By Paul Angilly
Staff Writer

BRISTOL — With a couple of his top wrestlers out of the lineup due to medical issues, Bristol Central coach Brian Archibald said he was worried heading into Wednesday night’s meet against visiting Platt.

After shuffling his lineup and having the first three matches go Platt’s way, he was even more concerned.

"I was worried. I was definitely worried," he admitted. "At first I wasn’t sure if it was the right decision."

But after falling behind 12-0, the Rams got pins in their next three matches and never looked back on their way to a 37-30 victory.

With seniors Connor Hayes and Randy Boyne out of the lineup, everyone from 145 pounds up got bumped up a weight class. It just so happened that the meet began with the 152-pound class.

"We knew that those were big matches for us," Archibald said.

Jordan Pelletier lost by decision at 152 to Issac Cartagena, Glenn Pierce was pinned by Kristion Neysmith at 160 and Nathaniel Gonzalez fell by decision to Mike Carrero at 170.

But that’s as far down as the Rams got.

At 182, Gino Rafaniello pinned Jacob Skalski in 2:23.

"That was a big pin for us to get that there," Archibald said.

Then at 195, Geri Hoxha pinned Maalik Brown in 30 seconds. At 220, Cy McIntosh pinned Jonathan Melendez with just seven seconds to go in a match that was scoreless heading into the final period.

"That was big too," Archibald said of McIntosh’s win. "I think that was the turning point for us."

Bristol Central suffered a setback when Andrew Lane dropped an overtime decision in the heavyweight match to Jesse Wolfe, but Jamie Diaz got the Rams back on track quickly with a pin over Chris Oyola in the 106-pound match.

Platt’s Alexander Tixi picked up six points for his team after Breck Conlon was injured after getting thrown to the mat at 113 pounds. The extent of Conlon’s injury was unknown last night.

But the Rams rebounded from that unfortunate setback with three straight victories to clinch the match.

"We got around a bunch of obstacles today," Archibald said.

Matt Trelli won by major decision over Christopher Jackowicz at 120, 14-5; Zach Mastromarino won by decision over Brandon Dellavalle at 126, 7-6; and Tyler Burrow clinched the team victory for Bristol Central with a pin of Jesus Toro at 132, in 2:58.

At 138 pounds, Platt’s Youssef Saez won by decision over Brandan Poirier, 8-3; and at 145, the Panthers’ Alexander Lopez got a pin on Sean Ziogas in 5:40.

On Friday evening, the Rams travel to Fairfield Warde, ranked No. 7 in the latest state wrestling poll, for a five-team dual meet that also includes Fairfield Prep, Westhill and Harding.