Shawsheen carries on Donovan’s legacy
Mark Donovan passed away more than two years ago, but his impact and teachings are still alive and well at Shawsheen.
Doug Pratt, who coached with Donovan at Shawsheen for more than three decades before taking over when Donovan succumbed to cancer at the age of 55 in October 2021, has made it his mission to keep things status quo.
“We run the practices pretty much the same way Dunny ran them for 30 years,” Pratt said. “Other than a few minor tweaks, we’ve kept things the same because it’s working for us. The kids are always in great shape, they are always giving maximum effort in practice.”
The results speak for themselves. Shawsheen is 15-0 in dual meets and won the Salem Blue Devil Classic, the Wilmington Sons of Italy Tournament, the Sanford Maine Tournament, and nabbed a third-place finish at the prestigious George Bossi Lowell Holidays.
“One thing Dunny used to say was that we schedule to chase losses,” Pratt said. “In order to become better, we handpick the toughest possible schedule to get the best competition. Sometimes losses are a good thing because it tells us we need to work harder to get better.”
Shawsheen’s strength as a team lies in its depth, which could be a curse in itself. Pratt freely admits that there are at least 3-4 wrestlers in his program who could start at almost any other high school, but are willing to sacrifice to be part of one of New England’s premier programs (the Rams were No. 4 in the latest Schwartz Report New England rankings).
“We’ve never had this type of depth before,” Pratt said. “It’s helped us because we’ve gone through some sicknesses and an injury to one of our best wrestlers (Brayton Carbone). Having the depth allowed us to plug guys in and we haven’t skipped a beat.
“What we do have every week is a lot of wrestle-offs. The 14 starters know they have to be on their toes because there are guys right behind who want to start. Those wrestle-offs helps keep the starters sharp at all times because if they aren’t on their A game, the other guys can beat them.”
Two of the guys who have been the unquestioned leaders of the team are returning Boston Herald All-Scholastics Sidney Tildsley (138 pounds) and his brother James Tildsley (144). Both are ranked among the top wrestlers regardless of weight class in New England and have the resume to back it up.
“They see these two at the top of the podiums every week and everyone wants to be a Tildsley,” Pratt said. “They see the time and effort those two put in and that makes coaching a lot easier — the wrestling room is definitely rocking with them.”
In addition to the Tildsley brothers, Shawsheen has received topnotch efforts from Caleb Caceres (132), Nate Malandain (157), Austin Malandain (190), Dante Giusti (120), Logan Holmes (150) and Dante Graziano (113).
Girl power
Lowell successfully defended its team title at the
Senators All Girls and USAW MWA Girls Kick Off Classic. The Red Raiders received championship efforts from Amada Moundele (175 pounds) and Amelyiah Martinez (235).
“There are not a lot of tournaments for girls like this, so this was nice,” said Nick Logan, who coaches the team with George Bossi. “We are fortunate in that we have a full lineup.”
Logan gives a lot of credit for the emergence of girls wrestling at Lowell to Moundele and the success she’s had on the mat.
“I do recruit heavily in the school,” Logan said. “Amada was the first girl in the program two years ago and they see the success she’s had. We went from one girl to 5-6 girls and now we started the season with 13 and currently have 10 on the team.”
Other winners at the tournament include Samantha Bertini of Ludlow (107), Brooke Weafer of BristolPlymouth/Coyle-Cassidy (114), Adriana DeGroat of Framingham (120), Hannah Bryson of Wilmington (126), Morgan Pennimpede of Gloucester (132), Gianna Reed of Longmeadow (138) and Tessa Master of Watertown (152).