Chelmsford’s Brown defends 285 crown
METHUEN >> In the end, Thomas Brown defended his crown.
The Chelmsford sophomore heavyweight upended sixth-ranked Alex Bajoras, 10-9, in a brilliant comefrom-behind effort in the 285-pound main event at the Division 1 state finals Saturday at Methuen High School.
“It feels great,” said Brown. “Alex is a great wrestler. We were going at it. I just had to wrestle really well.”
Despite holding an early 2-0 lead, Brown had his hands full fending off Bajoras. The 6-foot-1 Springfield High sophomore stormed back on three different occasions, pulling a nifty reverse before executing an escape to take the 6-5 lead.
Brown did his best to overcome his advances, however, with a thunderous body slam to retake the lead, before scoring a pivotal leg takedown with 10 seconds left on the clock to take the match.
“Once I took him down there it’s tough on the bottom,” said Brown. “I just rode him out. It all came down to conditioning, just keep wrestling well, and not let the score get to my head.”
“The better man won today,” said Bajoras. “I think he’s got a couple inches on me, and he’s a little bit older too, but that just means I have to work harder at the gym.”
St. John’s Prep won the team title with 171.5 points, followed by Natick (129.5), Shawsheen Tech (128), Central
Catholic (105.5) and Chelmsford (101).
Another Chelmsford wrestler, Jack Walsh, was edged by top-ranked Rafael Knapp of Algonquin, 9-4, in the 170-pound final.
“He was just better at the neutral game,” said Walsh, who held a 1-0 lead to start the match. “He was taking me down, I shouldn’t have let it happen, but here we are.”
Meanwhile, Shawsheen Tech’s top-ranked power trio of Brayton Carbone, James Tildsley and Sidney Tildsley each earned state championship glory.
Carbone bumped off second-seeded Brandon Winn of Brockton, 4-3, in the final.
“It’s just an amazing feeling overall,” said Carbone. “We’ve worked hard all season for this. It’s really a dream come true to win it twice in a row. I knew it was going to be a battle. He’s a really tough kid to stop on the bottom. I let him up a couple of times, played my stuff in neutral, and got out with the win.”
The Tildsley brothers also continued to run the table.
James stopped secondranked Shaun McLaughlin of Natick, 3-2, in overtime at 132, while Sidney dropped Jayden D’Ambrosio of St. John Prep, 5-3, at 138, scoring a last-second takedown to seal the deal.
“It’s just another step on the road to New Englands,” said Sidney. “This is just another step on the way. I had a good shot with almost no time left. It felt pretty good.”
James has nothing but respect for McLaughlin.
The Natick amputee, who wrestles with half a leg, overcame a 2-0 deficit to force overtime.
“Shaun has got to be one of the toughest guys I’ve seen all year,” said James, who lost the tip of his finger in a dirt biking accident last year. “I mean, my finger isn’t much (by way of comparison), but missing half of leg doesn’t affect him one bit.”
In other action, Lowell wrestler Quin Foyle reached
the finals before meeting his match in the 152-pound final. He fell 15-9 to topranked Drew McGourty of Braintree.
“He came out with a lot of flash at the beginning,” said Foyle. “I’ve got to wrestle better. I was scrambling for position, but next week I hope to see him again in the finals.”
Lowell freshman Emmett Logan fell 7-2 in the final to Andover’s top-ranked Yandel Morales at 106.