Medals right now and everyone can get ready for New Englands, RIGHT? Here's an example, if you look back at box scores, NFA's Vanase lost by pin to Ledyard's Isgro at their dual. Would you have predicted that? Vanase is, and has been, an Outstanding Wrestler. But they take the mat and if they make a mistake - It comes to be that they pay for a mistake or misque or whatever it was that had the expected winner not winning.

If Doran aaand Concasia are on same sssiside it will bbe an excellent semi-final

Killingly and Ledyard are my 2 front runners. Montville and Waterford both have wrestlers that will point in the down brackets. There's 2 weights where Ledyard and Killing could meet in finals if their guys get there. Charron VS Doran at 106 and Turner VS Crawford at 170. They do not have their best wrestler together in other weights. Ledyard's 113 and 120 will not push the other 2 Charron brothers. Killingly doesn't have "hammers" at 132 / 138 (Ledyard's Miller & DiRico). The tournament will be decided by the rest of their team who will either outperform their seeds and/or score big bonus points in the consolation brackets if they get dropped from the Championship side. Several schools that aren't Ledyard / Killingly have 2 or more strong wrestlers that will create chaos in the team standings. Concasia, Smith, Satchetello and Zane from Waterford - Renfree, Vanase from NFA. Austin Roberson at Fitch, Sam Light Stonington, Commander and Powell-Keaton from New London, Vertefuelle, Rodriguez, Rodriguez-Rivera and Fantoli at Windham, Navarette and Anderson from Montville to name some off the top of my head. I enjoy that the ECC has parity across the schools and there are several teams each year that are contenders for the Conference tournament title.

Class M – I’d put Ledyard in the Top 5. Tournament-wise, they already placed ahead of Guilford at their tournament. We will see Ledyard in Duals/Duels against Foran (12-28), Guilford (1-11) and Branford (1-19) to get a better reference as to how they stack up as a Dual/Duel Meet team. After last year’s very “Un-Ledyard Like” season, the Colonels should do markedly better this year. I figure the top 5 at the Class M tournament will be (NOT IN ORDER); Killingly, Ledyard, Foran, Guilford and East Haven. The teams that might add to the excitement in the top 5 race are Waterford and Branford. Branford’s youth and Middle School programs have had a lot of wrestlers on the mat the last few years.

Are they wrestling tomorrow still? SNOWMAGEDDON!

Nevermind, I already got my answer. For anyone following along, Wednesday evening is the ECC Seeding Meeting. So I would expect to see the brackes up on Floarena by Thursday for sure, maybe even Wednesday evening.

In the Norwich Bulletin, Windham Coach Pat Risley had the following to say of the Class S tournamnet: "I thought at the beginning of the season that it would be an all-ECC affair," Risley said. "The only potential party crasher, is possibly Haddam-Killingworth" according to the Windham coach.

In the CIAC Tournament package: http://content.ciacsports.com/tp/wrest1617.pdf Minimum matches section, bottom of page 12, reads: Report all matches won or lost with member schools. (NOTE: To qualify a team must have participated in a minimum of eight (8) varsity meets against CIAC member schools. Only the first two matches against the same opponent will be counted towards the minimum qualifying number of matches.) The last date to count for tournament qualification is February 9, 2017. I get that it says "Team" and does not specify that an individual wrestler have that same minimum number, but it might be implied.

An excellent question, from any of the meets I have been to, I would reluctantly say I think Windham has one of the best (Loudest) fan bases. I am expecting thier Gym to be loud and in to it on Wednesday evening for Ledyard's Dual with the Whippets. Bristol Eastern and Fairfield Warde teammates were loud in Ledyrad's gym this past weekend. Hazelnut Regular(with cream and sugar).

Based on matches against Trumbull and Ellis Tech, I speculate the following: 106: Joey Millbach (L) VS. Zach Hughes (HK), Even 113: Ty Miller (L) VS Harrison Johnson (HK) Even 120: Bo Nguyen (L) VS Malakai Maher (HK) +1 Led (Should be a great Match) 126 : Cole Dirico (L) VS Zach Wyzykowski (HK) Even 132: Jake Graziano VS Matt Jenkins (HK) +1 HK 138: Theran Vanase (L) VS Jake Frith (HK) +1 Led 145: Adam Crawford (L) VS Aidan Korper (HK) +1 HK 152 : Gavin Williamson (L) VS ????????? (HK) +1 Led 160: Jake Millbach (L) VS Grayson Adler (HK) +1 HK (Should be a great Match) 170: Collin Crader (L) VS James Carson (HK) Even (Could be another good matchup) 182: Mike Sullivan (L) VS David Wyzykowski (HK) +1 HK 195: Tony Christians (L) VS Aiden Maher (HK) +1 HK 220: Danny Contino (L) VS Aiden Maher(HK) +1 Led 285: Richard Mullaney (L) VS , ??? HK +1 Led I figure Ledyard Wrestlers will outpace HK Wrestlers in 5 Brackets, HK will likely outperform Ledyard in 5 weights leaving the 4 other weights listed as “EVEN” where the tournament will be won between the two teams. I could not find HK's box score VS Guilford.

A good point. I would offer that a great Dual Match Team is not always a great tournament scoring team. I purposely didn't say anyone didn't belong, but if you are going to be in Windham for the Class S tournament, I'll treat you to a cup of coffee for your ride home if HK finishes ahead of Ledyard. I make a concerted effort to not say negative things about individuals nor teams. Hopefully, that results in civil disagreement rather than people being disagreeable. Email me at Plankowner21@gmail.com and we can talk about it.

What I've observed is that a team with 3-5 Hammers will place better at the Opens than they will at their Class tournament. Class Tournaments, especially the M's and S's, test the number of scorers and the ability of your best wrestlers to rack up bonus points. Where I saw it best illustrated: South Windsor 2013 was 3rd in the LL Tournament but climbed to 2nd at the Opens, tied with Windham. South Windsor scored more points at their Class tournament but the team ahead of them - Trumbull couldn't outpace them at the Opens. They were 8th at the New Englands that year behind Danbury and New Fairfield (who was 16th at the Opens). NF Scored 49 points on the backs of 2 wrestlers (Shay and Amorando) at the New Englands.

Let me also clairify that I am no trying to say that the wrestlers from any other school are bad or their team is not good, that's not my point. Smaller schools are notorious for not having full line ups. Teams like Ledyard, Montville and Windham typically only have one or 2 weights where they place a JV that might not really be ready for Varsity tournaments. Those points will be the difference on Saturday.

That makes for "Hind Sight" which as the euphemism goes is 20/20.