Nashoba’s Cassella caps career with New England crown
Prior to his final high school season, Nashoba Regional’s Brevin Cassella had won every major postseason tournament, save for one. He had won Division 2 Central Massachusetts Sectionals three times, the Division 2 State and All-State crowns, though the New England title had eluded him.
That changed over the weekend as Cassella practically walked through his bracket as he bested Darrien Stewart, of Springfield Central, in the round of16beforeearningapin fall in the quarterfinals against Chris Matarese, of North Providence. In the semifinals he took on Austin Morris, of Keene, New Hampshire, and earned his second technical fall of the tournament and a trip to the final.
In the championship match, Cassella wasted little time, pinning Nick Fine, of Bishop Hendrickson, at the 2:19 minute mark of the match. Cassella also earned his 200 th career win during his run to the title.
While Cassella won gold, two other local stars also competed. Cassella’s teammate Joshua Cordio and Monty Tech’s Isaic Paulino showed major mental fortitude.
Both Monty Tech’s Isaic Paulino and Nashoba’s Joshua Cordio made the All-State finals a week ago and lost tough championship matches. They also both had rough starts to their respective New England tournament’s as Cordio fell in the first round and Paulino dropped his round of 16 match.
Both fought in the consolation rounds to come all the way back to place in their respective brackets.
Cordio dropped his first match to Fairfield’s Hunter Rasmussen, but he bounced back with a quick pin over Tucker Nichols, of Chesterfield, Maine. In his next match he beat Wayland’s Cameron Jones, 10-5, before winning an 8-6 match over Tommy Mazur, of Stamford, Connecticut.
The Nashoba grappler pinned Tyler Shaw, of Cumberland, Rhode Island, at the 2:58 mark to guarantee himself a spot in the top 6 of the tournament. He won his consolation semifinal match against Ryan Powers of, Lebanon, Connecticut, to the final four before taking an 11-4 decision over James Dougherty, of Chariho, Rhode Island, to finish the tournament with a 6-1 record in third place.
Paulino opened by pinning Julian Henderson of, Camden Hills, Maine, before dropping a 8-2 decision to Connecticut State Champion and eventual New England finalist Josh Brault, of Joel Barrow, Connecticut.
Paulino went to the consolation round and pinned Ryan O’Rourke, of Salem, New Hampshire, before defeating Dante Distefano, of Waltham, on a technical fall. Paulino then snuck past St. John’s Prep’s Austin Schaeublin, 1-0, and bested Caden Frost of Bonny Eagle High School in Maine to earn a top-six finish. In the consolation semifinals Paulino was injured and forced to forfeit, but became the first New England place finisher in Monty Tech history.