Traore clinches Villa Novan win
First-year wrestler earns pin to secure Woonsocket II-B win over Burrillville
BURRILLVILLE — There’s a certain egalitarianism about dual-meet wrestling.
While in tournaments elite wrestlers are clearly more important than first-year wrestlers, in dual meets a relative neophyte is just as important as the team’s best wrestler.
Woonsocket senior Donte Traore, who’d never stepped on the wrestling mat prior to this season, walked on to the mat Thursday night against Burrillville knowing all he had to do was beat Burrillville freshman Caleb Crossley to secure the undefeated Villa Novans a win. Traore didn’t just win, he recorded a pin in just 1 minute, 30 seconds into the opening period to secure a 39-35 Division II-B victory.
“It’s hard to explain because I was behind my team the whole way and just seeing how much they worked, I wanted to put in that same effort,” Traore said. “My mindset was I can’t win for me, I have to win for my team. This feels really good because I didn’t think I would get this far. When I started I thought I would get pinned every match, so this was really nice.”
“Unbelievable,” Woonsocket coach Matt Morrow said. “All the pressure was on him, but he had a big win Wednesday against the Tolman heavyweight. After that I told him if he won the rest of his matches he would be first-team all-division. Everyone was pumping him up in the tunnel and he was just calm, cool and collected.”
Traore was in position to only need a decision to secure the victory because Villa Novan Elijah Beausoliel avoided getting pinned by Burrillville’s Nick Samek, a potential state champion at 220 pounds. The Villa Novan took four stalling calls, but survived six minutes and lost 11-0 to put the Broncos up by just two.
“Everyone did well, but it just wasn’t good enough for us to win,” Samek said. “When a kid is [stalling on the bottom] you basically have to bash him and hope he comes out of his shell like a turtle. Last year we were awful and we really stepped up our game this year. It was great that we had so many people come here tonight.”
Woonsocket (12-0-1 Division II-B) is now entering the most difficult stretch of its season with a chance to win the division title. The Villa Novans are one of just two undefeated teams left in II-B and they will visit undefeated Pilgrim in the penultimate dual-meet of the season Wednesday night.
First, the Villa Novans will get a good look at the Patriots and their final opponent of the season, West Warwick, Saturday at the Lee Hanson Invitational in Smithfield.
“We want to be a top-4 team on Saturday,” Morrow said. “We’ve proven we’re a top team in dual meets, so now we have to prove that we’re also a tournament team. I’d like to show the other teams that we can get medals.”
Burrillville (12-2 Division II-B) will also head to Smithfield on Saturday before visiting West Warwick Tuesday night for a tri-meet with the Wizards and Tolman.
“This was a amazing and the crowd was absolutely incredible,” Burrillville coach Vinny Micucci said. “Both teams showed up and they fought it out. The meet came down to four points. The difference could’ve been one of the matches we won earlier in the night or the heavyweight match.”
Morrow entered the meet believing each team would win seven matches and the difference would be bonus points. Burrillville’s Josh Kanakry continued his strong season with a pin at 106 pounds, but Omar Diedhiou answered with a pin with four seconds left in the opening period.
Jacob Rivers rebuilt his team’s lead with a pin at 120 pounds before Elijah McDowell matches Rivers’ pin at 126. Brian Diaz gave Woonsocket its first lead of the night with a pin at 132 pounds, but the Broncos quickly tied it.
Travis Pare scored a 4-2 win at 145 pounds, but potential state champion Julian Jerez gave Woonsocket at 24-21 lead with a pin at 152 pounds.
The match appeared to swerve in favor of the Broncos when Andrew Braddock overcame a first-period deficit and pinned Noah Upshur in 3:56 at 160 pounds.
“That’s my nephew, Andrew Braddock, and we humped him up to go against Noah,” Micucci said. “Noah is a huge wrestler and this was a big senior night for both of them. It was a great match.”
The Villa Novans secured a forfeit at 170 pounds before Greg LaCroix put the Broncos up by a point with a 9-0 win at 182 pounds. Alex Batista rebuilt Woonsocket’s two-point advantage with an 8-4 win over Robert Tufano to set the stage for the final two matches.
“This is a great win and we were only in this position because two of my young guys, my JV 145-pounder (Rogelio Gonzalez), accomplished his goal of going six minutes,” Morrow said. “We had another guy (182-pounder Malik Okoje) who just came back last week and went six minutes with a four-year wrestler.”
Follow Branden @Branden_Mello
Mello
on