Sports

Winchester Wrestling Ranked Fourth

The Sachems continue to win.

The following was submitted by Phillip Stern.

The improved their record to 16-1 with four wins last week.

On Thursday Winchester beat Wakefield 61-10. Then on Saturday, Winchester swept three teams at a home quad meet, defeating Weston 70-0, Arlington 62-10, and Belmont 69-7.

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A bit past the halfway mark of the season, Winchester is ranked No. 4 in Massachusetts behind Methuen, North Andover, and Framingham. With a 6-0 record in the in the Middlesex League and a lopsided victory over Arlington, the second best team in the league, Winchester is on track to capture the Middlesex League crown for the third straight year.

Although Winchester’s team dominated Saturday’s quad meet, winning 38 out of 42 matches, several of the individual matches were fiercely contested.  

The very first match of the day was one of the most exciting. Shadi Abujoub of Winchester faced Weston’s Andrew Seto, a wrestler with strong tournament finishes this season. Abujoub scored first, but gave up a near fall in the second period and was trailing 5-7 entering the final period. Seto got conservative, trying to hold his lead, but was repeatedly called for stalling, eventually giving up a penalty point. Abujoub was still down 8-9 with time running out.  Then, with one second remaining, he pancaked Seto for a takedown and near fall. The buzzer ended the match with Abujoub winning 12-9. After going on to lose a tough match against Tom Jantz , Arlington’s best wrestler, Abujoub came back to pin his Belmont opponent only 55 seconds into the first period.

Winchester’s Nick Stern also won a difficult first match to start his day. Weston’s Chandler Carlson has done well this season at 120, but he dropped to 113 to wrestle Stern on Saturday. After one period it was tied 2-2 and looked like it could go either way. In the second period, Stern scored two near falls to take a six point lead and fought through a physical 3rd period to win a major decision, 13-5. Stern also won his remaining matches, a 13-1 major decision against Mike Pieroni of Arlington and a 3rd period pin against Tajash Thapa of Belmont.

An interesting side note to the Weston meet was Winchester brothers Dan and Joe Fallon defeating brothers Harrison and Blake Fontaine in back-to-back matches. Unfortunately, another interesting matchup didn’t take place. Winchester freshman, Ryan Kelley, was looking forward to testing himself against Weston captain Matt Atkins, a strong wrestler who placed well at the Framingham Holiday Tournament. Although Atkins weighed in, he did not wrestle.  Kelley won all three of his matches by pin in the first period.

Like the Weston meet, the Arlington meet also featured a couple of interesting bouts. Winchester’s T.J. Boudreau faced Ben Childs who took 3rd at the Wakefield Tournament.  Boudreau got off to a quick lead with a takedown and 3-point near fall in the 1st, but Childs battled back and pulled within two points via a takedown to make it 10-8 with 24 seconds left in the match. Boudreau ensured his win with an escape for a final score of 11-8.

Perhaps the best match of the day pitted Jordan Darby of Winchester against Gavin Weinman of Arlington. Weinman scored 2 points on an early takedown and then rode Darby the rest of the period and almost all of the 2nd period until Darby escaped at the buzzer.  That late escape, plus penalties against Weinman for a full nelson and locked hands gave Darby a slim 3-2 lead that did not reflect the non-stop action of the first two periods. In the third, Darby escaped for a two point lead.  With 48 seconds left, the match could still have gone either way, but Darby clinched the victory with a takedown and near fall earning a major decision 10-2. In his other matches, Darby pinned his Weston opponent and lost by decision to Roni Baghdady of Belmont.

In the Belmont meet, Winchester’s Dan McGurl wrestled Jonathon Comeau, ranked No. 9 in the state. McGurl scored takedowns in periods 1 and 2, but gave up escapes in both periods.  Holding a slim 4-2 lead in the third period, McGurl reversed Comeau and pinned him with 53 seconds remaining.

Winchester’s Doug MacDonald also won an exciting match against Belmont. MacDonald was down 2-6 in the second, but fought back to tie it with 30 seconds to go in the third. As the clock ticked down, it looked like the match would go into overtime, but MacDonald turned his opponent at the buzzer earning two points for an 8-6 victory.

On the visitors’ mat, Arlington defeated both Belmont and Weston, and Belmont narrowly defeated Weston 42-39.

In upcoming matches, Winchester faces Middlesex League opponents Lexington and Melrose. Lexington comes to Winchester on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Winchester travels to Melrose at 6 PM on Wednesday, January 18. Then on Saturday, January 21, Winchester hosts its 3rd and final home quad meet with non-league opponents Greater Lawrence, Quabbin, and Georgetown. Wrestling starts at 11 a.m.

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