Central repeats on Div. 2 mat
Burlington’s Soda twins have mixed results
MILTON — After a strong showing in the opening day of the Division 2 state wrestling championship, Central Catholic was firmly in the driver’s seat to repeat as team champions.
They sealed the deal Saturday afternoon, rolling to a victory with 118 points. Nashoba placed second with 83, followed closely by Hingham (81.5).
Leading the way for the Raiders was top-seeded Nate Vachon who ended the Cinderella run for Plymouth South’s Hunter Hasenfus with a 9-1 major decision at 145 pounds. Central Catholic placed two other wrestlers in the finals: Mike Glynn was caught for a 5-point move but ran out of time when Masconomet’s Liam McAveney escaped with 20 seconds remaining to capture the 138-pound title, 7-6. Anthony Mears also suffered an upset, losing 4-1 in double overtime to Milford’s Joao Neiva, in the 220 pound final.
In the most exciting match of the day, Danvers standout Max Leete used a third period arm throw to secure the last takedown and defeated Ryan Parmenter, 6-5, at 126 pounds for his third state title in as many years.
For a second straight year, Burlington was represented by the Soda twins. At 106, Zack Soda found himself in a rematch of this year’s Lowell Holiday finals. Isiac Paulino, of Monty Tech, secured two takedowns that proved to be the difference maker as he defeated Zack, 5-3. His brother Cam was dominant from start to finish, taking out Hopkinton’s Lucas Dionne, 10-0.
Salem’s Calvin Dalton finished off his senior year with another state title, defeating Masconomet’s Ian Darling, 7-4. Nashoba’s Brevin Cassela and Danvers’ Russell Canova also earned their second straight titles. The Binghamton-bound Cassella used a flurry of third period takedowns to pull away and defeat Jack Kinsey, of Winchester, 14-7 in the 160 pound final. Canova pinned Sean McCullough of Lynnfield/ North Reading at 182 pounds.
Other winners included North Andover’s Ethan Ford (132 pounds), Canton’s Eddie Marinelli (152), Nashoba’s Joshua Cordio (170), King Philip’s Shawn Conniff (195) and Tewksbury’s Dylan Chandler (285).
Division 1
Three down, one to go.
Chelmsford High junior Evan Kinney claimed his third MIAA Division 1 state title, defeating St. John’s Prep’s Nicholas Curley, 6-4 in the 113-pound finals on Saturday at Methuen High’s Larry Klimas Fieldhouse.
Kinney’s Chelmsford teammate. Evan Goodall, won the 152-pound title with a 5-3 win against Brockton’s Domenic Cingnano.
Springfield Central won the team title with 173 points. It was the Golden Eagles’ second straight Division 1 title and the seventh in coach Darby McLaughlin’s tenure.
St. John’s Prep was second with 117. St. John’s wrestlers Adam Schaeublin (106) and Rawson Iwanicki (138) claimed titles.
“I’m happy with how we did,” said St. John’s coach Manny Costa. “We had two kids win titles, four in the finals. All four battled hard. We beat Springfield Central in a dual meet two weeks ago. They won some big matches yesterday and we had some tough losses.”
Brookline placed third with 109.5. Sandro Bruni won the 220-pound title for the Warriors, edging Naziah Armot of Brockton, 3-1.
Springfield Central had two wrestlers, Mahan Miller (145) and Darby McLaughlin (195) place first. McLaughlin earned the most falls/least time award with four pins in 4 minutes and 36 seconds.
Division 3
Having coached for four decades, it’s tough to accomplish something that makes Melrose’s Larry Tremblay search his memory bank, but Red Raider seniors Hunter Adrian and Sean Herbert did in Wayland on Saturday as each won their fourth individual state title.
“I don’t know if that’s ever been done before,” said Tremblay.
Adrian, Herbert and sophomore Sean Thomas all took their weight class to lead Melrose to the Division 3 team crown with 154.5 points, easily outdistancing host Wayland with 113.
Adrian and Herbert, sparring partners since elementary school, were freshmen on the program’s only other Div. 3 titlist in 2017. Adrian, now 207-6 in his career, registered an 18-3 technical fall at 126 pounds on his way to being named Most Outstanding Wrestler and also winning the award for most pins in the least time.
Herbert scored an 8-4 decision at 152. While Adrian’s four titles have come consecutively, Herbert’s first came as an eighthgrader before winning the last three. Neither has lost to an in-state opponent this year.
Thomas got the finals started with 9-0 win at 106. Melrose had wrestlers place in the top six of half of the 14 weight classes to give Tremblay his eighth crown – the first with the Red Raiders after seven at Winchester.
Adrian and Herbert weren’t the only wrestlers to leave Wayland with multiple Div. 3 individual titles to their name. Sandwich’s Connor Keegan won at 126 to claim his second straight, as did Holliston’s Brian Garry at 132, both bumping up a weight class from last year. Garry’s 152nd career victory broke the school record.
Taconic had a pair of state champs in Dylan Burke at 195 and Shawn O’Shea at 220. Wakefield’s Joao Valdevino was lone finalist to pin, winning by fall in the third period at 160, while Gloucester’s Liam Donahue joined Adrian in recording a technical fall with a 15-0 triumph at 145.
Ashland’s Benny Herrera (113), Middleboro’s Jaden Estrada (140), Triton’s Anthony Ostrander (170), Hampshire’s Michael Baldwin (182) and Quabbin’s Tristan Kemp (285) won titles by decision.