Blueprint for success

Waterford - They have been building the program for the last few years, slowly improving, reaching their goals and establishing themselves as a state power.

Saturday will go down as a milestone day for the Bacon Academy wrestling program.

The Bobcats dominated the Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament and were never really challenged on their way to a second straight ECC title, easily defeating host Waterford, 237-204.5. Ledyard was third with 190.

Montville finished fourth, 1.5 points ahead of Windham, to clinch the ECC Small title.

Bacon placed in 12 of 14 weight classes, with six finalists producing three individual champions.

After it was all over, everyone was talking about the Bobcats.

"Danbury and New Milford would have had a hard time beating them this weekend," Ledyard coach Jason Lanoue said.

"Bacon was just on a mission," Ledyard senior Shane Sullivan said.

"To win this tournament, you have to have two oustanding days and they did," Waterford coach Chris Gamble said.

There is no secret to Bacon's success in recent years, but coach Michael Voiland has provided the blueprint to building a program from the ground up.

"About eight years ago, we said this is going to be a new era in Bacon wrestling and those kids believed it," Voiland said. "It takes a lot of work by a lot of people. If you always wrestle scared and you always wrestle like you think you can't win this one, you're not going to. I think somewhere along the way that all got turned around, but I can't tell you what the formula is."

Bacon freshman Matt McAllister (103 pounds) joined teammates Nick Dodge (119) and P.J. Mickens (145) as individual champions.

"I've been a part of this program for four years and coach Voiland and the other coaches run a great program," Mickens said. "They learn from experiences and every time they learn, they build a better team the next year."

Last year, the Bobcats split dual meets with Waterford and Ledyard and won their first ECC tournament by a narrow margin. This season, Bacon went unbeaten in the ECC Large Division and ran away with the tournament.

"There's no more debate," Mickens said.

Voiland, for his part, steers clear of any debate.

"I'm not going to get into any debate at all," he said. "We can only go on the results. It's a given day. It's the matchups you get and the circumstances. This weekend we were better. Last year, this weekend, we were better. The next weekend (at Class M), Waterford was better and so was Jonathan Law. And we remember that."

Ledyard's Sullivan won his second straight ECC crown (171) and stayed unbeaten, although he was disappointed with a 7-2 decision in the final.

"Personally, I felt I had everything to lose," he said. "I was wrestling not to lose as opposed to going out there to win. The only person who can beat me right now is myself, and I proved that today. I didn't have the hunger I had all season."

East Lyme's Ross Spencer was in the same boat as Sullivan as a repeat champion, although he was also upset with his performance. "I care about the next three weeks, not this week," he said.

Waterford's Shane Battista (189) and Luke Wiggins (215) also repeated as champions, and both said they dedicated the wins to teammate John Millaras, who dislocated his right elbow and was rushed to the hospital earlier in the day.

"He's been my best friend since I was five or six, so that kind of gave me a little mental resolve, to win it for him," Battista said.

The Lancers finished third in the ECC tournament last year, then went on to win the school's third state title in Class M the following weekend.

"We went into this time last year with some adversity and we'll do the same this year," Gamble said. That's just the sport."