Warriors have nine place winners, seven advance to Div. 3 State Meet
MATT MURDOCCA, a senior captain, placed fourth overall at the 152 lb. weight class on Saturday in the Div. 3 North Tournament and qualified for the Div. 3 State Meet which will be held this weekend at the Charbonneau Field House.
Published in the February 14, 2017 edition.
DANVERS — The Wakefield Memorial High wrestling team didn’t crown any champions at the Div. 3 North Sectional Tournament, but the Warriors had many place winners as they secured third place in the team scoring.
Wakefield finished third in the annual showcase on Saturday at Danvers High School with 147.5 points. The Warriors finished behind Div. 3 North champion Melrose and host Danvers as those two schools scored 235 and 200 points, respectively.
Bedford (135.5 points), Georgetown/Ipswich (134 points), Triton (123 points), Pentucket (119 points), Wilmington (80 points), Marblehead/Swampscott (76 points), Saugus (75 points), Tyngsboro (66 points), Essex Tech (53.5 points), and Gloucester (46 points) all finished behind Wakefield.
Wakefield had nine place winners in the tournament.
Jake Goodchild, a junior, captured second place at the 132 lb. weight class with a 2-1 record. Goodchild won by fall over Tyngsboro’s Zach Souza at 27 seconds. The junior then pulled out an 8-4 decision over Triton’s Bruss Esteban. In the final, Goodchild lost a 7-0 decision to Bedford’s Zack Krieter.
Goodchild qualified for the Div. 3 State Tournament and his first round opponent is Sandwich’s Rob Davidson.
Anthony Denham, a senior, also placed second overall as he competed at the 285 weight place. Denham posted a 2-1 record. The senior won by fall against Georgetown/Ipswich’s Cam Dalley and Bedford’s Vinny Butera at 58 seconds and 1:41. In the final, Denham was pinned by Melrose’s Jacob Fortier at 3:42.
Denham has also qualified for the Div. 3 State Tournament and his first round matchup is against Holyoke’s Luis Breton.
There were five fourth place finishers on Saturday.
At 126, freshman Brock Johnson placed fourth with a 2-2 record. Johnson won by major decision (12-0) over Marblehead/Swampscott’s Caden Dubiel. He then lost by fall to Melrose’s Steve MacInstosh at 1:17. Johnson then won by fall over Wilmington’s Ethan Karnesky at 3:12. The freshman then was pinned by Bedford’s Anthony Shortt at 3:15.
Johnson has advanced to the Div. 3 State Tournament and his first round foe will be Bristol-Plymouth’s Justin Kelliher.
Ryan Smith, a junior, competed for the first time at 145 since Jan. 11 against Melrose when he suffered an elbow injury. Smith did pretty well as he posted a 2-2 record and finished fourth overall. His two losses were the result of medical forfeits since he wrestled while not being quite 100 percent. His forfeits were to Essex Tech’s Jackson Leete and Melrose’s Mike Calvert. His two victories were against Georgetown/Ipswich’s Matt Mansfield and Wilmington’s Pat Carroll. The junior won by technical fall (16-1) over Mansfield and by fall over Carroll at 1:55.
Smith has qualified for the Div. 3 State Tournament and his first round opponent will be Carver’s Skylar McSweeney.
Senior captain Matt Murdocca amassed a 3-2 record at the 152 weight class and finished in fourth place. Murdocca won by major decision (13-4) over Melrose’s Mandip Singh. The senior captain then dropped a 5-2 decision to Georgetown/Ipwich’s John Blythe. Murdocca rebounded with two wins with a victory by fall against Wilmington’s Adam Bishop at 2:53 and a 12-7 over Danvers’ Matt Reidy. In his last match, Murdocca was pinned by Essex Tech’s Nick Walker at 45 seconds.
The senior captain advance to the Div. 3 State Tournament and Murdocca’s first round foe is Southwick’s Miguel Gonzalez.
At 182, sophomore Mike Yirrell had a 2-2 record and placed fourth. Yirrell pinned Triton’s Sam Orender at 3:29. Yirrell, who was battling flu symptons as well, had a medical forfeit to Melrose’s Pat Whelan in the semifinals. Yirrell then won by fall against Marblehead/Swampscott’s Dean Warren at 2:30 and then was lost by fall at 59 seconds to Danvers’ Russ Canova.
The sophomore has qualified for the Div. 3 State Tournament and Yirrell’s first round foe will be Northbridge’s James Baldwin Von Bruno.
Aiden Coleman, a junior, finished fourth at the 195 lb. weight class with a 2-2 record. Coleman won by fall against Danvers’ Rob Murphy and Georgetown/Ipswich’s Eric Bratland at 1:52 and 3:02. In between, the junior was pinned by Pentucket’s Devin Young at 4:38. In his final bout, Coleman lost by fall to Triton’s Nick Vines at 47 seconds.
Coleman will also be competing in the Div. 3 State Meet this weekend and his first round matchup is against Scituate’s Casey Boynton.
There was also a fifth and a sixth place finisher for Wakefield.
At 120, Aidan Armstrong, a sophomore, finished in fifth place with a 3-2 record. He is an alternate for this weekend’s meet. Armstrong lost by fall to Pentucket’s Jacob Wengler at 1:40. The sophomore then won two in a row. The sophomore pinned Gloucester’s Collin Harrison at 1:57 and pulled out a 3-1 decision over Triton’s Spiros Makropoulous. Armstrong then lost by fall to Wengler again at 45 seconds. In his last bout, Armstrong pinned Saugus’ Nick Franco at 5:26.
Kevin Tran, a junior, took sixth place at 160 with a 2-3 record. Tran won by fall over Saugus’ Willie King at 3:40. He then lost by fall to Melrose’s Cam Rosie at 4:42. Tran rebounded by pinning Marblehead/Swampscott’s Jack Lockhart at 1:23. The junior dropped his final two bouts. Tran lost by fall to Triton’s Lewi L’Herueux at 1:47 and lost a 5-3 decision at Pentucket’s Jason Young.
There were also several Warriors that competed in the meet, but did not place.
Chris Alves, a junior, went 0-2 at the 113 weight class. Freshman Robbie Fossett posted a 1-2 record at 170. At 220, Derek DiMascio, a sophomore, posted a 1-2 record.
Wakefield also had two wrestlers out with the flu. Senior captain Jack Spicer was unable to go at the 138 lb. weight class and freshman CJ Hagen was unable to compete at 106.
The Div. 3 State Meet qualifiers will now get ready for that tournament which will he held on Friday and Saturday at the Charbonneau Field House as Wakefield will be the host team. The competition on Friday most likely will begin at 3 p.m. and wrestling on Saturday has a tentative start of 11 a.m.
