New Haven — The Fitch High School wrestling team didn’t have the best record among Eastern Connecticut Conference teams this season, but coach Mark Kosman knows being a part of the league prepped his team well for states.

“You go to the ECC tournament and it’s a hardfought battle,” Kosman said during Friday's portion of the State Open championship, when his team had three wrestlers advance to Saturday's quarterfinals. “You place there, you maybe win that tournament, and you’ve gone against some kids to win it. It makes you tougher.

“Iron sharpens iron, right?”

The league opted to have two tournaments each for volleyball and boys’ and girls’ basketball beginning this school year.

That’s not the case in wrestling, arguably the ECC’s best sport and one that it excels at on a state level. The league's teams all wrestle one another at the ECC tournament. Ledyard (Division I), Montville (Division III), Killingly (Division II), and Windham (Division III) finished first through fourth, respectively, at this year’s tournament. All but Killingly are Class S schools (Killingly is Class M).

Fitch, an ECC Division I school, finished 13-11 during the regular season, yet the Falcons had Jarod Kosman (106 pounds), Dakota Grover (195) and Austin Robertson (126) all reach the Open quarterfinals.

“Wrestling is all about finding the toughest kids you can wrestle and the toughest teams you can wrestle to make yourself seasoned for these kinds of tournaments so you can outshine other people,” Kosman said. “You see a lot of times a lot of schools that don’t wrestle tough competition. They have inflated records, and they’re the first ones to go down.”

Adding to Kosman's argument: the ECC had a placewinner in every weight class but two Saturday.

Also, Montville, the ECC's Division III champ, finished tied for sixth in the team totals at the State Open with 83 points, the top local finisher.

“For a little Class S school, I'm happy with that,” Montville coach Gary Wilcox said. “We placed four kids today. We wrestled our butt off. We stand as one of the best teams in the state. I'm extremely pleased.”

Fresh start

• Fitch junior Jarod Kosman was the top seed in the 106-pound weight class and undefeated heading into Saturday's State Open semifinal match with Danbury's Ryan Jack, the No. 4 seed.

Tied 2-2, Kosman allowed Jack to his feet to start the third period and promptly took a 4-3 lead on a takedown with 1:27 remaining. Jack, however, hung a reversal on Kosman with 6 seconds left to stun his opponent. Jack went on to win the 106-pound title.

“He used a Granby roll and spun behind him for two,” said Mark Kosman, Fitch coach and Jarod's dad. “He's disappointed. It's his first loss of the year. We have New Englands next week and a fresh start. Hopefully you can get your game face on and come back.”

Jarod Kosman won the ECC and Class L state championships this season, a year Mark said he's gained more maturity than ever as a wrestler. He sailed through the Open bracket with a pair of pins prior to the match with Jack. He then wrestled back with a tech fall, followed by a 4-0 decision over Ridgefield's Benjamin Smart in the third-place match.

“He's maturing. He's growing up,” Mark Kosman said. “He's better with his diet this year. He's more focused.”

And more

• Montville's Joel Morth, the Open runner-up at 132 pounds, is leaning toward attending Wyoming Seminary next year, a prep school in Kingston, Pa. “The name is a little misleading because it's not in Wyoming and it's not a seminary,” Morth said. “I'm a young senior; I only turned 17 at the beginning of this year. And it's one of the top schools in the country for wrestling.” … New London's Renel Michel, a senior and the Open runner-up at 285 pounds, is younger than his twin brother Renelson, the Whalers' 220-pounder, by a minute. Renelson finished sixth at 220. The twins are part of a family of six siblings, all boys, two older and two younger. “They are the nicest kids,” New London coach Mike Gorton said. “They're kind to everyone on the team whether they're scrawny or nerdy or athletic, they make them feel welcome. You know how older guys in high school are and they're not like that. … They do everything together and they're always there for each other. They're super nice kids.” … The New England Championship will be held Friday and Saturday at the Providence Career and Technical Center.

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