Sports

Winchester Wrestlers Win Individual Awards

The Sachems took home five medals at the Division 2 Individual State Tournament.

The following was submitted by Winchester parent Phillip Stern.

The Winchester High School wrestling team took 12 wrestlers to the Division II Individual State Tournament, and five Sachems earned medals competing against some of the best wrestlers in Massachusetts. Nicholas Stern and Steve Spry took third place; Dan Fallon and Cam Horsey took fourth; and Dan McGurl took fifth place. All five will move on to wrestle at the All State Tournament on Feb. 24 and 25 against the top finishers from Division I and Division III.

Winchester freshman Jordan Darby wrestled some of his best matches of the year at the State Tournament. Wrestling at 113 pounds, he was fully in command defeating Chris Antoine of Marshfield, and then lost a closely contested match (2-4) to Roni Baghdady, the eventual fifth place winner.

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In the consolation quarterfinals, Darby was down 2-3 to Collin Shea of Hopkinton as the clock ticked down. Darby made frantic efforts to take down Shea, but Shea repeatedly backed up and fended him off. The referee called stalling and awarded the tying point to Darby, who won in overtime.

Sachem 113-pounder Nicholas Stern also peaked for the State Tourney. He won his first two matches in convincing fashion to advance to the second day of the tournament. In the semifinals, Stern wrestled smart but couldn’t get a takedown and lost in overtime to Alex Bordenca of Woburn. After winning another match by pin, Stern found himself battered and bruised but came from behind in the consolation finals, repeatedly taking down and cutting loose Caleb Cofsky of Walpole to win the third place medal.

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At 120 pounds, Quinn Gregory of Winchester qualified for the State Tournament with his third place finish at the Sectionals. After pinning his opponent in the first round, Gregory lost to Mark Carroll of Needham and dropped into the consolation brackets, where his tournament came to a premature end. Gregory built a 4-0 lead against Jonathan Carrera of Milton, but Carrera came back to tie it in the third period and won in overtime.

Winchester co-captain Steve Spry took third for the Sachems at 126 pounds. After he won his first round match, it looked like he had an easy path to the finals because he would face two wrestlers he had defeated earlier in the season, Luc Desir of Southeastern Regional and Lenny Jorge of Greater Lawrence. But Desir surprised everyone by beating Spry and going all the way to the finals were he was pinned in 58 seconds by the incomparable Ryan O’Boyle of Central Catholic. 

Spry scored a near fall in the second period, but Jorge tied it up with a reversal. In the third, Spry chose down but Jorge wanted to start in the neutral position and gave Spry a one-point escape. That proved to be the winning margin as neither wrestler could score in the final 2 minutes, and Spry earned the bronze medal.

At 132 pounds, Sachem co-captain Nick Cashion won two matches, but lost two against his perennial rivals Sami Baghdady of Belmont and Zane Melillo of North Andover. Cashion had to settle for the satisfaction of once again improving his performance against Baghdady; this time Cashion had a 2-0 lead after the first period, but Baghdady scored 3 in the second and held on to win 3-2.

Sachem sophomore Doug MacDonald was in and out of the starting lineup at 138 this year, but had his breakout performance at the Sectional tournament where he placed second. He won his first match at the States but couldn’t sustain that level of wrestling and lost the next two matches and was relegated to spectator for the second day.

Dan Fallon, another Winchester co-captain, lost in the second round to the D2 South champion Dominic Vito of Silver Lake. Fallon then fought his way back through the consolation rounds, winning three matches to reach the consolation finals. In the semifinals, Fallon pinned Jarred O’Brien of Woburn, a wrestler he lost to in the last match of the regular season. Fallon took fourth place overall, losing to Mariano Restivo-Lage of Natick in the consi finals.

Winchester sophomore Joe Fallon broke into the starting lineup this year and also made his debut on the big stage of the State Championships by placing fourth at the sectional tournament. On Saturday, he pinned Trevor Wassel of Walpole but lost his other two matches for an early exit from the States. He will be back next year, more experienced and looking for a higher finish.

At 170 pounds, Winchester co-captain Cam Horsey took fourth place. He lost to eventual second place medalist Mark Pomella of Marshfield in the quarterfinals, and then won exciting overtime matches against Peter Kummer of North Attleboro and Tim Curtin-White of Milford to reach the consolation finals, where Nick Dilibero from Masconomet prevailed for 3rd place.

Winchester’s other fantastic freshman, Ryan Kelley, competed in the State Tourney at 182 pounds. After compiling a regular season record of 33-8, Kelley took second place in the sectional tournament to qualify for the states. At this tournament, Kelley won two matches and lost two, so he made it to the second day of wrestling but did not medal.

At 195, Winchester’s Tristan Hardy went 0-2, losing a heartbreaker in the consolation round. He was ahead 7-4 with less than a minute left in the match. He tried to seal the deal with an escape, but turned into Angel Valentin of Worcester Tech and got pancaked to lose by the pin.

Dan McGurl, Winchester’s 285-pounder, took fifth place. McGurl pinned his first opponent in 35 seconds. In his second match, McGurl wore down Owen Grey of Duxbury. It was 0-0 after the first period, and McGurl had a slim 1-0 lead after the second. In the third period McGurl gave up a penalty for locked hands, and then gave up an escape to fall behind 1-2. He kept pushing the pace, until Grey was exhausted and had to take a break to heave into a trash barrel. When Grey returned to the mat, McGurl quickly took him down to his back and pinned him for a come from behind victory.

After that exciting match, McGurl lost to the eventual second place finisher and the eventual third place finisher, before again coming from behind to pin Connor Pease of Boston Latin to earn the fifth place medal and a trip to the All States.

Winning a medal at the Division II Individual State Tournament is an accomplishment to be proud of, but the Winchester wrestlers are really focusing on next weekend when they wrestle as a team for the championship at the Division II Team State Tournament. 

After defeating top teams such as Lawrence, Winchester advanced in the rankings at masswrestling.com from 12th in the state to finish ranked No. 3 behind Division 1 powerhouses Methuen and Framingham. The Team States will be held at Tsongas Arena on Feb. 19 and 20.


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