Chandler gets revenge to win heavyweight title
METHUEN — Tewksbury heavyweight Dylan Chandler learned a valuable lesson in his match with New Bedford’s Tyrek Williams at the All-State meet last week.
Given a second chance, the Tewksbury standout proved to be a quick study.
Chandler avenged that quarterfinal loss by defeating Williams, 6-1, to capture the New England heavyweight title Sunday afternoon at Methuen. He is the first Tewksbury wrestler to win this prestigious event since David Shunamon went back-to-back in 1997-98.
“I wrestled him last week and wrestled very passively,” Chandler said. “I knew it was going to be a tough match. I knew what moves he was going to be looking for so I just had to focus on shutting down his offense and getting to my attacks.
“To wrestle someone a week after losing to them you have to realize that no one is going to be feeling sorry for you. If you want to be the best you have to put in the work.”
Tewksbury coach Steve O’Keefe knew that Chandler would be primed to atone for last week.
“I know last week taking fourth wasn’t what he had wanted as a result, a lot of kids would have packed it in,” O’Keefe said. “We’re just extremely proud of him, he’s put in the work, he deserves it.”
It was a great day for the Soda brothers of Burlington. Zachary Soda defeated Josh Brault, of Joel Barlow (Conn.), 10-5 in the 106pound final. One match later. Cameron Soda made it 2-for-2 as he edged Chelmsford’s Evan Kinney, 4-3, winning the match in the final seconds.
“They’re great to coach because they understand wrestling at a very high level — it makes it fun to coach,” Burlington coach Paul Shvartsman said. “They can execute, they can change a game plan. One wins and one loses, it can be bitter sweet. But they both got it done today and in exciting fashion.”
Zachary Soda proved to be the ultimate team player throughout the course of the season. He could have wrestled at a higher weight, but knew competing at 106 would help the Red Devils more.
“I sort of had a choice of what weight I wanted to go this year and I had to choose not what was just best for me but best for the team,” Soda said. “This year had a lot of ups and downs, I fell short at a couple tournaments and it drove me to work harder and harder.”
Much like Chandler, Cameron Soda used last week’s 5-3 loss to Kinney as motivation. The two have wrestled countless times, so they know each others moves.
“Wrestling someone multiple times it can be tough because you both know what to expect,” Soda said. “I’m watching film on him he’s watching film on me, it just comes down to who can make the adjustments and carryout that game plan.”
Hunter Adrian was back on familiar ground as he won his third New England title with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Salem’s Calvin Dalton. It was Adrian’s third one-point win in the tournament, something which didn’t come as a total surprise to him.
Danvers’ Maximillian Leete captured the 126-pound title with a 6-2 win over Michael Joyce, of Ponaganset (R.I.), 6-2. Leete’s confidence was sky-high, especially after he defeated Bishop Hendricken’s Andrew Fallon in the quarters. Fallon beat Leete in the finals here a year ago.