DANIELSON – Things didn’t exactly start off very well for the Griswold wrestling team Saturday. But they certainly got a lot better as the day went on.
The Wolverines rallied from an early deficit to hand defending Class M state champion, Ellis Tech, a 40-36 loss in a dual match.
 “It’s a huge victory for us,” said Griswold assistant coach Ernie Cassidy in his head coaching debut. “I wrestled with (Ellis Tech coach Rafael Calixto) when I was in high school so it was a big win for me. The kids are ecstatic and that is all you can ask for.”
Early on Saturday morning, Cassidy, who has been an assistant for the last four years, received a call from head coach Dana Cooke. A family emergency was going to prevent Cooke from going to the match in Danielson. That was followed by a call from the town’s bus garage. Before the team bus even left the facility, it was involved in an accident and departure was going to be delayed until a replacement was ready.
Things got worse before they got better.
Just seven minutes into the match with the Eagles, Griswold was down by 24 points. The Wolverines started well with Tyler Arsenault winning by pin at 106 pounds. But the Eagles followed with five consecutive pins of their own, the longest taking just 1 minute, 24 seconds.
 “I wasn’t too worried because I know our heavyweights have been working really hard,” Cassidy said. “They have a lot of partners who come in and help them out. We have a lot of volunteers who come in and help.”
Ellis Tech, meanwhile, was coming off a program first on Friday. The Eagles went to Ledyard for a Friday afternoon dual event with the Colonels, Middletown and Xavier. The Eagles beat the Colonels for a first time ever, 36-33. They also downed Middletown and battled Xavier before losing, 45-30.
Less than 24 hours later, they had to face Griswold.
Ellis Tech also had its share of early adversity. Two of its wrestlers missed weight while another who just didn’t show up.
 “I’m not making excuses, we just didn’t wrestle and Griswold wrestled well,” Calixto said. “We’re young and inexperienced, but there are other factors that cost us (Saturday). Not making weight, people not following things that we have gone over. It’s frustrating because I know we can be better, we’re going to get better, and this one just kind of snuck away,” The Eagles (2-2) anticipated some early troubles. They lost seven seniors from last year’s Class M state championship squad including two-time New England champ, Baltazar Gonzalez.
 “I think we’re a little behind where we want to be right now, but it’s early,” Calixto said. “This is only our fourth dual meet and third week of the season. I’m just measuring by what we’ve done in the past four or five years and we have kids who are coming in who don’t know the routine. I’m not disappointed, I think we will be OK.” 
Jason Jacaruso ended the bleeding for the Wolverines (2-1). He scored a 10-0 major decision victory at 145 pounds.
Cadan Odom, Dakota Gardner and Jon deGale followed with pins to pull the Wolverines within two, 30-28.
Logan Mish temporarily stopped the run with a 12-9 win by decision at 182 for the Eagles, but Johnny Falco took only 45 seconds to pin Travis Quick and junior Corey Carr finished it off for Griswold at 220 when he pinned Dominic Alvarez in 53 seconds.
“I knew if I got the pin, it would secure the win,” Carr said. “We were without our coach, Dana Cooke (Saturday) and we wanted to win it for him.”
Cassidy said the win was certainly a confidence boost especially considering the youth of the Wolverines.
 “We have a lot of juniors so we’re looking to next year, but, beating Ellis, which beat Ledyard last night, is a big win for us,” Cassidy said.