Brown pins down New England title
Tildsley also a champion; St. John's Prep team second
PROVIDENCE, R.I. >> A bevy of local wrestlers shined on the mat at the 2023 New England Interscholastic Wrestling Championships but none more impressive than Chelmsford heavyweight Thomas Brown.
Brown had a flair for the dramatic with his 100th win of his short career as he took down the 285-pound title in an 8-2 decision. Brown’s thrilling victory was over Rhode Island state champion Joe Church (Bishop Hendricken). The match went down to the final 90 seconds before Brown ensured the hand raise.
This was Brown’s first AllNew England first-place finish as the two-time Division 1 Massachusetts champion placed third as a freshman last season.
Brown (56-0) remained undefeated on the 2023 season. He held a slim 3-2 advantage after Brown cut Church loose after a surprise break on a quick take- down into the third period.
Brown had a slight ad- vantage down the stretch as the sophomore knew a thing or two about his opponent coming into the finals. He defeated Church 10-0 back in January at the Colter Abeley Classic in Middletown, Conn., and while Church made significant adjustments on Browns’ underhooks, the sensation dug deep down and dominated in the final 1:20 of the third with five unanswered points.
“(Church) is a tough kid, he’s a great wrestler but I tried to wrestle my match. This feels great,” said Brown.*
“I just had to trust what my coaches taught me and to trust what I do and stick with my stuff. Just tried to keep a good stance and not try to do anything stupid and hold onto the lead.”
With the win, this is the first New England champion for the Lions since 2008 in the 135-pound division. Brown said he was humbled to be even mentioned in the same breath as Tim Rich and the legacy of the Chelmsford program.
“We haven’t had a New England champ or even finalist since Timmy Rich so this is a huge accomplishment for Thomas and shows all the work he puts
in and shows the other guys that it’s possible they can do the same,” said Chelmsford head coach Chris Piscione.
Other notables were Shawsheen Tech’s Sidney Tildsley, who took the top spot at 138 with a pinfall over Jaeckez Mendez (East Hartford, Conn.) at 2:27 while Algonquin’s Rafael Knapp outlasted Isael Perez (Hope, R.I.) in the 170-pound bracket, 10-8, in the most exciting match of the finals.
Not to be denied was Central Catholic’s Nathan Blanchette for back-to-back New England titles at 182 with an 8-4 hard-fought decision over Spencer Fine (Bishop Hendricken).
The win gives Blanch- ette another shot at Nation- als and when asked what his expectations were moving forward, Blanchette didn’t mince words.
“Man, that (finals) was the toughest. (Fine) is a dog and fights hard. We saw each other last season too,” said Blanchette. “We don’t go to tournaments to lose.”
Also with a very inspiring run was Emmet Logan (Lowell) in the 106-pound division. Logan came up just short of the title to take second place in a major decision loss (12-4) to Raekwon Shabazz (Xavier, Conn.). Logan, a freshman who also placed second in All-States,
has a bright future with the Red Raiders’ program.
St. John’s Prep had the best finish as a team with a second-place finish after taking down the team title in 2022. The Eagles (82 points) were chasing eventual winner Ponaganset of Scituate, R.I., which finished the tournament with 143 points.
Rawson Iwanicki (160) won his second New England chip with a 7-3 decision over and Brent Nicolosi (Haverhill) in an All-Massachusetts final while Alex Schaeublin (113) added a second-place medal to head coach Manny Costa’s trophy chest in an extremely successful
season on the mat.
“Iwanicki was the returning champ, he’s been undefeated three years in a row, so it’s a nice way to finish his career. Alex had a tough loss in the finals but you make the New England finals at 58-0, so how can you be upset about that? We knew Ponaganset was going to win it, they were loaded, had so many guys, but we’re happy with second,” said Costa. “I didn’t think we would be top five let alone place second so we are happy with that.”
Tewksbury’s Jack Callahan also had a fantastic tournament. He finished second at 126 pounds.