B-R TROJANS CLEANING UP IN TOURNEYS
Trojans are making their mark on mat
If Bridgewater-Raynham keeps this up, the school might have to build another wing just to house the wrestling hardware.
The Trojans captured team titles at both the Northbridge and Marlboro tournaments in a span of three days. The performances surprised even coach Fred Conrad, who took over the program in 2012.
“There were some good teams there like Algonquin and Nashoba,” Conrad said. “But we had some kids who wrestled really well. The Farrells (Anthony and Shawn) really had good tournaments. Shawn beat a kid who placed in the AllStates last year.”
Bridgewater- Raynham is proving to be just as impressive as a dual-meet team. The Trojans sport an impressive 11-1 record with the only loss a one-point setback to West Springfield.
“I thought we had a chance to be a good dualmeet team, (and) we’ve had a lot of kids step up and fill in where we needed them,” Conrad said. “Chris Reed got a chance at 113 (pounds) because of an injury and he’s been terrific for us.”
One of the keys is the unselfish attitude of some of the younger wrestlers. Freshman Luke Corboy is a tweener at 118 pounds, too big to wrestle at 113 and not quite as good as Shawn Farrell at 120. He moved up to 126 pounds and, despite giving away weight in every match, is giving Bridgewater-Raynham a quality effort every time out.
Anthony Farrell has been very consistent at 106, while Fran Pestana (132), Collin Johnson (138), Shane Corboy (160), Zach Johnson (170), Chris Roppolo (182) and James Gimler come off terrific tournament efforts and are primed for the home stretch.
Good times at L-S
Over the past few seasons, Lincoln-Sudbury started strong only to get its comeuppance at the George Bossi Lowell Holiday Tournament.
This time, it was a different story for the Warriors.
Lincoln-Sudbury placed four wrestlers among the top six and turned in a respectable seventh-place finish in what is generally considered the premier tournament in New England. Andy Richard (120 pounds) and Andrew Marshall (195) finished second, Mason Ward (113) was third and Francisco Colon (285) placed sixth.
“We really wrestled well there,” said fifth-year coach Nick Avery, whose team is 12-0 in dual meets. “We had six kids still alive on the second day and the kids battled.”
Lincoln-Sudbury was expected to be one of the better teams in Division 1 even after losing a pair of sectional place-winners who chose not to return. The Warriors have lived up to the early expectations and Avery points to attitude as one of the key reasons.
“The team camaraderie is excellent, it’s really exciting to be a part of it,” said Avery, who was an All-Scholastic at Foxboro and later wrestled at Indiana. “When we lost a few kids, the other guys just stepped right in. I’m not really surprised by that because I knew we had some talented kids here.”
Never is that more evident than in practice. Marshall, Richard, Colon and Ward are all ranked wrestlers, but the rest of the squad is not to be underestimated. M.J. Molloy (152), Billy Dunn (138), George Smerlas (170), Quinn Pontz (195), Vinny Tabola (132), Brendan Kelleher (132), Jacob Lipski (220), Dylan Hyde (126), Mike Kelleher (126), Jason Correia (220), Jack Kelly (106), Denis Melnic (182), Kyrie Williams (160) and Ben Marotta (145) have all stepped up in key spots.
“It’s a pretty competitive room,” Avery said. “It’s giving us even more experience and allows us to have some flexibility in the lineup.”
Tournament trails
The postseason meets are less than a month away and the host venues have been set for the sectional, state, All-State and New England tournaments.
The sectionals will take place on Feb. 11 at the following venues: Div. 1 North, Methuen; Div. 1 South, Weymouth; Div. 1 Central, Newton South; Div. 1 West, West Springfield; Div. 2 North, Beverly; Div. 2 South, North Attleboro; Div. 2 Central, Marlboro; Div. 2 Metro, Natick; Div. 3 North, Danvers; Div. 3 South, Foxboro; Div .3 Central, Ashland) and Div. 3 West, Pioneer Valley. The Div. 3 West sectional is the only one slated as a twoday event (Feb. 10-11).
The state tournaments will be contested on Feb. 1718 at Methuen (Div. 1), Algonquin (Div. 2) and Wakefield (Div. 3), the All-States will be hosted by Reading on Feb. 24-25 and the New Englands will return to Providence on March 3-4.