Milford wrestlers are brothers, too

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Staff photo by Bob Hammerstrom
Milford High School freshman J.T. Bellantoni, left, and his older brother, Andrew, a senior, occupy the top and bottom of the weight range for the Spartan wrestling team. J.T. is a 106-pounder and at 260 pounds, Andrew wrestles the heavyweight class. J.T. said he doesn't mind being the little guy.

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Staff photo by Bob Hammerstrom
J.T. Bellantoni, above, gets bench pressed Thursday, January 26, 2012 by his older brother, Andrew, a senior at Milford High School. Wrestling heavyweight, Andrew bench presses and weighs more than twice the weight of his little brother, who competes in the 106 pound class.

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Staff photo by Bob Hammerstrom
Milford High School freshman J.T. Bellantoni, left, and his older brother, Andrew, a senior, occupy the top and bottom of the weight range for the Spartan wrestling team. J.T. is a 106-pounder and at 260 pounds, Andrew wrestles the heavyweight class. J.T. said he doesn't mind being the little guy.

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When people meet Milford High School’s wrestlers Andrew and J.T. Bellantoni and find out they are brothers, they come to an obvious, but ultimately wrong, conclusion.

“People always ask me if I eat his food,” Andrew said. “I don’t, but you wouldn’t believe how many people ask me that.”

Andrew, who is among the top two or three heavyweight wrestlers in Division II, is a senior who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 260 pounds. He started up front for the Spartans football team.

J.T. is the little – and we do mean little – brother. Just 5-4 and slightly over 100 pounds, the freshman wrestles at the smallest weight class, 106.

“They are our bookends,” Milford wrestling coach Dana Bourassa said. “And in a lot of matches they are 12 points in the bank.’’

While Andrew can overpower an opponent with sheer strength, J.T., who just started wrestling a year ago, is a tenacious fighter.

While some wrestling brothers can work on their technique by taking on each other at home, it doesn’t work for the Bellantonis.

“It just doesn’t work, because he is so tiny,” Andrew said. “Once in a while we’ll try it, with me on my knees.”

Nobody has been able to definitely explain why Andrew, already well over 180 pounds as a freshman, is so much bigger.

“My dad is big, so I think I take after my dad’s side of the family,” Andrew said. “I guess J.T. takes after my mom’s side.”

J.T.’s size hasn’t kept him away from the football field. He played soccer for years, but switched to football last fall and played running back for the freshman team.

“I know I’ll get bigger,” J.T. said. “Everyone says I’m due for a growth spurt. I have pretty big feet.”

While you could call them the Big Dog and Little Dog of the Milford wrestling team, so far they haven’t acquired a nickname.

“We’re just the Bellantoni brothers,” Andrew said. “But a nickname would be cool.”

J.T. says he could have taken a different path, sticking with soccer for example, but wound up following in his brothers rather large footsteps.

“Until I was in the seventh grade I’d never seen a wrestling match before,” J.T. said. “Then I went to one of my brothers matches, I liked it, and started wrestling the next year.”

Andrew played basketball as a freshman, then was lured into wrestling by a classmate.

“My buddy was 220 and he needed a partner,” Andrew said, “somebody he could go against at practice, so I joined my sophomore year.”

And to dispel any rumors to the contrary, Andrew doesn’t eat his brother’s dinner.

“I actually eat a lot,” J.T. said. “Not as much as him, but a lot.”