Clippers vying for state title
Cumberland has potential to send seven wrestlers to Saturday’s final
CUMBERLAND — For the next two days, the Providence Career and Technical Academy is the ultimate proving ground for the state’s best wrestlers.
The hard work in the offseason, the repetitive drills in the practice room, the long Saturday bus rides to tournaments all over New England and the in-state dual meets all prepared grapplers for the most physically and mentally taxing matches of the season.
For Cumberland and the Blackstone Valley’s other wrestling teams, the state tournament is about showing how far you’ve come since the beginning of the season.
“We’re excited, we’re going to do the same thing we’ve been doing all year,” Cumberland coach Colin Smith said prior to Wednesday’s practice with North Attleboro and Oliver Ames in the school’s transitional gym. “We try to give our kids a really tough schedule every year so they’re prepared for this tournament. We’ve been competing hard all year for this.”
The Clippers enter the tournament without a No. 1 seed – unlike title contenders Hendricken, Ponaganset and Chariho – but they are in just as good a position as the other D-I powerhouses to win the program’s second title in the last three seasons. The key for Cumberland this weekend is reversing close defeats earlier in the season to other talented Division I wrestlers.
Cumberland’s big seven – Brady Gillis, Colby Reilly, Dom Passanante, Aidan Faria, Kaream Sangare, Phil Coppolino and returning state champion Reuben Hancock – are all in position to reach Saturday night’s state final. For six of the seven wrestlers, reaching and winning a state final would involve reversing a regular-season defeat.
The Clippers’ two best chances to win a state title come at 113 pounds and 220 pounds. Gillis is the No. 2 seed because of a close defeat to Ponaganset’s Tim Cook a couple of weeks ago. Gillis, who is a returning state finalist, has a very comfortable road to the state final.
“We have a lot of guys who can go to the state final, but unlike a lot of years we don’t have a lock to win a state title. They all have to wrestle their butts off,” Smith said. “The difference in winning those matches now is learning from those mistakes. We’re happy with where our conditioning is. We know we’re going to have to wrestle all three periods because you’re going to get everyone’s best match.”
Reilly, another returning state finalist, is the No. 2 seed at 126 pounds, while returning state champion Nate Williams of Hendricken is the No. 1 seed. The Clippers face a familiar scenario at 145 pounds where Faria is the No. 2 seed behind two-time state champion Sean Caltagairone of Coventry.
Passanante is the No. 2 seed at 132 pounds after missing most of January with an injury. The returning state finalist didn’t wrestle returning state champion and No. 1 seed Mason Clarke of Coventry.
The only potential finals rematch is at 195 pounds where returning state champion and Eastern State placefinisher Tyler Riggs of Ponaganset is the No. 1 seed, while Sangare is the No. 3 seed. For Sangare to end his career with a state title, he’ll have to reverse regular-season defeats to Chariho’s Nate Marchione and Riggs.
“This isn’t the first state tournament for a lot of these kids, they’re aware of what happens this weekend,” Smith said. “If you have a high seed, you need to wrestle to it. If you’re seed isn’t so high, anyone can be upset and they can be upset. We’re just focusing one match at a time and winning that.”
Coppolino, a first-year varsity starter, owns wins over No. 1 seed Cam Bailey of Hendricken and No. 2 seed Luke Cirka of Ponaganset. Coppolino, however, suffered a December defeat to No. 3 seed Devin Shaw of Chariho. That means Coppolino finds himself in the same side of the bracket Bailey.
With all four title contending teams competing for the 220-pound state title, the bracket could decide the team race.
“Personally, I’m not surprised at all by his success and I knew going into the season he would do this,” said Hancock, who won the 220-pound title last season. “Between drilling with me and Kaream during the offseason, he had plenty of experience wrestling in practice. There’s no pressure on him to do anything, he just needs to wrestle the way he wrestles.”
Hancock missed a number of meets in late January because of an ankle injury he suffered in his John Gorman Invitational semifinal loss to reigning state champion Edison Guarcas of Hope. Hancock is the No. 3 seed and will likely meet Hendricken freshman Adolfo Betancur in the semifinals.
“My mindset going in is to work hard. There’s nothing else you can do,” Hancock said. “We have a really good chance of winning this weekend. Our lineup is very deep and we have a lot of kids who can wrestle deep into the tournament.”
Smith said he’s also counting on the likes of Matt Maguire (152), Tyler Shaw (160), Adam Kulacz (170) and Jacob Mastalerz (182) to win a few matches and score points in the consolation bracket.
“We’re in the running with Bishop Hendricken, Ponaganset and Chariho. There’s a possibility that Coventry could be up there,” Smith said. “If we send seven to the finals and they all win, we won’t have to worry about the wrestlebacks, but assuming that doesn’t work out, guys know they need to have a shortterm memory and win in the championship rounds and wrestlebacks.”
The powerpoints system was fair to the Clippers, but that wasn’t the case for two Blackstone Valley Division II wrestlers who harbored dreams of reaching their first state final. Tolman junior 106-pounder Jacob Felix and Woonsocket senior 120-pounder Jordan Dutcher will likely see a New England title favorite in Saturday morning’s semifinal round.
Returning New England finalist Joziah Fry of Coventry is the No. 2 seed at 106 pounds after spending the first half of the season wrestling at 113 pounds. Felix, who is undefeated this season, will also have to go through Ponaganset’s J’Man Lowman in the quarterfinals.
“There’s nothing he can do, it’s really unfortunate that it happened this way,” Tolman coach Pierre Ridore said. “The first thing I told Jacob is he has to get to the semifinals first because he faces the Ponaganset kid in the quarterfinals. If he gets there, he just has to work hard. He’s worked hard for over a year now to get to this point.”
Dutcher, whose only defeat this season was to Vermont state title favorite Hunter Verge of St. Johnsbury, will like face Hendricken’s Andrew Fallon in the 120-pound semifinals. Returning state finalist Michael Joyce of Ponaganset is the No. 1 seed after Fallon missed the dual meet against the Chieftains.
The Villa Novan owns a win over the No. 3 seed at 126, Cranston West’s Chris Gomez, but Woonsocket coach Matt Morrow said Dutcher is staying at 120 pounds because he has a chance to place at New Englands.
“We’ll do better at New Englands at 120 than 126,” Morrow said. “If we face Fallon, we feel like we have better stamina because he’s had a lot of matches off. If it’s a close match in the third period, we can take advantage of what we’ve been training for all year long. This tournament is why he’s wrestled everywhere for the last nine months. It all comes down to this tournament.”
Morrow, whose team was the Division II regular-season champions, believes the best chance of a Division II wrestler appearing in the state final is Burrillville’s Nick Gosselin. Gosselin finds himself in a deep 160-pound bracket where he will have to go through North Kingstown’s Dan Brown and Chariho’s James Dougherty to reach the final.
The No. 1 seed is Hope’s Ayomide Onajide, who Gosselin didn’t see at the Smithfield Invitational because the Bronco was disqualified in the championship bracket for an illegal move.
“Absolutely, he’s ready,” Burrillville coach Vinny Micucci said. “We’ve looked at a ton of video and we know how these guys move. We’ve discussed defense and counterattacks. Do I think Nick’s ready to go? Absolutely. I think he’s ready to shock some people who don’t think he’s a viable wrestler. Brown is a really talented wrestler and any one of the kids we’re talking about have a chance to win the state title.”
Lincoln took its lumps in Di- vision I, but that helped prepare the Lions for this weekend. Junior 120-pounder Mason Lynch started the season well, but struggled in January. Lincoln coach Michael Tuorto believes the No. 5 seed is ready to wrestle deep into the tournament. He’ll likely see North Kingstown’s Aidan Zarrella in the quarterfinals before a potential date with Joyce in the semifinals.
“Since the Cumberland tournament, he’s 100 percent improved. We went back to the drawing board,” Tuorto said. “We’ve worked on some different techniques. We talked a lot about mentality and how you need to wrestle a full six minutes and possibly eight minutes in an overtime match.”
Tuorto also believes Eric Chin (170) and Lyric Logan (220) have a chance to reach the medal stand. Chin has thrived since moving up a weight class, while Logan is in position to reach the quarterfinals against Cirka.
For the Division II teams, there’s potential for other wrestlers to wrestle deep into Saturday. Morrow believes he has at least four guys who can compete for medals Saturday morning. Daniel Castillo (132), Jacob Costanza (145), Caleb Lambert (160) and Mike Dumont (285) are all wrestlers who should survive the opening night.
Burrillville’s Rob Simas (145), Jacob Rivers (152), Jack Sullivan (126), Jacob Libby (182) and Josh Kanakry (132) are all in position to win a few matches.
“We have a lot of kids who can get on that podium somewhere from three through six,” Micucci said. “They can place, but now it’s up to them and how they wrestle.”
Wrestling starts Friday night at 5 p.m. with three championship rounds and a pair of consolation rounds. The teams will return to the PCTA Saturday morning at 10 for the first of two sessions. The semifinals will be wrestled during the round and all medal matches will take place in the second session in the evening.