Panthers pin with passion
Colace, Franklin go to mat to sustain wrestling success
Carmine Colace is the ultimate wrestling lifer.
He accepted the Franklin coaching job as a 19-year-old just out of high school in 1981 and has since built one of the true high school sports dynasties in the state. Colace’s teams have won 10 state championships and finished second on five other occasions.
The 2017-18 Franklin team is quickly forging an identity of its own. The Panthers are a perfect 13-0 and dominated the field at the Mount Hope Tournament. Like fine wine, Colace is getting better with age.
“I still love the sport so much,” said Colace, who is assisted by Mike Capone, Scott Blake and Mark Healy. “I love going to practice, loving working with the youth wrestling, I’m just having a lot of fun with it.”
The season started in fine fashion as Franklin turned the Mount Hope Tournament into its own personal showcase. Ian Bakalars earned Outstanding Wrestler honors as he captured the 120-pound title. He was joined in the winner’s circles by T.J. Remillard (132 pounds), Mike Racca (145), Seamus Cogavin (152) and Bruce Johnson (195), while Jake Carlucci (106) and Jack Coughlin (220) took second as the Panthers defeated runnerup Mount Hope by more than 100 points.
Franklin might have been even more impressive at the George Bossi Lowell Holiday Invitational. Despite having just one wrestler finish in the top five (Jordan Carlucci, fifth at 126), the Panthers finished seventh as a team against a star-studded group of New England wrestling powers.
“We were pretty happy with the way the kids wrestled in Lowell,” said Colace, who is closing in on 600 career wins.
“We don’t have a lot of kids with paper, so we wound up with some tough draws. But the kids really battled their way throughout the entire tournament against some really good wrestlers.”
Colace believes his team is better suited to dual-meet competition as opposed to tournaments. Among the foes who have fallen to Franklin so far are St. John’s Prep, Lawrence and Natick in the finals of the Redhawk Duals.
“We’re a really good dualmeet team. We’re pretty balanced up and down the lineup,” Colace said. “Every kid has the same philosophy and that is wrestle to pin. Every time we send a kid out there, we’re looking to score.
“It also helps that we have a good group of seniors. It’s their last hurrah and they’ve stepped up.”
Hillies climbing back
One of the feel-good stories in the Merrimack Valley Conference this season is the continued resurgence of the
Haverhill program.
The Hillies captured the Wilmington Sons of Italy tournament and recently defeated
North Andover for the first time since 1976. The victory had special meaning to thirdyear head coach Tim Lawlor.
“My uncle (Bert Lawlor) was on that North Andover team back in ’76,” Lawlor said. “It’s those type of wins that help validate our program.”
A former standout wrestler for Chip Dunn at Haverhill in 2003, Lawlor quickly showed that he had a special knack for coaching. He spent four years at Malden Catholic (2011-14), where two of his teams established school records for dualmeet wins in a season and participation nearly tripled.
When Brian Urquhart decided to retire at Haverhill following the 2014 season, Lawlor seized upon the opportunity to return to his alma mater. He paid tribute to Urquhart, who helped restore the wrestling program at the school in 2011 after a three-year hiatus.
“Brian really did a great job,” Lawlor said. “I love this city; it’s where I grew up and I wanted to continue building on what Brian did.”
After 19-10 and 13-12 seasons the past two winters, hope was high for Haverhill this season as it returned most of the lineup intact. Lawlor believes the program is ready to begin making its mark against a competitive group of schools in the MVC.
“We’ve got about 30 kids in the programs, which is pretty good when you start hearing that other programs are around 20,” Lawlor said. “We’re also benefiting from the Haverhill Youth Wrestling program.”
The net result is a solid lineup capable of going into a tournament as competitive as the Wilmington Sons of Italy and outlast perennial contenders such as Central Catholic,
Shawsheen and Winchester to capture the gold.
Jake Nicolosi won the 138-pound title, while Nick Tejada (second at 145), Jaydarius Levy (second at 285), Ryan McCarthy (third at 220) and Sam Prescott (third at 152) all placed among the top three in their weight classes.
“It was a great tournament for us; everyone likes getting a trophy,” Lawlor said with a laugh. “We brought 13 wrestlers there and all 13 of them scored.”