Killingly — If the addition Saturday of the fifth state championship banner to the walls of Killingly High School's gym doesn't offer enough evidence as to the elite level of the wrestling program, this little nugget does:

Killingly coach Rich Bowen was more apprehensive about logistics at this weekend's Class S championships — held at the Killingly gym — than the wrestling itself.

"I don't get anxious about much anymore, but I was about this," Bowen said after his team ran away with the Class S championship, the program's second straight state title and fifth in program history. "I wanted this to be special. I wanted it to run the right way. I'm lucky to have a great athletic director here (Kevin Marcoux). The weekend was great. I thought the kids would wrestle mostly the way they did."

Killingly amassed 207 points, easily outdistancing Haddam-Killingworth (159). The day, mostly homage to Killingly, also underscored the quality of the Eastern Connecticut Conference, which placed five schools in the top 10. Ledyard (149) finished third, Windham (127) was fifth, Montville (115) was sixth and Lyman Memorial/Windham Tech was eighth (110).

Kaden Ware, who moved his record to 46-1 in his freshman season, was one of three champions for Killingly. He defeated Ethan Titus of Canton, 6-3, in the 106-pound final. David Charron (126) defeated Thomas Verdiglione of Oxford, 8-0, and Ben Richardson (145) defeated Cayleb Leclerc of Terryville, 16-4.

"This was exciting for me," Bowen said. "We've had a strong program throughout the years, but for us to be able to host makes me proud. Winning it is the icing on the cake. I think it went well. Seems like a nice venue for it."

Ledyard's Connor Doran (113) and Brayden Grim (160) won championships as well. Doran won an all-ECC final over Aiden Christie of Griswold, 22-7 on a technical fall, while Grim defeated Christopher Rivera of East Catholic, 10-0.

"Connor and Brayden put in the work in the room and it showed on that mat," Ledyard coach Allyn Quibble said. "It's as easy as that. I tell the kids all the time that what we do in the bomb shelter (Ledyard's practice room) is what we do out here."

Ryan Powers of Lyman/Windham Tech was the other winner from the league at 170, pinning Austin Kilduff of Canton in 2:29.

Other finalists from the ECC included Sam Light (Stonington, 152); Somuadina Agunyego (Montville, 285), Jack Richardson (Killingly (120), Braeden O'Brien (Bacon, 132) and David Thomas (Lyman/Windham, 195).

"Our league showed today that we're all pretty tough," Quibble said. "All the best seeds were ECC kids."

But this was a day about Killingly and its fifth title.

"We had a bunch of younger kids who scored points for us early," Bowen said, alluding to some of his wrestlers who didn't make the finals, but still helped the team. "We were in pretty good shape after that."

m.dimauro@theday.com