Winchester Wrestlers Defeat Defending State Champions

The following was submitted by Winchester parent, Phillip Stern.

Winchester wrestlers defeated the Lawrence Lancers, the defending Division 1 State Champions, 33-19 at a quad meet held at on Saturday, Jan. 7. The Sachems beat Malden Catholic 54-6 and Mansfield 55-5 earlier in the morning.

The Winchester and Lawrence wrestling teams have a great competitive history.

Two years ago Winchester narrowly edged out Lawrence in the last match of the meet, as the Sachem heavyweight escaped a near fall and pinned his opponent to secure the team victory. Last year Lawrence returned the favor when two of their wrestlers overcame large deficits by pinning their Sachem opponents, thus providing the points Lawrence needed to win. This year’s dual between Winchester and Lowell was highly anticipated by their fans.

Lawrence’s wrestling team is ranked No. 3 in the state, while Winchester is ranked No. 12 and had its first loss last weekend to Bristol Central of Connecticut. But rankings don’t matter once you step on the mat, and on the mat these two teams engaged in an exhilarating battle that wasn’t decided until the penultimate match of the day.

Co-Captain Nick Cashion gave Winchester an early lead with a 5-4 victory over Edgardo Rios, a strong wrestler who finished fourth in the state last year.  

Lawrence won the next two matches, with a major decision by Adrian Sosa giving Lawrence a 7-3 lead. Winchester immediately answered as Co-Captain Dan Fallon tied the score with a major decision of his own, and pins by his brother Joe Fallon and his Co-Captain Cam Horsey gave Winchester a 12-point lead. Again Lawrence fought back, winning 4 of the next 5 matches, TJ Boudreau’s 4-3 decision over Mike Mena being the only bright spot for the Sachems in that stretch.

With three matches to go, Winchester had a narrow 22-19 lead. Nick Stern increased the lead with a 7-0 victory against Rizky Riyanto, and with only one match remaining Winchester’s Quinn Gregory put the meet out of reach by beating Jeff DeLeon 11-6. The excitement and tension in the gymnasium during the previous hour-and-a-half was muted after the team outcome had been decided, but in the final match Steve Spry put on an exciting exhibition anyway, winning by technical fall 16-1 in the third period to make the final score Winchester 33, Lawrence 19.

Winchester’s coach Larry Tremblay congratulated his team for leaving it all out on the mat.  

Lawrence brought four wrestlers ranked in the top-10 in Massachusetts into the gym but they garnered no pins, just three decisions, only one a major.  

Winchester’s ability to be competitive in every weight class was a key to the victory. None of the six losses was by pin, while Winchester won two matches by pin and a third by technical fall, scoring extra team points.

Earlier in the day, Winchester scored 8 pins out of 10 matches against Malden Catholic for a 54-6 final score.  Then Winchester scored 7 pins out of 10 matches against Malden for a score of 55-5. Both Malden Catholic and Mansfield have small teams with no wrestler in four of the 14 weight classes.

Winchester hosts another quad meet on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Winchester High School with Arlington, Belmont, and Weston competing.