Groton - Jake Caskey spends the offseason training at Silverback Wrestling Club in Willimantic, so much time that Caskey, from Montville High School, hugged his Windham High competitor after beating him in Saturday's Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament semifinals.

"I spend eight of the 12 months there. It's a brotherhood," Caskey said.

But don't let that fool you where high school wrestling is concerned.

After losing to Windham 44-14 in a dual meet on Jan. 29, Montville is on a mission at the ECC tournament. Finishing ahead of Windham at the league meet would mean a tie with the Whippets for the ECC Small Division title, as well as giving the Indians momentum headed into next weekend's Class S state tournament.

With the ECC meet suspended until today due to snow, Ledyard leads the way with 149 points. The Colonels are followed by Windham (141), Montville (127) and Waterford (120.5).

When the meet resumes at 12:30 p.m. today, Windham will have five finalists, while Ledyard and Montville each have four. There are still consolation matches being wrestled, as well, which will affect the standings.

"It's a fierce rivalry," Caskey, a senior 138-pounder said of the Indians' matchup with Windham. "Definitely a fierce rivalry. We didn't match up well when we wrestled them. They came out really aggressive. We always focus on beating them because we're around them a lot. We know them."

The top-seeded Caskey, 36-1 in the regular season, will wrestle No. 2 Nick Listro of Woodstock Academy in the championship match. Caskey topped Windham's Sal Torres 9-1 in the semis.

Also in the finals for Montville are Tommy Wynosky, the top seed at 126, who will meet No. 2 Dominic Rivera of Windham in the final; Ian Concascia, the No. 3 seed at 160, who will wrestle No. 1 Dakota Fleming of Windham; and Pat Bogan, the No. 2 seed at 170, who will meet No. 1 Devon MarcAurele of Ledyard.

Wynosky was caught in what he called an "inverted cradle-type thing" in his semifinal against Waterford's Niko Randolph, the only time he appeared uncomfortable - having to avoid being pinned - in an 8-2 decision. Concascia pinned Ledyard's Jeff Csisar, the No. 2 seed, in 3 minutes, 24 seconds, while Bogan hung on for a 13-10 decision over Windham's Alex Perez.

"I don't know if we wrestled great," Montville coach Gary Wilcox said of the opening day of the tournament. "We wrestled how I expected. We still need to improve for next week.

"We didn't wrestle well the last few weeks against good teams (losses to Windham and Ledyard). We didn't have good showings. We made up for those matches a little bit today. We hope to be able to keep scoring here."

Montville was 21-3 during the regular season. Caskey said he and the other captains were hard on some of the younger competitors in the wrestling room.

"I think it's just the mindset," Caskey said. "No matter who we're wrestling, just wrestle your match. Being a young team you just want to instill mental toughness."

Caskey only wished the Indians didn't have to stop for the weather Saturday.

"We'll spend the night here," he said. "We don't mind."

Ledyard didn't get a wrestler through to the finals until MarcAurele at 170, but quickly added Caile Johnson (195), Daric Johnson (220) and Josh Throop (285).

Ledyard lost to Windham 32-31 in a dual meet Feb. 8, meaning Colonels' coach Steve Bilheimer came into the ECC meet expecting it to be a close one. Windham is ranked ninth in the state, followed by Ledyard at No. 10, flipping places after their dual meet.

"I knew it would be a struggle," Bilheimer said. "We've had some ups and downs and so have they. It's always a dog fight with them. The last 10-15 years, we've won most of them and we've won most of these, but it's never been a blowout."

Other local finalists are St. Bernard's Matt Dowler and Norwich Free Academy's Matt Foster at 106, New London's Mikey Commander at 113, Waterford's Brentt Smith at 120, Waterford's Sam Lindblom at 132, Waterford's Spencer Sgandurra at 152, Fitch's Jordan Kenyon and NFA's Khaleed Exum-Strong at 182 and NFA's Aaron Hebert at 220.

v.fulkerson@theday.com