Connecticut Native Gets Bounced Early

Newtown alumni and Sacred Heart wrestler loses his rat tail match.

Two Connecticut wrestlers entered the NCAA Wrestling tournament and now, unfortunately, only one remains. Sacred Heart 184 and Newtown alumni, Joe Accousti lost his rat tail match against Gardner-Webbs Jhaquan Anderson, 3-2 in overtime.

Then, Accousti wrested a prelim match against Gregg Harvey from Pittsburgh and lost 8-0.

Accousti committed to Appalachian State to wrestle for the Mountaineers out of high school after winning a State and New England title in 2017 for the Night Hawks.

While wrestling two seasons at Appalachian State, he went 31-18 and was named to the SoCon All Freshman team. He bounced between 165 and 174 while in Boone, North Carolina.

He later transferred to Sacred Heart to be closer to home. In the 2019-2020 season, Accousti racked up 15 wins, 11 coming by decision and was second on the Pioneers squad in wins.

This year, Accousti and Nicholas Palumbo both qualified for Nationals for Sacred Heart. While they may not have had the greatest showing, it’s awesome to see a guy from Connecticut wrestle and compete on the big stage.